High Court allows Maxine Carrto seek a life of total anonymity

Maxine Carr has been given the go-ahead to seek anonymity for the rest of her life.

A short hearing at the High Court was told that the former girlfriend of Soham killer Ian Huntley will apply for a total ban on reporting of her new life.

Justice Eady will decide whether Carr should be granted the cloak of anon-ymity in a two-day hearing in February next year.

Carr has enjoyed full police protection at an estimated cost of up to £1 million (Dh7.12 million) a year since she was released from prison in June.

The 27-year-old former school assistant had served half of a 42-month sentence for perverting the course of justice by giving Huntley a false alibi.

The protection includes a panic button in her home which can summon police at short notice to her aid 24 hours a day. The courts have already granted her a far-reaching injunction banning publication of any details which could reveal her new identity, including any description of where she lives and the nature of her work.

She complains that the press have kept her in the public eye, which has led to her being identified in the streets, being pelted with eggs and having paint daubed on her door.

Since her Old Bailey trial, when Huntley was jailed for life for the murder of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, she believes she has become a nationwide figure of hate.

A few days ago she was reported to be on the brink of moving home for the third time in less than a month because of the threat of vigilante action against her.

At an earlier hearing, the court was told there was "clear evidence" of her being in danger and she had even been advised to wear bullet-proof clothing.

On Friday, her counsel, Edward Fitzgerald QC, confirmed she wanted a "Mary Bell-type" order, named after the notorious child killer of the Sixties. A similar anonymity order has been granted to Robert Thompson and John Venables after their release following their convictions for murder of toddler James Bulger.

The court heard that the Home Office, probation service and police force must disclose to Carr's lawyers full details of any objections they might have to a reporting ban which would include security provisions for her well-being.

- Evening Standard