Ian Huntley, the notorious Soham murderer, has been gravely injured in a prison attack at HMP Frankland in County Durham. The prisoner, convicted of the 2002 murders of 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, was rushed to hospital on Thursday morning after being assaulted. Reports indicate Huntley was struck with a metal pole, described as 'spiked', and was found unconscious in a pool of blood, with sources describing his condition as “touch and go”.

Durham Constabulary confirmed they were alerted to an assault within HMP Frankland, stating that a male prisoner suffered serious injuries and was transported to hospital. A police investigation is currently underway into the circumstances of the incident, with detectives liaising with prison staff. The North East Ambulance Service dispatched two ambulance crews and requested support from the Great North Air Ambulance Service, though the patient was ultimately transported to hospital by road.

HMP Frankland, often referred to as 'Monster Mansion', is a Category A prison, signifying the highest level of security. It houses some of Britain’s most high-profile and dangerous inmates, including Michael Adebolajo (Lee Rigby's murderer), serial killer Levi Bellfield, and Wayne Couzens (Sarah Everard's murderer). The prison has a history of violent incidents. In April of the previous year, three prison officers were hospitalized with severe injuries, including burns and stab wounds, after being attacked with hot cooking oil and homemade weapons by Hashem Abedi, the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber. More recently, in May 2024, ex-cage fighter Damien Bendall, already serving a whole-life tariff for multiple murders, received an additional life sentence for a hammer attack on a fellow inmate at Frankland.

Ian Huntley is serving a life sentence for the horrific murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. The girls went missing on 4 August 2002, after leaving a family barbecue to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire. Huntley, then a caretaker at their school, lured them into his home and murdered them, later dumping their bodies in a ditch approximately 12 miles away. The disappearance triggered one of the most intensive searches in British criminal history, involving 400 police officers and local residents. Suspicions arose about Huntley due to his agitated demeanour, questions about DNA evidence longevity, and his morbid descriptions to a journalist about how the girls might react to being taken.

His then-partner, Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant at the girls' school, initially provided Huntley with a false alibi, but it collapsed under police questioning. Huntley was arrested after charred pieces of the Manchester United shirts the girls were wearing and other evidence connecting him to the crime were found at his workplace. He pleaded not guilty but was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to a minimum term of 40 years. Carr served half of a 42-month sentence for perverting the course of justice and was later released in 2004 under a new identity. Huntley's claims that Holly's death was accidental and he accidentally suffocated Jessica while trying to stop her screaming were disproven, although he later appeared to confess to deliberately killing Jessica in 2018.

The Soham murders prompted a significant inquiry into how Huntley, despite a string of sex allegations in Grimsby in the late 1990s, managed to slip through police vetting procedures. The inquiry revealed a "deeply shocking" catalogue of errors across various organizations that had contact with Huntley, leading to 31 recommendations for improving intelligence sharing, police information systems, and employment vetting nationwide.

This is not the first time Huntley has been attacked in prison. In 2010, armed robber Damien Fowkes slashed Huntley’s throat with a homemade weapon, causing a 7-inch wound that required 21 stitches, with Fowkes reportedly asking, "Is he dead? I hope so." Another inmate attempted to shank him in 2018, and in 2005, murderer Mark Hobson threw boiling water over him at Wakefield Prison. Huntley's behaviour in prison has also caused outrage; last year, guards stormed his cell after he was seen wearing a red Manchester United-style shirt with the number ten on the back, a perceived taunt to the families of his victims, who were wearing similar tops when they disappeared.