POLICE INVESTIGATING the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman have found clothing they were wearing on the night they disappeared, officers said yesterday.

Detectives refused to confirm whether they were the identical Manchester United shirts worn by the 10-year-olds.

Conceding that "certain items of clothing believed to have been worn by Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells when they were reported missing have been found by police", police did not say whether these were the "major items of interest" that had led to the arrest of Ian Huntley, a caretaker at Soham Village College.

With the 28-year-old now facing two murder charges, detectives have been refusing to divulge details of what was found during searches.

Since Mr Huntley and his fiancee, Maxine Carr, 25, initially agreed to give witness statements 10 days ago, search teams using highly specialised equipment have been examining Soham Village College and the couple's home at the site of the secondary school. A search of St Andrew's primary school, where Ms Carr was formerly a teaching assistant to Holly and Jessica, as well as Mr Huntley's father's home in Littleport, have been completed.

The clothes are being examined by forensic scientists as Operation Fincham continues to try to build up a picture of how the girls were murdered.

A spokesman said: "For legal reasons I am unable to disclose where they were found, when they were found, or the condition in which they were found."

The revelation came as the town's vicar, the Rev Tim Alban Jones, tried to stem the tide of well-wishers, asking for the community of Soham to be left to grieve in peace. With coachloads of visitors making detours to the small market town, the outpouring of grief and sympathy has attained unmanageable proportions.

"It has reached a situation where you cannot cross the street because there is so much traffic," he said. While insisting the fenlands town was "enormously grateful for the huge outpouring of public support and sympathy", he said: "Our community is now in desperate need of space and privacy."

The disappearance of the schoolgirls while out walking near their homes on 4 August generated immense interest, which was transformed into anger and grief at the news that they had been killed.

For three weeks Soham - a community of only 9,000 - has endured an influx of police, media workers and well wishers who have come to lay thousands of bouquets outside St Andrew's Church.

Soham's Methodist minister, the Rev Alan Ashton, said: "One lady came to me very distressed because people were getting off a coach.

"Even if it wasn't the intention of the people getting off the coach to gawp, it felt like that to people here.

"This, for the residents of Soham, comes across as quite uncaring. They feel invaded."

In marked contrast to severe criticism recently levelled at the media by the South and West Cambridgeshire coroner, David Morris, and the police, Mr Alban Jones praised the press for departing when asked.

"They are to be highly commended for adhering to that agreement in spite of the continuing high level of public interest," he said.

Opening and adjourning the inquest last Friday, Mr Morris complained of a "virtual invasion" by the media and questioned the wisdom of rewards offered by newspapers.