Maxine Carr was released in May 2004, and given a secret identity to protect her from threats of attack from angry members of the public, but a slew of other women have been mistaken for her
17:00, 13 Mar 2026Updated 17:34, 13 Mar 2026
Carr was released from HM Prison Foston Hall on 14 May 2004 after serving a total of 21 months’ imprisonment(Image: PA)
She has been a department store worker in Northern Ireland, a waitress in a cafe in South Wales, a housewife from Kilbride, a librarian on the Isle of Wight, and a checkout worker in the Midlands. Ever since Maxine Carr walked free from Foston Hall prison in Derbyshire in May 2004 with a new identity for her own protection, rumours have persisted about her life post-release.
Carr was considered the most despised woman in Britain, having attempted to conceal the crimes of her killer boyfriend Ian Huntley. She was jailed for giving her lover a false alibi on August 4, 2002; Carr claimed she was at home on that fateful day, when in reality, she was in Grimsby. She was sentenced to three-and-a-half years for perverting the course of justice.
Following her release, Carr was granted anonymity and went about rebuilding her life. In contrast, Huntley received a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years. That came to an end on 7 March 2026, when he died in hospital following a vicious attack by a fellow inmate. The 52-year-old suffered significant head trauma after being attacked with a makeshift weapon by another inmate at HMP Frankland on 26 February and had been on life support in hospital.
Carr provided a false alibi for Huntley, lying to police about her whereabouts on the weekend in August 2002 when he murdered schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman(Image: Press Association)
His death has led to renewed interest in the case – and his former girlfriend Carr. Following her release, she is understood to have been relocated to over 10 different safe houses for protection, while in 2011, reports emerged that she had welcomed her first child – a baby boy.
By 2014, she was reported to have married and moved to a coastal town. Its location is unknown; Carr remains one of only a handful of former UK prisoners shielded by lifelong anonymity – alongside James Bulger’s killers Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, and child murderer Mary Bell.
But while her identity is protected, that hasn’t stopped speculation about her life since prison. For some women, that has been truly devastating. A number of innocent people have been caught up in Carr’s web, falsely accused of being Huntley’s lover and accomplice. In the 2008 Channel 4 documentary, Being Maxine Carr, a number of women bravely spoke out about being wrongly identified as Carr – and the devastating impact it had on their lives.
Karen Meek
Karen Meek came to Coleraine, Northern Ireland, to begin a new life. But the then-32-year-old was instead accused of being Maxine Carr, living under a new identity. She decided to speak out to clear her name.
Karen Meek was one of the women mistaken for Maxine Carr(Image: PA)
Karen told the BBC in August 2006 that her life had become a “nightmare” since she was warned of the threat by police. “I met two CID officers and that is when they disclosed to me that I had been mistakenly identified as Maxine Carr,” she said.
“Basically from there, my life has been a complete and utter nightmare. My husband’s van has been damaged. We have had strange cars sitting outside our house, people coming to the door who we don’t know. The police did say that you do get people who will take matters into their own hands.”
She also drew attention to the fact she looks nothing like Carr. “The only thing similar between me and her is our accent – we’re both English. Other than that there’s nothing. I’m blonde, she’s dark. I’m three years older and a much bigger build,” she said. “From what I could see on TV she looked tiny. I’m a size 18, for goodness sake.”
In December 2006, Karen’s husband revealed the true extent of the toll the false accusations have taken. He told the Belfast Telegraph that she had tried to take her own life. “Life got too much for her. She overdosed and had to be rushed to hospital. She was admitted to a psychiatric ward because there was no bed at the time.
It had a devastating effect on Karen, who noted she bears no resemblance to Carr(Image: PA)
“The medical staff have been extremely helpful but Karen just does not want to go on. I don’t know how long she will be in for – whether it will be days, weeks or months. I am trying to support her as best I can. All I know is that she wouldn’t be in there if it weren’t for those rumours.”
He continued: “Maxine and Karen are different in size, hair colour, eye colour… two totally different individuals. Nevertheless, my wife was absolutely petrified that someone would believe the rumours and attack her. Not only that, because of her job as a shop assistant dealing with the public on a daily basis, she was worried about the reactions of the customers. Karen was concerned for the safety of the staff and customers if someone were to attack the store because of this mistaken identity. She simply couldn’t return to work.
“Karen was also afraid to leave the house in case of any backlash from the public. As a mother – she has a son and a daughter from a previous relationship – she is completely and utterly devastated that anyone could ever think that she would be associated with such a crime as the shocking murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, two innocent children.”
Irene Little
Just like Karen, Irene Little bears no physical resemblance to Maxine Carr. She also has a broad Scottish accent, and her whereabouts during the time Carr was in prison could be accounted for. But that didn’t stop the lens of suspicion falling on her.
Irene had grown up in East Kilbride, Scotland, and returned after working for a spell as a care assistant in Millport. It would also mean she could be closer to her boyfriend, James McDonald.
But by then whispers had already began that ‘Maxine’ had been seen in a few of the local bars, followed by rumours that a woman wearing a blonde wig had been refused service in a local store, spat at by other customers and had her shopping trolley rammed. As a result, locals were on the lookout – and suspicion fell on Irene.
Maxine Carr when she was younger(Image: Press Association)
When she arrived, she unloaded belongings at her new flat over several trips and made visits to the shops, helped by her boyfriend and his brother. Even that became part of the story. Neighbours complained darkly of ”comings and goings’, via The Herald Scotland. They also said that she was ”ducking in the house with her cap on”. The two men, meanwhile, were like ”two bodyguards – that’s how they came across”.
