The murder inquiry was one of Britain's biggest

The Home Office has already given the authority �3.5m but a further �1.4m has been requested.

Holly and Jessica, both 10, were murdered in August 2002 shortly after leaving their homes in Soham.

Former school caretaker Ian Huntley was convicted in December of their murders and sentenced to life.

Major inquiry

The murder inquiry was one of the biggest ever launched in Britain.

An authority spokeswoman said: "The extra money is vital if the constabulary is to maintain an effective and efficient police service for the county's residents as the authority looks towards managing resources for the 2005-06 financial year.

"The supplementary bid is based on actual and committed expenditure in 2002-03 plus actual expenditure to August last year and an estimate for final costs leading up to the trial."

Neither the legislation nor my office were in any way responsible for the deletion of these critical records Information Commissioner Richard Thomas Police twice warned over Huntley

The Bichard inquiry is currently investigating how Huntley was cleared to work at a Soham school despite claims of sexual assault against him.

He was appointed as Soham Village College caretaker after checks on him showed no trace of the previous allegations, which included four suspected rapes.

On Thursday the inquiry heard that Humberside's chief constable was twice warned not to blame the Data Protection Act for the deletion of records on Huntley.

On Thursday Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said: "I will not disguise from you the sense of relief that it was accepted in this particular case by the Chief Constable of Humberside... he now fully accepts that neither the legislation nor my office were in any way responsible for the deletion of these critical records.