Soham murders

The Soham Murders were a widely reported double murder which occurred in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England, on 4 August 2002. The victims were two 10-year-old girls; Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman. Their bodies were found near RAF Lakenheath, Norfolk, on 17 August 2002, by a local farm worker.

Ian Kevin Huntley, a caretaker at local secondary school Soham Village College, was convicted on 17 December 2003 of the girls' murder and sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment, with the High Court later setting a minimum term of 40 years.

His girlfriend, Maxine Ann Carr, was the girls' teaching assistant at St Andrew's Primary School. Carr had provided Huntley with a false alibi and received a three-and-a-half year prison sentence for perverting the course of justice.

Murders

On Sunday, 4 August 2002, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, best friends both aged 10, had attended a barbecue at the home of Holly Wells and her family in Redhouse Gardens, Soham. At around 6:15 pm, they went out to buy some sweets. On their way back they walked past the home of Ian Huntley, a secondary school caretaker, in College Close. Huntley saw the girls and asked them to come into his house. He said that his girlfriend, Maxine Carr, their teaching assistant at St Andrew's Primary School, was in the house too. She had in fact gone to visit family in Grimsby, Lincolnshire. Shortly after the girls entered his house, Huntley murdered them.

Soham

Coordinates: 52°20′02″N 0°20′10″E / 52.333831°N 0.336063°E / 52.333831; 0.336063

Soham (/ˈsoʊəm/) is a small town and civil parish in the English county of Cambridgeshire. It lies just off the A142 between Ely and Newmarket (Suffolk). Its population was 10,860 (2001 census), and it is within the district of East Cambridgeshire.

History

Archaeology

The region between Devil's Dyke and the line between Littleport and Shippea Hill shows a remarkable amount of archaeological findings of the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. A couple of hoards of bronze objects are found in the area of Soham, including one with swords and spearheads of the later Bronze Age as well as a gold torc, retrieved in 1938. An extensive ditch system, not visible on aerial photographs, has been identified, as well as a wooden track-way 800 metres in length between Fordey Farm (Barway) and Little Thetford, with associated shards of later Bronze Age pottery (1935).

St. Felix Of Burgundy 'Apostle Of The East Angles'

Soham (disambiguation)

Soham is a small town in the English county of Cambridgeshire.

Soham may also refer to:

Soham (Sanskrit)

Soham (सो ऽहम् so 'ham) is a Hindu mantra, meaning "I am He/That" in Sanskrit.

In Vedic philosophy it means identifying oneself with the universe or ultimate reality.

The mantra is also inverted from so 'ham (the sandhi of saḥ + aham) to ham + sa. The combination of so 'haṃ haṃsaḥ has also been interpreted as "I myself am the Swan", where the swan symbolizes the Atman.

Etymology

An etymology of haṃsa "swan, goose" (in fact cognate with English goose) as from ahaṃ sa "I am that" is found in the 14th century commentary on the Vedas by Sayana (14th century).

The term so'ham is related to sa, and the phrase translates to "I that very person", according to Monier-Williams. Interpreted as a nominal sentence, it can also be read as "I am he" or "It/He is I". The term is found in Vedic literature, and is a phrase that identifies "oneself with the universe or ultimate reality".

History

This phrase is found in Principal Upanishads such as the Isha Upanishad (verse 16), which ends:

Soham, or "I am He", is very common in ancient and medieval literature. Some examples include: