Is Ian Huntley Still Alive after Prison Attack that Left Him Hospitalised?

Questions have been raised about whether ian huntley still alive after a serious prison assault that left him in hospital with head injuries. The 52-year-old Soham murderer remains in a serious condition following the attack at HMP Frankland.

Is Ian Huntley Still Alive?

Huntley was found in a pool of blood at HMP Frankland in Durham on Thursday and was taken to hospital after what is described as an alleged attack by an unknown inmate. A Durham Constabulary spokesperson said there had been no change in the 52-year-old's condition overnight and: "He remains in hospital in a serious condition. "

Prison assault and injuries

Initial accounts state the latest assault left Huntley with significant head trauma after he was bludgeoned with a makeshift weapon in a workshop at HMP Frankland. Police earlier said that a man in his mid-40s was being investigated over the incident. "He has not been arrested at this stage but remains in detention within the prison, " the force added.

Previous attacks and prosecutions

Huntley has been attacked several times in custody. In 2011, an inmate who slashed Huntley's throat with a makeshift knife was jailed for life. Damien Fowkes was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years for the attempted murder of Huntley in March 2010 and the manslaughter of child killer Colin Hatch. Fowkes inflicted a wound seven inches long on Huntley's neck, and the court was told it was only "good fortune" that the weapon missed anything vital.

Prison context and risk

The brutality of Huntley's crimes has made him a target in prison. Observers note that any prisoner convicted of a child sex crime is a target for other inmates. From his first day inside, there was said to be a price on Huntley's head — not a monetary one, but the promise of "respect" for anyone who attacked him. In the violent world of a top security jail, respect from fellow cons is everything, and there is nothing quite like hurting a prisoner considered "the lowest of the low. " An infamous villain described witnessing a planned prison knife attack on a child sex offender, telling the story years later with relish and no grim detail spared.

Huntley would have been on Rule 43 and held in the prison's unit for vulnerable inmates, mostly sex offenders and police informants too.

History of the Soham case

Huntley, a former school caretaker, murdered two 10-year-old schoolgirls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, in Soham, Cambridgeshire. Holly and Jessica went missing on 4 August 2002 after leaving a family barbecue to go for a walk. They were both pupils in the same class at Soham's junior school. Their disappearance made national headlines and prompted police appeals and searches of the town and the flat countryside of The Fens. The image of them side by side in their matching Manchester United football shirts became ingrained in public memory.

A fortnight after searches began, the youngsters' bodies were found in a ditch about 10 miles away, near RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk; they had been asphyxiated. Suspicions were raised about Huntley after he gave detailed interviews to the media during the search and feigned concern in television interviews. He came out of his house in Soham and sat in his car shortly after speaking to a journalist and gave another media interview at the College Close home he shared with his girlfriend, Maxine Carr.

TV reporter Debbie Tubby gave evidence during the trial, saying that four days after the girls went missing Huntley asked her if police had found their clothes. He also told her that police had searched his house and he believed he was the last person to see the girls alive.

Sentence and judicial comment

Huntley was jailed for life in 2003 and was sentenced to at least 40 years in custody. At sentencing the judge told him he had "little hope of release" for the killings that shocked the nation.

At present, the sequence from the discovery of Huntley at HMP Frankland in a pool of blood on Thursday through his transfer to hospital and the ongoing detention of a man in his mid-40s within the prison are the central facts available about his condition and the immediate investigation.