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CNN Sunday Morning

British Police Make Arrest in Case of Two Child Abductions

Aired August 18, 2002 - 08:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Jennifer Short is just the latest in a series of missing children cases. In a high profile case in England, police have arrested a man and a woman in the kidnappings of two 10-year-old girls earlier this month, and authorities are now working to identify two bodies found near Solm (ph), the town where the girls were abducted.
CNN's Marga Ortigas has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARGA ORTIGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's mid-summer. The sun burns down on a quiet, proud little town, close to bustling Cambridge, on the outer edges of a post card.

School's out, but the streets and playgrounds of Solm (ph) are relatively empty, filled only with an uneasy silence.

At mid-day, church bells toll as two in this close-knit community become husband and wife -- a bittersweet celebration, because inside St. Andrew's in a small corner, a reminder that two to of the town's children may never come home -- a reminder echoed across town.

Ten-year-olds Jessica (ph) and Holly (ph) disappeared on a quiet afternoon, not unlike this one. The local school's caretaker and his partner, a teaching assistant at the girl's school, were questioned late into Friday night.

(on camera): Nearly two weeks into the largest manhunt in British history, police have made two arrests on suspicion of abduction, and murder. That such a crime can happen here has stunned locals. That perpetrators may be two of their own has left them horrified.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, if you can't trust people in that position, who can you trust?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It makes a mockery of telling the children not to talk to strangers.

ORTIGAS (voice-over): Arrests were made early Saturday.

REV. ALAN ASHTON, METHODIST MINISTER: The community has been profoundly affected. It always has been a close community, and how it's going to cope if we do have the discovery of Holly (ph) and Jessica's (ph) bodies is very hard to judge. ORTIGAS: As words spread that the girls may be lost forever, the people of Solm (ph) head back to St. Andrew's, to try and find some comfort in their shared shattered safety. A town in shock, now a town in mourning.

Marga Ortigas, CNN, Solm (ph), England.

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