Ian Huntley could get a memorial service and the prison governor will be forced to write a letter of condolence to his family

Double child murderer Ian Huntley could have a taxpayer-funded funeral and memorial service and the prison governor will have to write a letter of condolence to his family after he was beaten to death by a fellow inmate at HMP Frankland.

Huntley, who horrified the country with the murders of ten-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002, died yesterday morning after his life support was switched off on Friday.

Huntley was so hated that his own daughter even called for his ashes to be ‘flushed down the toilet’; however, the prison had to give him traditional death rites as required by government policy.

First, Durham Prison Governor Darren Finley will write a letter of condolence to Huntley’s family and invite them to visit the prison.

He must also offer to contribute up to £3,000 towards funeral costs, which will be paid to funeral directors on receipt of invoices.

This is to cover the reasonable costs of any services the family organizes, including hearse, coffin, faith leader and cremation fees. If the family chooses not to hold a funeral, this money will not be distributed.

Huntley is expected to be cremated at an undisclosed location.

Holly Wells (left) and her best friend Jessica Chapman (right) were murdered by Huntley when they were ten.

HMP Frankland, where Huntley was imprisoned and assaulted, is required by protocol to host a memorial service for Huntley

Moreover, the protocol states that a memorial ceremony should be held through the prison chaplain, in which the family, other prisoners and prison staff can also attend.

Sources told the Daily Mail that Huntley was hit repeatedly in the head with a spiked metal bar taken from a waste metal bin.

Triple killer Anthony Russell, 43, is suspected of launching the brutal attack, which left Huntley ‘torn to shreds like a mouse’ and left in a pool of his own blood.

This weekend prison sources told The Mail that the issue of Huntley’s next of kin had caused ‘discord’ in the family.

The decision to turn off life support had to be her daughter, Samantha Bryan’s.

But Ms. Bryan had never met her father, so it was left to her mother, Lynda Richards.

He had traveled from his home in Lincolnshire to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary a few days after the attack.

Ms Bryan, 27, said: Sun on Sunday He doesn’t believe his father deserves a funeral.

Convicted triple murderer Anthony Russell is suspected of hitting Huntley in the head with a spiked metal bar

Huntley’s 27-year-old daughter, Samantha Bryan, said she would not attend if a funeral was held for her father.

Recordings of Huntley’s conversations behind bars reveal he knew he would die in prison

‘He should not have the dignity of a funeral and a grave,’ he said. I won’t go. For a man like him, a funeral is meaningless.

‘I never want there to be any chance of freaks or weirdos going to a resting place or monument and paying some twisted respect to it.’

Huntley was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum sentence of 40 years in prison in December 2003. Judges told him he had ‘little or no hope’ of being released.

He eventually died without revealing the full truth about the girls’ deaths; just a sanitized version.

He told the court that both girls died accidentally, claiming Holly drowned in the bath and Jessica accidentally strangled her as she tried to muffle her screams.

However, in 2018 he admitted to deliberately killing Jessica to prevent her from raising the alarm. To the chagrin of her family, Holly always maintained that her death was an accident.

Huntley initially claimed that the couple left his home alive, but later admitted that they dumped their bodies in a remote ditch, cut off their clothes and burned their bodies to cover their tracks.

During the 13-day search to find the girls, Huntley was filmed saying he was probably the last person to see them on the day they disappeared, and expressed his condolences to the families.

It was the latest in a series of violent attempts on Huntley’s life by other inmates who hated him for the nature of the unthinkable crimes and his behavior behind bars, which sources say was repulsive.

It was previously reported that Huntley wore a red Manchester United football jersey in prison, which infuriated other inmates.

In 2010, another inmate slit Huntley’s throat, requiring 21 stitches, and in 2005, a convicted murderer poured boiling water on him.

In an image seared into the nation’s consciousness, the two victims were seen wearing Manchester United jerseys in a photo taken shortly before they were killed.

Huntley appeared to have resigned himself to the fact that he would die in prison, as leaked tape recordings of his conversations behind bars revealed.

In 2018, a recording of a phone call in which Huntley confessed to the murders and made a humble apology was leaked to The Sun.

He told a friend: ‘I’m sorry for what I did, I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused Holly and Jessica’s families and friends, I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused my family and friends and I’m sorry for the pain I’ve caused the community of Soham.

‘I am truly sorry and it breaks my heart to be told that I have no regrets; I enjoy something. I do not.’

He said he thought the girls would turn 18 and 21.

Huntley continued: ‘I know that no matter what I say, people won’t think better of me. I know that, I don’t expect it, but I’d rather people know the truth about my feelings.

‘I have nothing to gain by saying these. I know I’ll never get out. ‘I accepted that from day one.’

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘The murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman remain one of the most shocking and devastating cases in our nation’s history and our thoughts are with their families.’