Soham killer Ian Huntley died from blunt head injury, inquest hears

Soham killer Ian Huntley died as a result of a blunt head injury, an inquest has heard.

The 52-year-old died in the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle on March 7 after he was attacked with a metal bar in a workshop at HMP Frankland in Durham on February 26, an inquest opening hearing was told.

The County Durham and Darlington Coroner Jeremy Chipperfield was sitting in Crook, County Durham, on Tuesday.

Listed under the name Ian Kevin Huntley, the inquest opening lasted less than five minutes.

Coroner’s officer Bradley King read a statement in which he said: “This 52-year-old male was born on January 31 in 1974 in Grimsby.

“His last employment status and occupation is recorded as being a prisoner.

“He resided at HMP Frankland.

“He died on March 7 2026 at the Royal Victoria Infirmary.

“I understand the circumstances to be that Mr Huntley was struck over the head multiple times by another prisoner with an object described as a metal bar.

“The assault left Mr Huntley with significant head injuries.”

Mr King said Home Office Pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton conducted a post mortem on March 9 and gave the cause of death as “blunt head injury”.

Huntley’s body was formally identified on the day he died.

The inquest was told that a police investigation was under way and that Anthony Russell, 43, has been charged with murdering Huntley at the maximum security jail.

Mr Chipperfield adjourned the hearing until May 27 when there will have been an update in the criminal proceedings.

Russell will attend Newcastle Crown Court on April 24 for a pre-trial preparation hearing.

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

The ex-school caretaker killed the best friends 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, despite a search involving hundreds of police.

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.