Soham murderer Ian Huntley is back in prison after reportedly having his throat slashed by a fellow prison inmate.
The 36-year-old was attacked yesterday in Frankland Prison in County Durham, where he is serving two life sentences for murdering schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
He was taken to an undisclosed hospital outside the prison, where his condition was not believed to be life-threatening, the Ministry of Justice said. Prison officials launched an investigation into what happened.
It has been reported that Huntley’s throat was slashed with a makeshift knife, and he was found by prison staff lying in a pool of blood.
He was convicted of murdering Holly and Jessica, who were both 10, in December 2003 after they vanished from their homes in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in August 2002.
The murder of the two girls sent shockwaves across the country.
Huntley, a caretaker at the secondary school in Soham, and his then girlfriend Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant in Holly and Jessica’s junior school class, initially told police that they knew nothing of the circumstances surrounding the girls’ disappearance.
But it emerged at their trial at the Old Bailey that Huntley had met Holly and Jessica as they walked past his home, enticed them inside and killed them before hiding their remains.
Huntley was given two life terms after being convicted of the girls’ murders.
Carr was jailed after being convicted of perverting the course of justice and has now been released from prison. Yesterday’s assault is not the first time Huntley has been attacked in prison.
An inmate threw boiling water on him while he was on the health care wing at the high-security Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire in September 2005.
He has also reportedly tried to take his own life while in prison.
He was moved to HMP Frankland, a Category A high security men’s prison, in 2008. That year, HM Inspectorate of Prisons raised concerns about violence at the jail.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “A prisoner at HMP Frankland was assaulted by another prisoner at about 3.25pm on Sunday March 21st.
“The prisoner was taken to outside hospital for treatment. His condition is not thought to be life-threatening.”
Colin Moses, from the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), said prison safety was an issue that had to be addressed. He told the BBC: “What we are asking for, right up to Jack Straw and his ministers, is zero tolerance to violence in our prisons.
“We have more violent prisons than we’ve ever had before.
“We want to see action taken to safeguard staff, safeguard inmates and safeguard the public.”
PA