Ian Huntley Dies Following Prison Attack
Ian Huntley, the former school caretaker convicted of murdering two 10-year-old schoolgirls in Soham, has died after suffering an attack in prison.
The 52-year-old sustained severe head injuries after being assaulted with a makeshift weapon by another inmate at HMP Frankland on 26 February. He was placed on life support in hospital but subsequently passed away.
Huntley was serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years for the murders of best friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002.
The violent nature of his crimes made him a target within the prison system, and he had been attacked multiple times before. The BBC understands that Anthony Russell, a 43-year-old convicted triple killer, is suspected of carrying out the assault on Huntley.
Sources previously informed the BBC that Huntley was discovered lying in a pool of blood after being struck with a makeshift weapon during a workshop at the high-security prison located in County Durham.
The Soham Murders
Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman disappeared after leaving a family barbecue in their small town near Cambridge in August 2002.
It is believed the girls were on their way to purchase sweets when Huntley, who was 28 at the time, lured them back to his home and murdered them.
The image of the girls, wearing their red Manchester United football kits, remains etched in the memories of many who recall their disappearance and tragic deaths.
Their disappearance attracted national media attention and prompted extensive police appeals and exhaustive searches across the town and the flat countryside of The Fens.
Approximately two weeks after the searches commenced, the bodies of the girls were discovered in a ditch about 10 miles away, near RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.
Huntley was arrested on the same day. He was later convicted and sentenced to a minimum of 40 years imprisonment for the double murders.
His girlfriend at the time, Maxine Carr, was also imprisoned in 2003 after being found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice by providing him with a false alibi. She has since been released.
