UK child killer Ian Huntley dies after prison attack
Huntley murdered 10-year-old best friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002 while they were on their way to buy sweets
One of Britain’s most notorious child killers, Ian Huntley, has died following an attack in prison where he was serving a life sentence, police said.
Huntley murdered 10-year-old girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in eastern England in 2002, in a case that horrified the country.
Fifty-two-year-old Huntley suffered serious injuries when he was assaulted at Frankland maximum security prison in the north-eastern city of Durham on February 26.
He “died in hospital this morning”, a spokesperson for the local police force said in a statement on Saturday.
A spokesperson for the government’s justice ministry said the double murder of Holly and Jessica “remains one of the most shocking and devastating cases in our nation’s history, and our thoughts are with their families”.
Huntley killed the two best friends after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets in the village of Soham, Cambridgeshire, on August 4, 2002.
Their disappearance sparked a massive search involving hundreds of police officers and appeals for help.