Staff at the Grimsby Telegraph have been working flat out after a call to their office describing the Grimsby background of Soham caretaker Ian Huntley, under arrest in connection with the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

The call to crime reporter Zoe Corney resulted in an immediate call to Humberside police, who in turn called their Cambridgeshire counterparts. Huntley and his partner Maxine Carr were later taken in for questioning.

The paper has been manning the newsroom on a 24-hour basis since the news broke, printed a news front page to its 5.30pm football special on Saturday. And Monday’s paper was distributed with the nationals following a 5am print run. Four pages were updated for the lunchtime edition change.

Assistant editor Nigel Lowther said: “We got a phone call to say the caller believed Huntley had a Grimsby link.

“You are never sure when you get a call like that – but we rang the police and then broke the news on Saturday morning with all the Grimsby angles.

“We had a good edition on Saturday, with four pages on the story including the front page ‘local couple quizzed’.

“There was a huge amount of legwork on the part of the newsroom, with people working here until the early hours of Saturday morning.

“Then the dramatic statement from the police that they had been arrested meant we called everyone back in again to update all the news.”

The dramatic local story led to reporters uncovering several local leads, which were all followed up by the national press the next day, as the media scrum descended on Grimsby.

Editor Michelle Lalor has been co-ordinating the night shifts while the story developed, with Nigel picking up for morning conference. All staff, including sales and distribution people, have all been working flat out to get the editions on the streets.

He said: “It’s been terrifically rewarding for everyone involved.”

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