Ian Huntley remains seriously injured in hospital after being savagely beaten in prison ‘with three-foot metal pole by triple killer inmate’
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Ian Huntley, 52, was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years behind bars for the brutal murders of ten-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman
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Triple killer Anthony Russell, 39, who murdered Julie Williams, her son David Williams and Nicole McGregor, is alleged to have beaten Huntley with a three-foot metal pole up to 15 times
A prison source told the Daily Mail: ‘Huntley was working in waste management with other prisoners from Wing A, the segregated wing for prisoners who can’t be in the normal jail population for their own protection.
‘The other prisoner got a metal bar from the waste metal crates and smashed Huntley three times in the head with it.
‘It was a very, very serious injury, having been struck on the skull like that.’
Durham Constabulary declined to identify the suspect but said on the day of the alleged attack that a man in his mid-40s had been detained in the prison but not yet arrested.
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. Russell also raped Ms McGregor.
Thursday’s attack was the latest attempt on Huntley’s life.
But he was thought to have been kept under close observation to prevent such attacks.
In 2010 robber Damien Fowkes slashed him with a home-made weapon, causing a ‘severe, gaping cut to the left side of his neck’ with a seven-inch wound which required 21 stitches.
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Jessica Chapman (left) and Holly Wells (right) were murdered by Huntley in 2002
The killer pleaded guilty to their murders, subjecting their families to a brutal six-week trial
Fowkes asked a prison officer: ‘Is he dead? I hope so.’
He described Huntley as a ‘notorious child killer, both inside prison and in society in general’.
Huntley’s life sentence recommended he serve at least 40 years for murdering the ten-year-old girls.
His daughter Samantha has said there was ‘a special place in hell waiting for him’ after he was attacked this week.
She told The Sun on Sunday that she cried from relief when she discovered her convicted murderer father had been brutally beaten in prison as she thought that meant he was dead.
Ms Bryan said: ‘Being his daughter has been a heavy burden. It felt like I could breathe again.’
She only discovered he was her father during a school project on crime aged 14, when she came across a blurry picture of her mother with him online.
Her mum Katie Bryan, 45, was in a relationship with Huntley aged 15 and became pregnant at 16, before fleeing to escape his brutal clutches.
Samantha Bryan, 27, said she cried from relief when she discovered her convicted murderer father had been attacked in prison
She said: ‘I think he got what he deserves. I hope he burns in hell. I’d like to shake the hand of the man who did it.’
Ms Bryan, from Cleethorpes, in Lincolnshire, wrote to him in prison multiple times from 2019 onwards, after she discovered he was her father, asking if they could meet.
He replied acknowledging her as his daughter and expressing his love for her – but repeatedly denied her request.
The 27-year-old had hoped to have a face-to-face meeting with him – not to give him forgiveness but to uncover the truth about the 2002 murders.
In a chilling handwritten letter reported by The Sun on Sunday in 2024 Huntley turned her down.
The killer told his daughter: ‘I doubt there will be enough time for a significant shift in circumstances in order for us to ever meet.’
Huntley’s mother, 71-year-old Lynda Richards, confessed ‘part of me hopes he dies’ after finding him ‘unrecognisable’ when she visited him in hospital following the savage attack.
A source told The Sun she ‘just wants to be free of it’, admitting she knows ‘few will mourn his passing’ if he dies – but said she is ‘still his mother’.
Huntley lured the schoolgirls into his three-bedroom cottage after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets
They said she found her son rendered unrecognisable by his severe injuries.
‘It’s an extraordinarily difficult thing for her to come to terms with,’ the source said.
‘Part of her just hopes he passes away this time.’
The murderer denied killing the schoolgirls, subjecting their families to a gruelling six-week trial at the Old Bailey which started in November 2003 after he tried to kill himself in prison in June earlier the same year.
Huntley lied in court that Holly had drowned in his bath and that he had accidentally suffocated Jessica while attempting to stop her from screaming.
He was convicted in 2003 of both murders, having pleaded not guilty, and sentenced to a minimum of 40 years behind bars.
The killer was attacked by other inmates several times for his heinous crimes.
In 2005 Huntley was scalded with boiling water at HMP Wakefield.
And in September the following year he tried to take his own life in prison again.
In 2010 he had his throat slashed at HMP Frankland, where he moved two years prior.
Last year, he was said to have strutted around the jail wearing a No 10 Manchester United-style shirt in an apparent vile taunt about his victims.
A photo of the schoolgirls wearing matching football shirts was taken on the day Huntley lured them into his house.
