SOHAM killer Ian Huntley wrote a chilling letter to his daughter refusing to meet her — thwarting her bid to find out the truth about the murders that shocked the nation.
Samantha Bryan, 26, asked to visit her father at Frankland prison in Durham in the hope she could finally persuade him to reveal what happened when he killed schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002.
Huntley was a school caretaker in East Cambridgeshire when he abducted and murdered the ten-year-old girls in one of Britain’s most notorious crimes.
But in a cryptic letter Huntley, serving a life sentence, replied: “Given the probable length of my future and your current motives I doubt there will be enough time for a significant shift in circumstances in order for us to ever meet”.
Samantha, of Cleethorpes, Lincs, now wonders if time may be running out for Huntley.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun on Sunday, she blasted: “He’s shown he’s a pitiful, twisted, manipulative coward.
“There’s so many other things I could call him. I feel contempt.
“His letter has left me with even more questions than I had before.
“He might be ill but I don’t know for sure given he’s written about the probable length of his future. I don’t know what that means.
“But surely if he is sick you’d want to give some answers — you’d have nothing left to lose. Or maybe he is referring to the length of his sentence.
“But one thing is clear — he’s not going to meet me.
“There was never any thought of forgiveness from me, but a part of me did hope that he might tell at least part of the truth.
“Maybe he doesn’t want to give the answers as that’s the only way he can get attention.”
Huntley, now 50, said in court both girls died accidentally, claiming Holly drowned in the bath and that he inadvertently suffocated Jessica while trying to stifle her screams.
But in 2018 he confessed to deliberately killing Jessica to stop her from raising the alarm about Holly’s death.
Samantha wrote asking to meet him because she feared that time might run out as he has reportedly suffered health problems and been subjected to violent attacks in jail.
He has also attempted suicide.
She believes his handwritten reply is self-serving.
Samantha said: “I think whatever people’s opinions are of him, he doesn’t want to make it worse for himself. It’s a cowardly thing to do.
“A part of me has imagined sitting face to face with him and what he would say.
“A part of me was terrified. I’ve had nightmares about him since I was little. I still get them.
“So in one sense, a part of me is relieved. A part of me is angry. A part of me is sad that he’s not going to give answers. A part of me still needs answers.
“I have to reconcile that is not going to happen. That’s hard.”
Samantha was 14 when she accidentally found out Huntley was her father.
While researching a school project on crime, she searched for Huntley’s name on a computer in her classroom and saw a pixelated photo of herself.
She discovered her mother Katie Bryan, 46, had alleged she had met him as a 15-year-old schoolgirl and they embarked on a relationship when she was under the legal age of consent.
Katie claims their relationship descended into violence culminating in an act of rape as she got out of a bath, for which she courageously waived her anonymity.
She also alleges he made her eat cat food when she burned his dinner, cut off her hair so other men wouldn’t admire her and pushed her down the stairs when she was pregnant with Samantha.
I feel he was trying to manipulate and put a barrier between me and my mum and make me question what she’s told me.
Samantha Bryan
That was the catalyst for her to leave him.
Yet in his letter Huntley denied ever hurting her.
Samantha said: “I was stunned when I read that.
“The whole point was to talk about the possibility of us meeting.
“It had nothing to do with my mum and there was no need to bring her into it at all.
“It confirms his sh**ty character.
“I feel he was trying to manipulate and put a barrier between me and my mum and make me question what she’s told me.
“But I don’t doubt her. I’ve seen my mum’s emotion when she told me what happened. You can’t fake something like that.”
Samantha added: “I had hoped to get answers for myself but also for Holly and Jessica’s families.
“It deeply troubles me that they haven’t had answers. But his reply is so definitive I’m now going to step back and stop hoping.
“I need to step away — for the sake of my sanity and my future.”
HUNTLEY’S retracing of the pen strokes in his letter shows he is unsure of his own actions.
He is used to being judged and worries that he isn’t too bright but can avoid any responsibility for his own actions.
The tangling of the lines indicates a character with poor judgment and planning.
He is very used to hiding how he really feels.
The occasional leftward leaning letter indicates a controlled and controlling man. He is self-centred and self-interested.
