Soham killer Ian Huntley died in hospital from head injury days after prison attack, inquest hears

Soham killer Ian Huntley died in hospital from a head injury following an attack days earlier in prison, an inquest has heard.

The 52-year-old died in the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle on March 7 after he was allegedly attacked with a metal bar in a workshop at HMP Frankland in Durham on February 26.

The County Durham and Darlington Coroner began an inquest hearing in Crook, County Durham on Tuesday.

Anthony Russell, 43, has been charged with murdering Huntley at the maximum security jail.

He will attend Newcastle Crown Court on April 24 for a pre-trial preparation hearing.

Huntley was serving a life sentence for the 2002 murders of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

The ex-school caretaker killed the best friends after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on August 4 2002. He dumped their bodies in a ditch 10 miles away.

They were not found for 13 days, despite a search involving hundreds of police.

At the time, Huntley lived with Maxine Carr, who was a teaching assistant at Holly and Jessica’s primary school.

He denied murdering the girls but was convicted after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2003. He was jailed for life with a recommended minimum term of 40 years.

Carr gave Huntley a false alibi and was jailed for 21 months for perverting the course of justice.

She is now living under a new identity.