Sport fans remember dead girls

Jessica and Holly: Remembered by their Manchester United heroes

LONDON, England -- Sports grounds across Britain are holding a minute's silence for murdered schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

Football, rugby, cricket and horseracing venues all staged the tribute with fans of each sport strictly observing the silence.

The first silence was held at the Premiership game between Chelsea and Manchester United -- the team the girls supported and whose shirts they were both wearing when they disappeared.

At Chelsea's Stamford Bridge ground, players, wearing black armbands, bowed the heads in memory of Holly and Jessica as the 41,541 fans fell quiet.

England captain David Beckham said after the game: "The minute's silence was special. The whole nation is grieving. It's an upsetting time and our thoughts obviously go to the families.

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"It's hard to get your mind on football when this sort of stuff happens."

He dedicated the game to the memory of the 10-year-old girls who both had his name on the back of their football shirts.

The killings have shocked Britain and brought messages of sympathy from all over the world. (Story)

Further silences will be held at football, rugby and cricket grounds and race courses across the country.

John Read, director of corporate affairs at the England and Wales Cricket Board, told the Press Association: " In our own very small way, this minute's silence is cricket's way of showing profound sympathy for the parents of Holly and Jessica.

"We cannot fully appreciate the depths of despair and sheer sorrow they are

feeling, but we can show we care."

A Rugby League spokesman added: "We have advised all clubs to observe a minute's silence for murder victims Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman at both Tetley's Super League and Northern Ford Premiership fixtures through the weekend."

The inquest into the deaths, which was opened and adjourned on Friday, was told Holly and Jessica were found in a "severely decomposed and partially skeletonised" state. (Story)

The Prince of Wales has written to the dead girls' parents

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Hebb also said it was not thought that the girls had died where they were found.

A memorial service is to be held at Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire, on August 30 and is expected to be attended by 2,000 people.

It has also emerged that the girls' distraught parents -- Kevin and Nicola Wells and Sharon and Leslie Chapman -- have received hand-written letters from Prince Charles expressing his heartfelt sympathy.

Ian Huntley, 28, has been charged with murdering the girls. He is being held in Rampton top security hospital after been charged with murdering the girls and sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

His girlfriend Maxine Carr, 25, a former teaching assistant who worked at Holly and Jessica's school has been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. (Story)

Holly and Jessica disappeared from near their homes in Soham on August 4. Their bodies were found at a wooded spot less than 10 miles away on August 17. Post-mortem results have so far not revealed how they died.