British school caretaker Mr Ian Huntley murdered Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman then hid their bodies in the hope that they would never be found, a jury heard today.
Prosecutor Richard Latham QC said the girls, both aged ten, "fell into the hands of Huntley" shortly after leaving Holly's home in the village of Soham in Cambridgeshire on the evening of Sunday, August 4th last year.
Mr Huntley murdered them both "for some reason known only to him" then set about disposing of their bodies, he alleged.
Mr Latham was opening the prosecution case at the Old Bailey trial of Mr Huntley (29) and his ex-girlfriend Ms Maxine Carr, who is accused of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and assisting an offender.
Mr Huntley denies the double child murder but has pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
Ms Carr (26) a former classroom assistant at the girls' primary school in Soham, Cambridgeshire, denies one charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and two charges of assisting an offender.
Mr Latham told the jury of seven men and five women: "The prosecution case is that these two girls fell into the hands of Huntley shortly after leaving home.
"For some reason known only to him he chose to murder them both.
"We allege that he went on to remove the bodies from Soham.
"We allege that he hid them in such a way that they would never be found.
"In this objective he was very nearly successful."
Mr Latham told the jury of seven men and five women: "At 6.15 in the evening of Sunday August 4th of last year two girls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, left Holly's home and walked out onto the streets of the small Cambridgeshire town of Soham.
"They were good friends, they went to the same school, they were in the same class."
Mr Latham said: "Within the first few minutes of leaving, they (the girls) were seen by a number of people.
"It was of course still daylight.
"They didn't tell anyone they were going out.
"No doubt they felt secure and confident in an area where they felt familiar.
"They lived there, they went to school there, they would have thought they were surrounded by faces they knew."
The girls' vanished shortly after 6.30pm, Mr Latham said. There followed "one of the largest and most public missing persons inquiries that has ever taken place in this country".
The girls' remains were found 13 days later in an overgrown ditch in Lakenheath, Suffolk, on August 17th.