Ian Huntley remains in hospital after prison workshop attack

ian huntley remains in a serious condition in hospital after being attacked by another inmate at a prison workshop, police and. The 52-year-old has suffered significant head trauma and is undergoing treatment.

Attack at HMP Frankland

Prison staff discovered Huntley after he had been bludgeoned with a makeshift weapon and was lying in a pool of blood at a workshop in HMP Frankland, the high-security jail in County Durham. Accounts of the assault say a metal pole or metal spike was used in the frenzied ambush and that the attacker was heard shouting, "I've done it! I've done it!"

Durham Constabulary update

Durham Constabulary issued an update on Friday stating there had been "no change in the 52-year-old man's condition overnight - he remains in hospital in a serious condition". The force confirmed a police investigation is under way and that detectives are liaising with prison staff. Police previously said a male prisoner in his mid-40s suspected of carrying out the attack was "in detention" but had not been arrested "at this stage".

Suspect Anthony Russell identified

Anthony Russell, 43, is suspected of attacking Huntley. Russell is serving a whole-life prison term for the murders of Julie Williams, her son David Williams and Nicole McGregor, whose body was found in woodland near Leamington Spa. Russell admitted those murders during a week-long spree in October 2020.

Ian Huntley: sentence and injuries

Huntley, 52, is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years for the murders of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in August 2002. He suffered significant head trauma in the latest assault and is receiving treatment in hospital. This is not the first time he has been attacked in custody: he was slashed across the throat in 2010 and needed 21 stitches, and in 2005 another convicted murderer threw boiling water over him at HMP Wakefield.

Victims, memory and local detail

In the commuter town of Soham in Cambridgeshire, Huntley killed two ten-year-old girls in the summer of 2002. Holly and Jessica had been at a family barbeque and were believed to be on their way to buy sweets when Huntley, then aged 28, lured them back to his home and killed them. The photo of the girls in their red Manchester United football kits remains etched in the minds of many who remember their disappearance and murder more than 20 years on.

Press reaction and wider headlines

Early editions of Friday's papers came out before the result of the Gorton and Denton by-election, and the attack on Huntley dominated front pages under headlines including "I've done it! I've done it", "Huntley fights for life" and references to a metal spike. One source was quoted as saying, "the attacker got him when he least expected it", and another front-page line described Huntley as "close to death".

Other national coverage noted unrelated stories on the same early editions: warnings that hospitals and care homes face "an impending car crash" as analysis of Home Office figures suggests the number of "foreign nurses granted entry to Britain has fallen by 93% over three years"; an internal audit by Global Counsel uncovered a "significant" tranche of Lord Mandelson's business emails as the government prepares to release messages from his time as ambassador to the US, with the peer having stopped being able to access his email address last February and Global Counsel going into administration last week; accusations that peers are sabotaging assisted dying legislation in England and Wales, with Baroness Berger saying supporters are "attacking Lords who are only doing their job" and a suggestion that about 50 MPs in favour would try to force the measure through private member's bills if it fails; and a front-page image of Kim Jong Un and his teenage daughter Kim Ju Ae at a military parade, which some said had "fuelled speculation she is being groomed to become the eventual leader of the dictatorship".

As investigations continue into the attack at HMP Frankland, detectives remain in contact with prison staff while the 52-year-old prisoner remains in hospital with significant head injuries.

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