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The force declined to identify the suspect
Mathilde Grandjean Sunday 01 March 2026 15:29 GMT- Bookmark
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Soham killer Ian Huntley seriously injured in prison attack
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Soham killer Ian Huntley remains seriously ill, three days after he was attacked by an inmate with a metal bar in a maximum security jail's workshop.
Durham Constabulary stated on Sunday afternoon that his hospital condition had not changed overnight.
A spokesperson said: “The 52-year-old man remains in hospital in a serious condition, there have been no changes overnight.”
According to reports, triple killer Anthony Russell allegedly shouted “I’ve done it, I’ve done it” after Huntley, 52, was repeatedly smashed over the head at HMP Frankland in Durham, last Thursday morning.
The force declined to identify the suspect but said on the day of the alleged attack that a man in his mid-40s had been detained in the prison but not yet arrested.
Former caretaker Huntley killed 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman 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.
Ian Huntley (PA)Thursday’s assault was the latest attempt on Huntley’s life and he was thought to have been kept under close observation to prevent such attacks.
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 (18cm) 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.
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