Maxine Carr's Chilling Prison Nickname Shouted from Jail Cells
Maxine Carr, the former teaching assistant who provided a false alibi for her murderous boyfriend Ian Huntley, was subjected to a terrifying four-word nickname while serving her prison sentence. During her time at Holloway Prison, fellow inmates allegedly screamed "Myra Hindley Mark Two" from their cells, drawing a direct comparison to the notorious 1960s child killer Myra Hindley.
The Crimes That Shocked a Nation
Carr was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for perverting the course of justice after attempting to protect Ian Huntley following the brutal murders of ten-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. The horrific crimes occurred on August 4, 2002, in Soham, Cambridgeshire, when Huntley killed the two friends and dumped their bodies in an irrigation ditch.
Despite being in Grimsby at the time of the murders, Carr falsely claimed she was at home with Huntley, providing him with a crucial alibi that initially hampered the police investigation. The search for Holly and Jessica became one of the largest operations in British history, involving 400 police officers, US Air Force personnel, and local volunteers.
Public Deception and Media Manipulation
In a particularly disturbing display of deception, both Carr and Huntley actively participated in the search efforts and media appeals. Carr, who had been the girls' teaching assistant, even showed reporters a card Holly had made for her, reading: "to a special teaching assistant" with a poem inside. She told television journalists: "This is something that I will keep for the rest of my life."
Meanwhile, Huntley comforted Holly's father during the search, despite having committed the murders just days earlier. The investigation eventually uncovered that Huntley had returned to the disposal site to remove and burn the girls' distinctive Manchester United shirts, though authorities recovered them from a bin at his workplace.
Prison Life and Public Hatred
As "the most hated woman in Britain" at the time, Carr quickly became a target within the prison system. The nickname "Myra Hindley Mark Two" referenced the Moors Murderer who, along with Ian Brady, killed multiple children in the Manchester area during the 1960s. While Carr did not commit murder herself, her actions in protecting Huntley generated similar public revulsion.
After serving half of her three-and-a-half-year sentence, Carr was released from Foston Hall prison in Derbyshire in May 2004. She was granted a new identity at an estimated cost of millions of pounds to the state, with a permanent anonymity order issued by the High Court.
Life After Prison and Ongoing Controversy
Following her release, Carr was relocated to over ten different safe houses for protection over the next two years. By 2011, reports emerged that she had given birth to a baby boy while in a secure location, and by 2012 she was in a committed relationship with a partner who knew about her past.
In 2014, Carr was believed to be living in a coastal town, with Channel 5's true crime drama "Maxine" depicting her seaside existence. That same year, she allegedly married in a secret ceremony, a development that reportedly devastated the mothers of Holly and Jessica.
An insider revealed: "The families of Holly and Jessica will never get to see their daughters marry. They will never get to enjoy their big day. They have nothing to look forward to. Why should she?"
Carr remains one of only four former UK prisoners granted lifelong anonymity, alongside James Bulger's killers Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, and child murderer Mary Bell. Meanwhile, Ian Huntley died earlier this month after a brutal prison attack left him brain damaged, having served nearly two decades of his two life sentences with a minimum term of 40 years.
