An English woman living in Coleraine has said that she in is living in fear, after being mistakenly identified as Maxine Carr, former girlfriend of Soham murderer Ian Huntley.

Karen Meek, 31, and originally from Brighton in England, was visited by two CID officers two weeks ago, who warned her of a threat which had been made to police.

Since, the warning, Mrs Meek says that her life has become a “nightmare” with damage being caused to her husband's van, and strangers calling to her home.

She said: "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.

"From what I could see on TV she looked tiny. I'm a size 18, for goodness sake."

The Meek family moved from Edinburgh in Scotland to Northern Ireland in May last year.

The DUP's MP for East Londonderry, Gregory Campbell, said that Mrs Meek should be left to get on with her life.

He said: "Mrs. Karen Meek is a constituent of mine who bears no resemblance whatsover to Maxine Carr, is of a different age to Carr and wasn't even in the UK when the gruesome events that occurred in Soham took place. She seems to have been wrongly identified as Maxine Carr who is living anonymously. Mrs. Meek was visited by Police several weeks ago and told of the precautions she needs to take as a result of someone wrongly identifying her. This has made her extremely vulnerable and nervous, she is presently off work and attending the doctor for treatment for the nervous disposition she now has.”

He continued: “Her life and the lives of her family have been changed utterly since the Police information. Telephone calls and personal callers at her home are now viewed by her as potentially people seeking revenge on the wrong person. I have offered my assistance in her going public in order that as many people as possible can see the mistake that has caused her so much anguish.

All she asks is to be left alone to continue her life. I hope that wish can be respected as the real Maxine Carr will obviously shun publicity while Mrs. Meek has had to go public to demonstrate the blatant and costly mistake that has been made."

Former school caretaker Huntley received two life sentence for the murders of 10-year-old Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, in Soham, Cambridgeshire in August 2002.

Carr, originally from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, has already served a 21 month prison sentence for lying on behalf of Huntley at the time of the murders.

She was released from jail in May 2004 and given a new identity.

(EF)