Soham killer Ian Huntley ‘blind’ and unlikely to survive prison attack

Ian Huntley: Suffered severe brain trauma in the attack at HMP Frankland, Durham, on February 26. File picture: PA

Soham killer Ian Huntley has been blinded and is not expected to regain consciousness following an attack in the workshop of a maximum security prison.

The 52-year-old reportedly suffered severe brain trauma in the attack at HMP Frankland, Durham, on February 26.

The former school caretaker, who murdered 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002, has been kept on life support in hospital after being hit repeatedly over the head by an inmate armed with a metal bar.

Holly Wells, left, and her best friend Jessica Chapman (Handout/PA)

The Sun reported that the attack has left Huntley blind. A source said: “Huntley never recovered from the battering and never stood much of a chance of doing so.”

Murderer and rapist Anthony Russell, 43, reportedly shouted “I’ve done it, I’ve done it” after Huntley was attacked in the recycling area of the prison.

Durham Constabulary has not identified the suspect but it said on the day of the attack that a man in his mid-40s had been detained.

Huntley murdered Holly and Jessica after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on August 4 2002. He dumped their bodies in a ditch.

Russell was sentenced to a whole-life tariff in 2021 for the murders of Julie Williams, 58, and her son David Williams, 32, at separate flats in Coventry, and pregnant 31-year-old Nicole McGregor, who was found in woodland near Leamington Spa three days later.

Russell also raped Ms McGregor.

The Frankland attack was the latest attempt on Huntley’s life and he was thought to have been kept under close observation to prevent such attacks.

HMP Frankland is in County Durham (Tom Wilkinson/PA)

In 2010, robber Damien Fowkes slashed him with a home-made weapon, causing a “severe, gaping cut to the left side of his neck” with a 7in wound which required 21 stitches.

Fowkes asked a prison officer: “Is he dead? I hope so.”

He described Huntley as a “notorious child killer, both inside prison and in society in general”.

Huntley’s life sentence recommended he serve at least 40 years for the Soham murders.