{"id":333604,"date":"2026-03-07T10:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T10:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/333604\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T10:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T10:19:09","slug":"soham-child-killer-ian-huntley-confirmed-dead-after-attack-in-maximum-security-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/333604\/","title":{"rendered":"Soham child killer Ian Huntley confirmed dead after attack in maximum security prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 52-year-old suffered severe brain trauma in the attack at HMP Frankland, Durham, on February 26.<\/p>\n

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: \u201cThe murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman remains one of the most shocking and devastating cases in our nation\u2019s history, and our thoughts are with their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huntley, who murdered the 10-year-olds in 2002, had been on life support in hospital after being hit repeatedly over the head by an inmate armed with a metal bar.<\/p>\n

His life support was switched off at lunchtime on Friday after brain tests showed he was in a vegetative state, The Sun reported, and he was confirmed dead on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The attack left Huntley blind, the newspaper said, and it quoted a source saying: \u201cHuntley never recovered from the battering and never stood much of a chance of doing so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murderer and rapist Anthony Russell, 43, reportedly shouted \u201cI\u2019ve done it, I\u2019ve done it\u201d after Huntley was attacked in the recycling area of the prison.<\/p>\n

\"Ian<\/p>\n

Ian Huntley murdered Holly Wells, left, and Jessica Chapman<\/p>\n

\"Ian<\/p>\n

Ian Huntley. Photo: Toby Melville\/PA<\/p>\n

News in 90 seconds – Saturday, March 7 <\/p>\n

Durham Constabulary has not identified the suspect but it said on the day of the attack that a man in his mid-40s had been detained.<\/p>\n

After the attack, Huntley\u2019s only daughter Samantha Bryan, 27, told The Sun on Sunday of her father: \u201cThere\u2019s a special place in hell waiting for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huntley murdered Holly and Jessica after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on August 4 2002. He dumped their bodies in a ditch.<\/p>\n

Russell was sentenced to a whole-life tariff in 2021 for the murders of Julie Williams, 58, and her son David Williams, 32, at separate flats in Coventry, and pregnant 31-year-old Nicole McGregor, who was found in woodland near Leamington Spa three days later.<\/p>\n

Russell also raped Ms McGregor.<\/p>\n

Huntley\u2019s life sentence recommended he serve at least 40 years for the Soham murders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 52-year-old suffered severe brain trauma in the attack at HMP Frankland, Durham, on February 26. A Ministry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,898,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-333604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-latest-news-ticker","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}