Huntley 'stable but critical' after prison suicide bid

Soham murder accused Ian Huntley was in a stable but critical condition in hospital today following an apparent suicide bid.

He was found having a fit in his cell in the early hours of yesterday morning after taking an overdose of anti-depressants at one of Britain’s top security prisons, sources said.

An investigation was launched immediately, focusing on the suspicion that Huntley, 29, had stored up his prescribed medication for the overdose.

He was charged with the double murder of Cambridgeshire schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman last August.

The former school caretaker had been on suicide watch since his last court appearance, when he denied the killings, and was understood to have been receiving medication for depression for some time.

He was discovered “fitting” in his cell by officers at Woodhill prison who had orders to check him every 15 minutes over fears he could try to kill himself.

Harry Fletcher, of the National Association of Probation Officers, said he had learned from sources that Huntley had overdosed on the anti-depressants, which he had collected and hidden in tea bags inside his cell.

He was rushed from the prison near Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, to a hospital by ambulance but was in a coma by the time he arrived, at about 4am.

Prison Service officials asked that the hospital should not be identified amid security fears.

Mark Leech, editor of the Prisons Handbook, said: “Even in a coma I wouldn’t be surprised to find three officers around his bed and even him handcuffed.

“It’s not only preventing him from escaping but it’s also because of the uproar this case has caused.”

An early report on the investigation is expected by Friday.

Mark Freeman, deputy general secretary of the Prison Officers Association (POA), said a recent change in prison procedures could have given Huntley his chance.

“This will no doubt be an embarrassment for the Prison Service and the government,” he said.

“They will be looking for someone to blame and the chances are that it will be some poor wing officers who unfortunately have been dispensing medication that, in our opinion, they are not medically trained to do.”

Officers have to hand out drugs after medical officers have left prisons at night, he said, adding that the changes had come into force in recent months.

Conservative home affairs spokesman James Paice, whose South East Cambridgeshire constituency covers Soham, has written to Home Secretary David Blunkett to demand an inquiry.

Mr Paice said: “I want to know what happened, how it happened and who is responsible. Mr Blunkett must hold a full inquiry.”

The measures designed to stop prisoners committing suicide came under scrutiny after Fred West was found hanged in his cell in Birmingham before his trial.

But the number of suicides in prisons leapt last year, with campaign groups blaming the increase in the number of inmates.

And a report into Woodhill Prison in February last year concluded that the institution was “seriously short of staff, aggravated by high sickness levels”.

Some cells at the prison have CCTV cameras, allowing 24-hour surveillance, but it was not known whether Huntley had such a cell.

A Prison Service spokeswoman said an investigation had been launched into the Huntley incident and that ministers were being kept informed.

She denied reports that any staff at Woodhill had been suspended over the incident.

“We can confirm that Ian Huntley was taken to an outside hospital at 4am this morning following a serious incident of self-harm,” she said.

“As is normal Prison Service practice, a thorough investigation has begun into the circumstances surrounding this incident. Ministers are being kept informed.”

Huntley was charged with double murder following the disappearance of Holly and Jessica on August 4, last year.

He has admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice in connection with the deaths but denies murdering the girls, both 10, who vanished after being seen walking near their homes in Soham.

Their bodies were found on August 17 in a ditch near Lakenheath, Suffolk.