Irene was only alerted to what was going on when she received a call from the housing association saying they’d received reports from locals saying that they thought Irene was Maxine. The association stood firm and warned them to leave her alone. But their words fell on deaf ears.
A threatening group started hanging around outside her flat, shouting ”Soham murderer”. Then someone posted a death threat against her on the internet, following which some 15 and 20 cars drove into the close, cruising up and down outside Irene’s home. She became too frightened to sleep, or step outside in case she was targeted. Eventually, she had to be escorted from her home by police and housing officials: it’s not known if she ever returned.
‘Marianne’
In December 2007, another woman – not named but known as ‘Marianne’ – spoke of her ordeal after being falsely accused of being Maxine Carr. She had been hounded out of her home in York, with vandals repeatedly throwing bricks and rocks through her windows. It left her terrified.
In the summer of 2006, Marianne had moved to York – but gossip started to spread that she was actually Carr because she had a southern accent. She told the Channel 4 documentary makers: “My immediate reaction when one of the neighbours told me there was a rumour I was Maxine Carr was one of total disbelief. It just felt like molten lead had been poured into my stomach. It felt awful.
“When a rock was thrown through our window, I was in complete shock. I spent every night watching out of the bedroom window, trying to see if there were gangs approaching the house. I tried staring back but that made them stare even more. I tried ignoring them but still they stared.
Maxine Carr now lives by the seaside with her ‘besotted husband'(Image: Press Association)
“You should not have to justify your existence in your own home. I was doing a postgraduate research degree which was why I was working at home.”
Marianne said the vandal attacks became increasingly serious. “Somebody put a brick through the front door. The sound of that was horrific, the smash was just awful. The police really stepped up the protection for me then.”
She decided to go round to the neighbours’ homes with a community support officer to try to convince them she was not Carr. “Unfortunately, most people just didn’t believe it. They said there’s no smoke without fire,” she shared.
“The attacks were escalating in violence and that was when I decided I could not take it any more. For the sake of my health, I had to leave, and that’s what I did.”
Pat Williams
Pat Williams was only 24 and pregnant with her second child when she found herself at the centre of claims she was Maxine Carr. Whispers started to spread around the small Welsh village of Ystradgynlais amid rife speculation that Carr had been rehoused there. And for some reason, Pat came under suspicion.
Pat told Wales on Sunday that her life became so difficult she even considered leaving the village, which has been her home for three years. “It was really malicious and I was pretty upset to tell you the truth. It made my life difficult,” she said.
“It made me want to move away. I started looking for places – anywhere other than here. Some people actually believed that I was her. Others didn’t. But it was really spiteful.”
Actors playing Carr and Huntley in a Channel 5 drama(Image: Channel 5)
Married Pat, who had a six-year-old daughter at the time, said she believed the rumour was started by a woman who got into a spat with a colleague of hers. She said: “I was working in a shop as a cleaner at the time and people were spreading these rumours that I was Maxine Carr. When I went up to the woman who had spread the rumours and told her I wasn’t her, she didn’t apologise and just said that I look like her.
Redhead Pat said that other than her hairstyle she didn’t think she looked anything like Carr: “I don’t think I have a resemblance to her – but it’s just my hairstyle was the same.”
Carol Symington
Another woman living in fear after being falsely identified as Maxine Carr was Carol Symington. After moving to Redcar, Teesside, Carol said her life became a living hell as rumours swirled about the Soham killer’s accomplice.
Carol told the Channel 4 documentary that she had only been in her new house for a few hours when people outside started calling, “Come out, Maxine, you can’t live here, we’re not going to leave you alone.”
She recalled: “The second onslaught of abuse started with bricks being thrown at the windows, bottles being lobbed into the garden, and constant calling of my name as Maxine Carr and not as Carol.
Jemma Carlton starred as Maxine Carr in 2022(Image: Channel 5)
“One night there was a rumble of people and I got swarmed on. I was coming out of my car with a couple of boxes which were taken from me. I was pinned to the ground and they pulled my hair because they thought I was wearing a wig. They shone a torch in my eyes to see if I was wearing coloured contact lenses.
“When they realised I was not a young person, they let me go and I ran crying into the house.”
Diane Carraro
Diana Carraro was visiting the UK as a student on a working holiday in Britain when she was mistaken for Maxine Carr. The 19-year-old had to be given police protection after being targeted by vigilantes, who verbally abused her, took her photo, and plastered posters bearing her picture on lampposts near her home in Cheadle, Staffordshire.
Diana, from South Africa, told the Times: “I have been terrified. It has got really bad over the past couple of days. They have been throwing things at the windows, putting up posters and calling me a ‘murdering bitch’.
“They have taken photographs of me in pubs in Cheadle and screamed at me in the supermarket.”
Confirming she was cutting her trip short as a result of the allegation, she added: “I do not know what it has all been about. I had not even heard of Maxine Carr before I came here. I have been shown photographs of her on the internet and she is nothing like me. It has been a very frightening experience.”
Police in North Staffordshire confirmed at the time that Ms Carraro was the victim of mistaken identity, with Chief Superintendent Steve Loxley stating: “I can tell you that this young lady is not Maxine Carr. She is a visitor to the country, who is here on a working holiday. Unfortunately, due to this mistaken identity, she has been less than welcomed and I have become very concerned that she will be subjected to further victimisation.”
A spokesperson for the company where Diane worked further noted there was no physical resemblance between the student and Carr, that they were not the same age, nor the same build.