Soham murderer Ian Huntley remains in a serious condition in hospital following a prison assault, police say.
The Soham murderer, 52, was taken to hospital after being found in a pool of blood following an alleged attack by an unknown inmate on Thursday.
A Durham Constabulary spokesperson said: “There has been no change in the 52-year-old man’s condition overnight – he remains in hospital in a serious condition.”
Police earlier said that a man in his mid-40s was being investigated over the incident.
“He has not been arrested at this stage but remains in detention within the prison,” a spokesperson added.
Huntley was convicted of the murders of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in 2002.
Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Pic: Reuters
The latest incident is not the first time Huntley has been attacked at HMP Frankland.
In 2011, an inmate who slashed Huntley’s throat with a makeshift knife was jailed for life.
Damien Fowkes was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years for the attempted murder of Huntley in March 2010 and the manslaughter of child killer Colin Hatch.
Fowkes inflicted a wound seven inches long on the Soham murderer’s neck and the court was told it was only “good fortune” that the weapon missed anything vital.
Huntley worked as the caretaker at Holly and Jessica’s school.
The disappearance and murders of the two 10-year-old schoolgirls captured the attention of the nation in 2002.
Huntley killed them in August of that year after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets, and then dumped their bodies in a ditch.
He was their school caretaker and put himself forward as a volunteer to help search for them after they went missing – and was interviewed by reporters on camera.
The efforts to locate the girls in the 13 days after they disappeared have been described as one of the most intense and extensive in British criminal history.
Huntley was convicted of the murder of both girls in December 2003 and sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment.
His girlfriend, Maxine Carr – the girls’ teaching assistant – had knowingly provided Huntley with a false alibi.
Huntley’s girlfriend Maxine Carr was given a three-and-a-half year jail term for her role in the deaths. Pic: Cambridgeshire Police/Reuters
She received a three-and-a-half year prison sentence for conspiring with Huntley to pervert the course of justice.
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