Tim Alban Jones looks out over the River Kent and says Kendal seems a nice safe place like Soham was, until its summer tragedy struck.

The vicar of the Cambridgeshire fen town, which became the focus of world attention after the abduction and murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, put himself in the media firing line.

He did it, he says, to ease pressure on two devastated, courageous families.

"If I was being pestered, hopefully there weren't," said the priest honoured with an MBE in the New Year's honours list for his eloquence in speaking for a haunted community.

The Prince of Wales, Prime Minister and Archbishop of Canterbury are said to have been impressed by his efforts.

He took part in the ten-year-olds' funerals on two successive days at Ely Cathedral and accompanied Holly and Jessica's parents to a private meeting with Prince Charles at Sandringham.

In Kendal to talk at the Centre for Practical Christianity, at St George's Church, on pastoral care and difficult deaths, the celebrated cleric took time out to relive last August's nightmare, when two little girls set out for a walk and never came back.

The image of the two friends wearing matching David Beckham football shirts seared hearts and minds everywhere as police carried out their desperate search.

They were missing for 13 long days before their bodies were eventually found.

Damian Thompson writing in the Daily Telegraph said Mr Alban Jones was an example of a breed that people thought had vanished " a traditional country parson, learned, kindly and not afraid to speak his mind".

He told the public not to equate its "grief" with that of the parents and asked why people felt the need to send teddies and soft toys.

"Pressures were intense all the way through," said the father of three. His son Miles was two forms down from Holly and Jessica in the local primary school.

"It would have been very out of character for the girls to go missing. I went to see the families early on and have been in regular contact with them ever since.

"All the way through, police were upbeat. It kept us hoping against hope, right up until the end. Only in the closing stages were we looking in our own backyards.

"By the time the bodies we were found, we were expecting it."

Media pressure was relentless. It was, he said, impossible to walk down the street without "being pestered by journalists from all over the world".

"All I wanted to do was relieve pressure from the families. That is how I came to be standing up in front of the world's cameras. It was surreal to be suddenly catapulted into that level of spotlight."

He didn't resent the intrusion. Soham had become global property. Reporters had a job to do.

"These were hardened professionals, who had covered wars in Bosnia and Chechnya. They were breaking down in tears for two lost little girls."

Soham, he explained, was a bit like Kendal, a nice, quiet, out of harm's way sort of place.

"You can't begin to imagine the horror of something like that, striking the community to the core. We thought it was a safe place to bring up our children.

"We are a close-knit community. People generally know each other. For something as shockingly evil as this to happen was indescribable. These sort of things happen in London, Manchester, in big dangerous cities, not sleepy little Soham."

The vicar can't say which was the worst part of the ordeal. "There were so many awful bits".

In the long history of Ely Cathedral, built by William Conqueror, there has seldom been anything like the funerals of the two little girls. Each private service had congregations topping 2,000.

"It was very hard, very hard indeed," said Tim, overcome momentarily by memories too painful to contemplate.

His town and flock are indelibly marked by the heartbreak. Only if you landed from Mars could you be forgiven for not knowing about Soham, he says.

A sense of normality is returning. An empty, silent playground is once again resonating with children's chatter and laughter. The tragedy will never be forgotten, but it is no longer a malignant presence affecting each and every resident.

"Both families continue to bear up with remarkable fortitude. It has been humbling to walk by their sides in their journey of abject grief," said Tim Alban Jones MBE.

Former school caretaker Ian Huntley has been charged with the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. His girlfriend, Maxine Carr, a former teaching assistant, is charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Their trials are due to be held at the Old Bailey, London, later in the year.

February 27, 2003 14:00