TWO people were today arrested on suspicion of murdering missing ten-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

Cambridgeshire Police admitted for the first time they fear the girls are now dead.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Hebb told a press conference in Soham that items of major importance had been recovered during a search of Soham Village College.

He said a 28-year-old man had been arrested for murder and abduction and a 25-year-old woman had been arrested for murder.

Today's move came after detectives spent almost seven hours yesterday and last night quizzing school caretaker Ian Huntley, 28, and his girlfriend Maxine Carr, 25, at separate police stations.

Mr Huntley, a site manager at Soham Village College for the past nine months, and Ms Carr, a former teaching assistant in the girls' class, completed witness statements.

Police this morning also cordoned off the home of Ian Huntley's father, Kevin Huntley, in the village of Littleport, near Soham. There was no further sign of activity at the property.

The families of the missing girls were the first to be told of the arrests, which happened at 4am, police said.

Meanwhile the search at the college, school, and house of the arrested man, would continue, officers said.

A force spokesman said: "The search of the entire site will be the most comprehensive and detailed that is necessary and is likely to take days, and possibly over a week."

The couple did not return to their house last night, which is the subject of a detailed search using what police described as highly sensitive equipment. The house in Soham was one of the last places the 10-year-olds were seen.

In another development detectives have called in help from Mark Harrison, a search specialist from Bedfordshire Police, who was involved in the hunt for missing Sussex teenager Milly Dowler and missing Essex teenager Danielle Jones.

Even last night police were optimistic that they would find the girls, who disappeared thirteen days ago, alive.

The search of the college and school included the very room, the college hall, where hours earlier the parents of Jessica and Holly publicly begged their abductor to give the girls back.