Maxine Carr: what happened to Ian Huntley's ex-girlfriend, where is she now and how to watch Maxine on Netflix

Maxine, which originally aired on Channel 5 in 2022, is now available to watch on Netflix. The true crime drama series explores Carr's role in the Soham murders after she gave her former boyfriend Ian Huntley a false alibi.

The Soham murders gripped the UK in the early 2000s. 10-year-old friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman disappeared in August 2002, triggering a massive 13-day search which led to the discovery of their bodies 10 miles from where they had been killed.

School caretaker Ian Huntley was found guilty of the horrific murders and sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment. What made the crimes even more heinous was the lengths he went to derail the investigation, which included doing a live TV interview and his girlfriend Carr giving false statements to the police about his whereabouts.

So, what happened to Maxine Carr and where is she now? Here's everything you need to know.

Who is Maxine Carr?

Maxine Carr is a 46-year-old woman from Grimsby, Lincolnshire. Dubbed "Britain’s most hated woman", she provided a false alibi for her then-boyfriend Ian Huntley during the investigation of the Soham murders in 2002.

The horrific crime involved the murder of two 10-year-old friends, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Carr's then-boyfriend Huntley, who was the school caretaker had committed the crime and went to extreme lengths to cover up his involvement, including actively joining in the search and appearing in a TV interview.

When questioned Carr lied to police saying she had been with Huntley when the girls had gone missing. However, the teaching assistant was actually 100 miles away in Grimsby at a nightclub. Questioned by police after the girl's bodies had been found Carr quickly confessed.

Carr was found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison. However, she served only 21 months of her 42-month sentence and was released from prison in Derbyshire on 14 May 2004.

Where is Maxine Carr now?

Carr served just 21 months of her prison sentence and was released under a lifetime anonymity order with a new identity for her protection in 2004. This means that her identity, career and location cannot be revealed while she is alive.

In 2005, Mr Justice Eady gave an indefinite extension to the existing order banning publication of her whereabouts or nature of her work. Her defence argued there was a “real and significant risk of injury or of worse - killing” if an order was not made. Despite this, her information was leaked in 2020, with Carr having to be moved to a safe house.

It has been reported that since her release from prison, she lives in a seaside town, married in 2014 and has a son.

How to watch Maxine on Netflix

Maxine is now available to watch on Netflix after the three-episode drama dropped on Thursday 12 October. The true crime series, which originally aired on Channel 5 in 2022, focuses on the role that Carr played in giving false information to the investigation and the impact that had on catching Huntley.