Maxine Carr was released from prison in May 2004 after serving a sentence for perverting the course of justice. According to sources, she was granted a new identity and lifelong anonymity after release, a status shared by only three other former UK prisoners: Robert Thompson, Jon Venables, and Mary Bell. Carr was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for providing a false alibi for Ian Huntley on August 4, 2002, claiming she was at home when she was actually in Grimsby. Ian Huntley killed schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in 2002. According to reports, Huntley was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 40 years.
During the investigation, Carr and Huntley participated in the search for Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Carr, a former teaching assistant, showed reporters a card from Holly Wells and described it as something she would keep for the rest of her life. She said, 'No one believes they would ever run away. They were very close to their families. This is something that I will keep for the rest of my life. It's what Holly gave me on the last day of term and there's a poem written inside saying 'to a special teaching assistant' and that we will miss her and we will see her in the future. That was the kind of girl she was, she was just really lovely.'
I met two CID officers and that is when they disclosed to me that I had been mistakenly identified as Maxine Carr.
After her release, reports suggest that Carr was relocated to over 10 different safe houses for protection. In 2011, she reportedly welcomed her first child, a baby boy, and by 2014, she was reported to have married and moved to a coastal town. The exact coastal town where she moved has not been confirmed, and her current location and new identity remain unknown. During her time at Holloway Prison, it is alleged that Carr was called 'Myra Hindley Mark Two' by other inmates.
The case has had wider impacts, including mistaken identities. Karen Meek was mistakenly identified as Maxine Carr in Northern Ireland in 2006. Meek said, 'I met two CID officers and that is when they disclosed to me that I had been mistakenly identified as Maxine Carr.' She described her life becoming a 'nightmare' after being warned by police about the mistaken identity. It is unclear how many other women have been mistakenly identified as Carr and what the specific impacts on their lives were. The current status of Carr's family life, including her marriage and child, is also not publicly known.
No one believes they would ever run away. They were very close to their families. This is something that I will keep for the rest of my life. It's what Holly gave me on the last day of term and there's a poem written inside saying 'to a special teaching assistant' and that we will miss her and we will see her in the future. That was the kind of girl she was, she was just really lovely.