Ian Huntley died from prison attack head injury

Ian Huntley’s Death Resulted from Prison Attack Injury

During an inquest, it was revealed that Ian Huntley, the convicted killer of two Soham schoolgirls, died from a severe head injury sustained during a prison assault. The 52-year-old was attacked multiple times with a metal bar at HMP Frankland in Durham on 26 February, and he succumbed to his wounds nine days later at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Previously a school caretaker, Huntley was serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years for the 2002 murders of 10-year-old schoolfriends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire. The inquest noted that further investigations into his death would be paused as criminal proceedings continue.

Anthony Russell, 43, has been charged with Huntley’s murder and is set to stand trial in Newcastle Crown Court on 24 April. In the documents shared with the coroner, the brief hearing in Crook, County Durham, stated that Huntley had been ‘struck over the head multiple times by another prisoner with an object described as a metal bar’.

In the documents presented to the coroner, the brief hearing in Crook, County Durham, revealed that Huntley had been ‘struck over the head multiple times by another prisoner with an object described as a metal bar’.

Dr Jennifer Bolton, the forensic pathologist, conducted a post-mortem two days after the incident and determined the cause of death to be ‘blunt head injury’, as reported by the coroner.

In August 2002, the schoolgirls disappeared after leaving a family barbecue in Soham. It is believed they were heading to buy sweets when Huntley, then aged 28, lured them back to his home and killed them. Their disappearance captured national headlines and triggered police appeals. The bodies were later found in a ditch two weeks following their disappearance.

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