THE murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman have prompted a children's self-defence class to triple in size at a Worcester martial arts centre.

Children as young as five are learning to defend themselves against knife attacks if they cannot flee their attacker.

Lee Jones, founder of The Lion's Claw Kung-Fu Temple, in St John's, said he believed the girls' murders and other violent attacks were behind the enrolment surge.

"You can't open a paper without seeing something terrible," he said.

The class, called Little Ninjas, uses rubber knives as aids.

"The first thing children are taught to do in the event of a knife attack is to run and scream," said Mr Jones, who has honed his martial arts skills over 21 years.

"But if they have no other choice they are taught to fight."

Holly and Jessica disappeared from their homes in Soham, Cambs, on Sunday, August 4.

Former school caretaker Ian Huntley and his girlfriend, Maxine Carr, were arrested after the girls' bodies were found in a ditch in Lakenheath, Suffolk, on August 17.

Huntley was charged with murder and Carr with perverting the course of justice.

Mr Jones said the group, which started off with three youngsters in June, now had four girls in the 15-strong class.

"We teach children knife defence because some children do take knives to school," he said.

"We teach them how to block and twist, and, if someone goes to slash, we teach them to avoid the knife."

Mr Jones said a similar class for adults had also increased in numbers from seven to 22 since the Temple opened in May this year.

One pupil, he said, thwarted an attacker who tried to stab him in a Bromsgrove supermarket car park six months ago.

"The guy held a knife to the student, who was 17," said Mr Jones, of Pitmaston Road, St John's.

"The lad went into kung-fu stance and waited for the knife. The attacker left because the lad wasn't acting like a victim.

"If you have the sort of attitude that suggests you're not a victim, it puts the attacker off."

Little Ninjas runs from 10am to 11am on Sundays and 6.15pm to 7.15pm on Mondays and Thursdays.

The adult class is staged on Sundays, from 10am to noon, and Mondays and Thursdays, from 7pm to 9pm.

For further information on the courses, contact the Temple on 01905 423884.