Soham murderer Ian Huntley dies after HMP Frankland prison attack | Soham murders
Child killer Ian Huntley died in hospital just a week after being attacked in a maximum security prison.
The former schoolkeeper murdered Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both 10, in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on August 4, 2002. The girls had left the family barbecue to get candy.
On February 26, reports emerged that Huntley, 52, had been hospitalized after suffering serious brain trauma in the attack, which reportedly took place in a workshop at HMP Frankland in County Durham. He is thought to have been attacked with a spiked metal pole, according to the Sun, which first reported the incident. It was also reported that he was taken off life support on Friday after his condition worsened.
The murders of friends Holly and Jessica were followed by a 13-day search that became one of the most intense searches in British criminal history. Their bodies were found in a ditch near an RAF base about 10 miles from Soham.
Four hundred police officers were assigned to the case full-time and investigators questioned every registered sex offender in Cambridgeshire and neighboring Lincolnshire.
Huntley became a suspect after he claimed to have chatted with the girls shortly after they were last seen. His uneasy demeanor and questions about how long DNA evidence would last made police officers suspicious.
Huntley was initially given an alibi by his partner Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant known to the girls, but this fell apart during police questioning. He was later arrested when officers searching his business found burnt pieces of the Manchester United jerseys the girls were wearing when they disappeared and other evidence linking him to the crime.
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.”
A Durham constabulary spokesman said: “A man who was attacked at HMP Frankland in Durham last week died in hospital this morning. Ian Huntley, 52, was taken to hospital with serious injuries following the incident in the workshop on Thursday morning (26 February).
“The police investigation into the circumstances of the incident is ongoing. A file is being prepared for the Crown Prosecution Service to consider charges.”
Huntley was serving two life sentences for the murders, while Carr had served half of a 42-month sentence for perverting the course of justice.
HMP Frankland is a category A prison, meaning it has maximum security and houses a number of high-profile prisoners, including Michael Adebolajo, one of the two men convicted of killing Lee Rigby; serial killer Levi Bellfield; and Wayne Couzens, the police officer who killed Sarah Everard.
Violent attacks on prisons are not uncommon. In April last year, three prison officers were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries including burns and stab wounds after they were allegedly attacked with hot cooking oil and homemade weapons by Hashem Abedi, the brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi.
