HAUNTED by guilt as she stared down one of Britain’s most notorious killers, Jacqui Edwards didn’t think twice as she smacked him clean between the eyes.
Before he shocked the nation with the horrific murders of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman , Ian Huntley had groomed and raped Jacqui’s teenage daughter – and delivered a bone-chilling threat as her terrified mum raced to protect her.
Jacqui recalls how the sick child killer was “as cool as a cucumber” when she told him he would only see her teenage daughter again “over her dead body”.
Chillingly, Huntley smirked: “That can be arranged”.
The shocking confrontation happened as Jacqui rescued her pregnant daughter Katie from Huntley’s clutches after she ran away from home to be with him.
Jacqui, 67, of Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire , also reveals her former charity co-worker Huntley almost became her son-in-law after she introduced him to Katie herself – a guilt she says she still wrestles with every day.
It comes after Katie’s daughter with Huntley, Samantha Bryan, told The Sun of her struggles knowing she was the daughter of a monster , who continues to taunt her in prison with twisted letters.
In 2002, the cowardly killer lured 10-year-olds Holly and Jessica to his home in Soham, Cambridgeshire, before murdering them and disposing of their bodies in an irrigation ditch.
The following year, he was convicted of the double murder and sentenced to life in jail, while his girlfriend Maxine Carr was handed a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for perverting the course of justice.
Years earlier, Jacqui had reported Huntley to police – as did a string of his other victims.
But he lied to cops and claimed Katie had run away from an unhappy home, meaning officers were powerless to act.
Jacqui said: “Ian Huntley very nearly became my son-in-law after he groomed my daughter Katie and persuaded her to run away from home.
“I had a chilling showdown with him when I finally persuaded Katie to escape his clutches as he threatened to kill me.
“While I’d never normally condone any violence, I punched his smirking face and vowed, ‘You will never see my daughter again’ as he had cynically groomed her at just 15.
“He turned to Katie and smirked: ‘I’ll see you soon sweetheart’.
“I replied: ‘Over my dead body’. Then he laughed: ‘That can be arranged’.
“The coldness of his stare was chilling. He was as cool as a cucumber and stood there smirking. I didn’t realise how evil he could be until that moment.”
Betrayal, rage and guilt
Jacqui first met Huntley when she worked selling lottery tickets door-to-door in Grimsby and Huntley was a co-worker. They would travel together in a van.
Her daughter Katie would often join them on the rounds after school or on weekends.
She said: “The fact I was the one who introduced my daughter Katie to Ian Huntley is something I have to live with every day.
“I still feel the betrayal, rage and guilt because he went on to control, abuse and rape her.
“She wasn’t his only victim in the years before the tragedy of Holly and Jessica because he was charming, yet that disguised the truth.
“I will always regret introducing them, but the thing is I would not have my granddaughter, Sammy – who is Huntley’s only biological child – if I hadn’t, and she is my world.
“Huntley groomed me first before he groomed Katie – he was an arch manipulator of people.
“He got really friendly and gave me a sob story about how he didn’t have enough money for food and so I invited him round for dinner.
“I had no idea he was actually trying to get close to my 15-year-old.
I didn’t realise how evil he could be until that moment
Jacqui Edwards
“They’d often sit next to each other in the van. And he took moments when I was working to tell her he loved her and how special she was.
“She was innocent and she fell for him.
“After a few weeks he said, ‘I’m going to the shops. Can Katie come with me? I’ll look after her?’
“He seemed so nice I said yes.
“But instead of taking her to the shops he took her to a pub, plied her with drink and took her home for the night with him.
“When the hours passed and she didn’t come home I started ringing his phone as she didn’t have a mobile.
“Eventually he answered and he chillingly said: ‘She’s not coming home, she’s staying with me.’
“It was the beginning of a nightmare.”
Brainwashed
Frantic Jacqui drove round to his house, pounding on the door, demanding to see her daughter.
She said: “He wouldn’t let me in. I said: ‘I want to see Katie.’ When he refused I said: ‘I’m getting the police’.
“The next day I tried to see her again to get her to see sense before making a police complaint.
“When they went round to see him he lied and said there’d been a family row and he was just looking after her.
“It was his word against mine and she was already brainwashed.
“I remember the police told me, ‘if we bring her home she will only run away again’.
“I felt powerless. By the time I went round to his house a third time to get her back they had vanished.”
After several weeks Katie made contact with her mum, but hid the fact that Huntley had become abusive.
“She looked thin and in desperation I offered for them to move into a caravan in my garden so at least I could look after her.
“My plan was at least I knew where she was and I could then try to get her away from his clutches.
“Within weeks I got a phone call from a neighbour saying, ‘Jacqui something is going on in your house.’
Pregnancy tests
“I rushed home from work and discovered he had hit her. I chucked him out.
“Katie was really upset as she idolised him and the next morning I woke up to find she had run away again.
“On the side there was a note saying, ‘If you don’t come back with me I’m getting back with my old girlfriend’.
“I didn’t hear from her again for months.
“I got a call out of the blue asking to meet her and she came to my house and told me she thought she was pregnant.
He used to lock her in a room when he went out so she couldn’t escape. She was broken
Jacqui Edwards
“She didn’t dare tell Ian.
“We bought a pregnancy test and when it was positive I was terrified for her unborn baby.
“I begged her to come home and she wouldn’t.
“I told her she had to tell Ian. When she did he forced her to have four pregnancy tests, one after another, then refused to talk about the baby.”
Sadistic violence
A few weeks later Katie rang her mum begging for help as impending motherhood gave her the courage to break away.
Jacqui said: “Katie’s unborn baby who is now my granddaughter Sammy was the catalyst that saved her life.
“He’d become violent one final time and punched her in the stomach and shoved her down the stairs.
“She called me, she was crying and sobbing and she said: ‘Come and pick me up please while he is out.’
“That’s when we had our showdown.
“In the weeks after she got home, I later discovered Katie had suffered sadistic, domestic violence, and experienced rape and degradation at Huntley’s hands.
“He used to lock her in a room when he went out so she couldn’t escape. She was broken.
“I’ll never recover from knowing he did that to my little girl.”
But as Sammy grew inside her, Katie found an inner strength and began to heal from the horror.
Jacqui said: “When Sammy was born she became a brilliant mum. Sammy is the light that came from the darkness. I’m so incredibly proud of them both.”
Jacqui has begged Sammy not to try to meet her biological father, who she has never met, but he has written to her from jail.
Jacqui said: “Sammy has suffered years of abuse for being Huntley’s daughter and it’s been incredibly hard to grow up with people judging you for the sins of your father, but that has happened to her.
“It’s been hard for her to know the man who created you is a monster.
I had no idea when I first met him he was a monster. I thought monsters were the stuff of horror films
Jacqui Edwards
“On the one hand I understand why she desperately wants to meet him to try to get some peace.
“Yet I’m against it as I also know that she hopes that one day he will do the right thing for once in his life.
“I fear he won’t have the courage to do that. He can never take away the pain he has caused, but he should have the courage to give them answers.
“I’ve begged her not to meet him.
“I had no idea when I first met him he was a monster. I thought monsters were the stuff of horror films.
“But through him I know the real monsters are here among us and I don’t want that to ever touch her life.”
Who are the UK's worst serial killers?
THE UK's most prolific serial killer was actually a doctor.
Here’s a rundown of the worst offenders in the UK.
- British GP Harold Shipman is one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history. He was found guilty of murdering 15 patients in 2000, but the Shipman Inquiry examined his crimes and identified 218 victims, 80 per cent of whom were elderly women.
- After his death Jonathan Balls was accused of poisoning at least 22 people between 1824 and 1845.
- Mary Ann Cotton is suspected of murdering up to 21 people, including husbands, lovers and children. She is Britain’s most prolific female serial killer . Her crimes were committed between 1852 and 1872, and she was hanged in March 1873.
- Amelia Sach and Annie Walters became known as the Finchley Baby Farmers after killing at least 20 babies between 1900 and 1902. The pair became the first women to be hanged at Holloway Prison on February 3, 1903.
- William Burke and William Hare killed 16 people and sold their bodies .
- Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe was found guilty in 1981 of murdering 13 women and attempting to kill seven others between 1975 and 1980.
- Dennis Nilsen was caged for life in 1983 after murdering up to 15 men when he picked them up from the streets. He was found guilty of six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to life in jail.
- Fred West was found guilty of killing 12 but it’s believed he was responsible for many more deaths .
