Ian Huntley was convicted of the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2003(Image: PA)
Soham killer Ian Huntley is reportedly fighting for his life after being attacked in prison. The former school caretaker is serving a life sentence for the murders of 10-year-olds Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells in the Cambridgeshire market town of Soham in 2002.
The 52-year-old inmate was discovered in a pool of blood inside his cell at HMP Frankland in County Durham and was airlifted to hospital, it is understood. Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells disappeared after leaving a family barbecue to buy sweets in 2002. When they failed to return home, a major search operation was launched. Their bodies were found a week later.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “A prisoner is receiving treatment after an incident at HMP Frankland on Thursday morning.
“It would be inappropriate to comment further while police investigate.”
Huntley lured the two young schoolgirls into his home and murdered them, later dumping their bodies in a ditch roughly 12 miles away, a court heard during his trial.
Prosecutors told the jury that Huntley returned to the scene to remove the girls’ clothing and set it on fire.
Police later recovered charred remains, including the girls’ red Manchester United shirts, in a nearby bin.
Suspicion fell on Huntley, the caretaker at St Andrew’s Primary School attended by the victims, after he gave unusually detailed interviews to the media and appeared to take an extraordinary interest in the case.
Huntley denied any wrongdoing but was convicted of murder in 2003.
His former girlfriend, Maxine Carr, was sentenced in 2003 to three-and-a-half years in prison for conspiring to pervert the course of justice by providing Huntley with a false alibi.
Huntley has previously been targeted in prison; in 2010, a fellow inmate attacked him, slitting his throat.
A spokesman for Durham Constabulary said: “Police were alerted to an assault which had taken place within HMP Frankland in Durham this morning.
“A male prisoner suffered serious injuries during the incident and was transported to hospital.
“A police investigation is now under way into the circumstances of the incident and detectives are liaising with staff at the prison”.
A North East Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We received a call at 9.23am on Thursday 26 February 2026 to reports of an incident at HM Prison Frankland in County Durham.
“We dispatched two ambulance crews to the scene and requested support from the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS).
