Messages pour in from around world

Harriet Arkell12 April 2012

As the families of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman struggle to come to terms with their grief, messages of support and sympathy are pouring in from around the world.

Locally, people are showing their support through flowers, while internationally, people from as far away as Sri Lanka, Australia and Chile have used the internet to offer their sympathy.

The bouquets started coming on Saturday night, as news filtered through the village that two bodies had been found seven miles away near Brandon. There were just a few at first, as people clung to the hope that the bodies were not those of the girls.

By this morning, however, the quiet Fenland town was a sea of flowers.

The graveyard at the parish church of St Andrew's was covered with flowers, teddy bears and notes of support. So was the war memorial near where the girls were last seen, and the entrance to their school. The grounds remained cordoned off as a possible crime scene.

At the isolated spot where the bodies were found, more than 300 bouquets have been left. Throughout the night wellwishers - ranging from night workers finishing their shifts to lorry drivers passing through - stopped to leave bunches of flowers or notes, or simply to stand and pray for a minute.

A florist in nearby Mildenhall said: "This is unbelievable. People here seem more affected by this than they did by Diana, and the orders for flowers just keep on coming. It is just so unbearably sad."

People have driven from as far away as Devon and Cumbria simply to be there. Those living even further away have logged onto the internet to show their support.

A website set up yesterday to provide people with a place to leave messages for the girls' families has been deluged. "It is amazing - we have had more than 250,000 hits to the website since it launched and more than 50,000 notes of condolence have been left from as far away as Japan and New Zealand," said a spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire police today.

"The police family liaison officers working with the Wells and Chapman families have told them about the support and they have been very moved."

The main website - www.sohamtragedy.org.uk - has been set up by Cambridgeshire County Council and Cambridgeshire Police to give members of the public who have followed the tragic events in Soham an outlet for their feelings. Tributes have come from as far away as Israel and Zimbabwe.

Others were from Iceland, Bahrain, Dubai, Brazil, the US, India - and also one from an oil rig in the North Sea.

Once completed, the comments will be transcribed into a permanent memorial to the two children to sit alongside the book of condolence in the local church.

Even those in the most troubled regions of the world have found time to think of the suffering of the Wells and Chapman families.

One boy's message read: "I'm a 13-year-old boy from Palestine, I heard the dreadful news of the two girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

"I've been following the latest news every day, hoping that it would turn out well. I feel deeply sorry for them."

A man from Jerusalem said: "My wife and I were appalled to learn the news of your terrible loss. We hope and pray that in future you will know no more sorrow."

From Lousiana came this message: 'The tears come so far away in America's Deep South. Only time will help in this terrible case but our thoughts and prayers are with you.'

A mourner wrote from the Netherlands: 'When I heard that their bodies were found I broke down in tears. How can anyone hurt two innocent kids? May God help you through this. And know that a lot of people are thinking about the girls and about you.'

A message from France said: 'Words can't express how we feel but I hope that the love which will come to you through this modern medium may help in some way. We shared your hopes and now share your grief. Know that they have gone to a better place but will never leave you.'

And from Sri Lanka there were these words: 'Each day I hoped would bring better news than the previous. The final outcome has been incomprehensible and intolerable, even for me, someone from a warhardened country thousands of miles away. You and your daughters have more prayers and support of people around the world than could ever be imagined. I offer you my deepest sympathies.'

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