A prisoner has been charged with the murder of Ian Huntley, the convicted killer of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, after the Soham murderer died in hospital following a brutal attack at a maximum-security jail in County Durham.
Anthony Russell, 43, a fellow inmate at HMP Frankland, was charged by Durham Constabulary after Huntley, 52, died on the morning of Saturday 7 March — nine days after being assaulted in the prison’s workshop on 26 February. Russell is due to appear via videolink at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 11 March.
Huntley had been on life support in hospital following the attack, during which he suffered severe brain trauma. His life support was switched off after brain stem tests confirmed he was in a vegetative state, with his mother Lynda Richards present at his bedside.
A spokesman for Durham Constabulary confirmed: “Emergency services were called to reports of an assault in the workshop on the morning of Thursday, February 26. Ian Huntley, 52, was taken to hospital with serious injuries but died on the morning of Saturday, March 7. Anthony Russell, 43, of HMP Frankland, has been charged with murder.”
Christopher Atkinson of the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed prosecutors had established sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial and that it was in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings. “Our prosecutors have worked to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings,” he said.
Huntley had been serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years following his conviction at the Old Bailey in 2003 for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both aged ten, in Soham, Cambridgeshire. The two girls disappeared on 4 August 2002 after leaving a family barbecue to buy sweets. Their bodies were found 13 days later in a ditch approximately ten miles away, sparking one of the largest police searches in British criminal history.
At the time of the murders, Huntley lived with Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant at the girls’ primary school, who provided him with a false alibi. Carr was jailed for 21 months for perverting the course of justice and has since been released and given a new identity.
Russell is set to face the murder charge formally when he appears before Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
