Within a minute of opening yesterday at 8 a.m., a helpline set up to counsel Soham villagers traumatised by the murder of local schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman had its first call, writes Eithne Donnellan, in Huntingdon.
By nightfall, more than 100 locals had called the Cambridgeshire County Council line.The vicar of Soham, the Rev Tim Alban Jones, said there was "an almost tangible air of grief" in the village.
From early morning a steady stream of people walked in silence along the tree-lined path to the parish church of St Andrew's to pray for the children, who had been confirmed dead the night before after police said bodies found 15 miles away in Suffolk were almost certainly their's.
Many wept openly as they lit candles at a shrine erected to the girls in the church sanctuary and signed separate books of condolence which had been opened on the altar. The carpet of floral tributes outside the church grew throughout the day.
Speaking about the callers to the helpline, the Cambridgeshire council chief executive, Mr Alan Barnish, said: "Some wanted help, some wanted advice and information. Many people just wanted someone to talk to to express their emotions and their feelings at this difficult time.
"We've had one or two calls where people phoned through wanting to talk to someone but haven't been able to express their feeling, indeed haven't said anything. We wonder whether some of those were children."
The vicar said the people of Soham were "slowly coming to terms with the realisation that these two lovely girls are not coming home to us and we are coming to terms with what that means for us".
The healing process was made harder by the fact that it will take weeks before post-mortem examinations on the girls bodies are completed. A five-hour examination yesterday proved inconclusive.
The bodies were found about lunch-time on Saturday in a wooded area 15 miles from Soham, almost two weeks after the girls disappeared. Home Office pathologist, Dr Nat Cary, began his post- mortem at 11 p.m. on Sunday.
"The results were inconclusive and further tests will now be carried out. It is anticipated that these will take some weeks," a spokeswoman at Cambridgeshire police headquarters in Huntingdon said.
Whether the children's bodies will be released to their families for burial before these tests conclude was unclear last night.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, said in a statement he was very distressed by the crime and had great sympathy for the girls' families.
Meanwhile police were given permission last night to extend the detention period for Mr Ian Huntley (28), the caretaker at Soham's secondary school. An application to extend the detention period for Mr Huntley's girlfriend, Ms Maxime Carr (25), a teaching assistant at the primary school attended by the dead girls, was being considered late last night at the magistrates' court and was expected to be granted. Police now have permission to hold Mr Huntley until 6.20 a.m. tomorrow, making a total period in custody of 96 hours.