Amazing strength of the two families.

AN UNCLE of Holly Wells has told of the incredible strength being shown by the parents of both murdered girls.

Speaking for the first time since the bodies of Holly and Jessica Chapman were discovered, Andrew Wells praised both sets of parents for their sheer bravery.

Mr Wells, the 37-year-old brother of Holly's dad Kevin, said: "They have been very strong. I can't believe how strong they are at the moment."

He added: "I think they are getting a lot of strength from having a lot of friends and family around them.

"You cannot imagine what they are going through. They are absolutely amazing but they are nice people anyway."

Dad-of-two Andrew lives just a few hundred yards from his brother and Holly's mum Nicola in Soham, Cambridgeshire.

He spent some of yesterday discussing a special service which will be held to celebrate the lives of the girls in Ely this Friday.

Mr Wells added: "Unfortunately, I don't know the Chapman family. I never knew Jessica except knowing she was a friend of Holly's. But they have been wonderful."

Although he did not elaborate, he said he believed both sets of parents had met since the girl's bodies were discovered in woodland near Lakenheath airbase on Saturday August 17.

He added: "I have been in contact with Kevin on a daily basis but I have also been giving him space. I know how I would feel - I wouldn't want a house full of people all the time."

The Reverend Tim Alban Jones, of St Andrew's Church in Soham, yesterday renewed his appeal to visitors to leave the community alone to grieve as hundreds of people continued to flood to the town.