Ian Huntley’s last letter hints at fears before fatal prison attack | UK | News
Huntley published his final letter on February 18, addressing the struggles within the prison walls. (Image: TV shooting)
Ian Huntley sent a final letter to a female pen pal just eight days before he was brutally attacked in prison last week.
The 52-year-old man was at the time serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both of whom had ten counts.
The girls disappeared after leaving a family barbecue to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on August 4, 2002, and were never seen alive again by their family.
Huntley published his final letter on February 18, alluding to struggles within the prison walls and citing fears of an impending attack. “I’ve had a lot to deal with lately,” Huntley told his female reporter.
Prisoner A5274AE Huntley begins his letter by saying: “I’m sorry I haven’t written sooner, but I’ve had a lot to sort out lately. I hate writing letters at the best of times.”
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According to The Sun, the paranoid killer continues: “I had to think about it for a while. For your safety, I decided to throw away everything you sent and not get your search and visit warrant.”
He says to the woman who started corresponding with him in October last year and sent him a Christmas card: “You are a very nice person and I don’t want you to be harmed by your devotion to me.”
Huntley concludes: “Believe me when I say I’ve given this matter a lot of thought and I firmly believe it’s for the best. I hope you end up well. Best wishes, Ian.”
Ian Huntley, 28, caretaker of Soham Village College Secondary School in Soham, Cambridgeshire (Image: PA)
The woman’s identity was not disclosed.
Soham’s killer was hospitalized last Thursday after allegations that he hit a prisoner in the head with a metal pole. Huntley was initially presumed dead by prison officers when they discovered him lying unconscious in a pool of blood at HMP Frankland, also known as ‘The Monster Mansion’.
The child killer suffered catastrophic injuries, including skull fractures, brain damage and a broken jaw. He spent his final days in a medically induced coma, relying on a ventilator to breathe.
Soham killer was hospitalized last Thursday (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)
His mother, Lynda Richards, who was visiting her dying son, reportedly did not recognize Huntley after the attack.
The Department of Justice confirmed Huntley’s death on Saturday morning, March 7, after Huntley’s mother, Lynda, 71, agreed to have paramedics withdraw life support.
This wasn’t Huntley’s first prison attack. There had been previous attempts to harm the killer, including in September 2005 when boiling water was poured on him while he was being held at HMP Wakefield in Yorkshire.
Huntley published his last letter on February 18, citing struggles (Image: Daily Mirror)
Five years later, in 2010, Huntley was taken to North Durham University Hospital with a cut to his throat from an improvised weapon.
Damien Fowkes, 36, pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Huntley, as well as the murder of convicted pedophile and child murderer Colin Hatch, at Full Sutton Prison, near York.
Using a razor blade melted onto a piece of plastic cutlery, Fowkes inflicted a seven-inch gash on Huntley’s neck. Fowkes reportedly turned to a prison officer and asked: “Is he dead? I hope so.”
