Inmate charged with murder of Soham killer Ian Huntley

An inmate has been charged with the prison murder of Soham killer Ian Huntley, police have said.

Anthony Russell, 43, will appear before magistrates charged with murdering the 52-year-old at HMP Frankland, near Durham.

Huntley was reportedly attacked with a metal bar in a workshop at the maximum security jail on February 26.

The ex-school caretaker was serving a life sentence for the 2002 murders of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

He was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, where he died on Saturday morning.

Russell will appear before Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday afternoon via a videolink.

Christopher Atkinson of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Our prosecutors have worked to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings.

“We have worked closely with Durham Constabulary as they carried out their investigation.”

The CPS said it was “vital” there was no “reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in anyway prejudice these proceedings”.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Sarah Sackman denied that the state would be paying £3,000 towards the cost of Huntley’s funeral.

Speaking to LBC before the murder charge was announced, she said: “It’s a basic funeral. And this man, Ian Huntley, doesn’t deserve anything more than the absolute bare minimum.

“We’re not spending £3,000.

“That’s the maximum in our policy that it affords.

“But the key thing here is that we stand with those families. I don’t really want to be talking about Ian Huntley.

“What I’m only sorry about is that he’s no longer alive, rotting in prison, thinking about what he did to those two little girls.”

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 10 miles away.

They were not found for 13 days, sparking a search involving hundreds of police officers.

At the time, Huntley lived with Maxine Carr who was a teaching assistant at Holly and Jessica’s primary school.

He denied murdering the girls but was convicted after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2003.

He was jailed for life with a recommended minimum term of 40 years.

Carr gave Huntley a false alibi and was jailed for 21 months for perverting the course of justice.

She is now living under a new identity.