Soham killer Ian Huntley fighting for life after being attacked in jail

Ian Huntley was jailed for life with a minimum term of 40 years (Picture: PA)

Soham murderer Ian Huntley is fighting for life in hospital after being attacked in prison this morning.

Huntley,52,was ‘severely’ wounded by a fellow prisoner at the high-security HMP Frankland,where he is serving a life sentence for the 2002 murders of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

The double child killer was found in a pool of blood after being bludgeoned with a ‘spiked metal pole’ in a prison workshop,according to reports.

He was taken to hospital ‘in a terrible state’ and his condition is ‘touch and go’,according to a source.

Police said an inmate in his mid-40s has been identified as a suspect in the attack on Huntley and is being held in segregation within the prison. No arrests have been made.

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Start your day informed with Metro's News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.They added that Huntley ‘remains in a serious condition’.The source told The Sun: ‘It was absolute chaos. I’m amazed someone was able to get anywhere near him because he is usually really closely protected.’The source told the newspaper the attack must have been timed around when Huntley would be without any officers near him.His attacker ‘must have used a weapon to injure him so severely’,they added.It is the third serious attack on Huntley while in jail.Armed robber Damien Fowkes slashed his throat in 2010,five years after fellow murderer Mark Hobson threw boiling water over him.Using a home-made weapon,Fowkes left Huntley with a ‘severe gaping cut to the left side of his neck’.The wound was 7in long and required 21 stitches.Fowkes asked a prison officer: ‘Is he dead? I hope so.’Holly Wells (left) and her best friend Jessica Chapman pictured in their Manchester United shirts shortly before they disappeared (Picture: PA)He described Huntley as a ‘notorious child killer,both inside prison and in society in general’.Dubbed ‘Monster Mansion’,HMP Frankland houses some of Britain’s most dangerous prisoners,including serial killer Levi Bellfield,WayneCouzens,and Michael Adebolajo.Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi is accused of carrying out ‘terrorist’ attacks on prison officers at the maximum security jail with hot cooking oil and makeshift weapons.He denies three counts of attempted murder after four prison officers were injured on April 12.A Prison Service spokesperson 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.’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).‘One patient was transported to hospital by road.’Ian Huntley has been attacked several times while in prison (Picture: PA)Best friends Holly and Jessica vanished after leaving the Wells family home,where there had been a barbecue earlier that day,to go and buy some sweets on August 4,2002.Huntley lured them into his home,likely under the ruse of seeing his partner Maxine Carr who was a teaching assistant at their school,and murdered them soon after.One of the biggest manhunts in UK history was underway by the following morning but it would be another two weeks before police made the devastating discovery of the girls’ bodies near RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.Huntley and Carr went on trial together at the Old Bailey a year later.Carr famously turned on Huntley midway through,telling Court Number One she would not be ‘blamed for what that thing has done’.Huntley was jailed for life with a minimum term of 40 years,meaning he will not be eligible for parole until 2042 at the earliest.The judge,Mr Justice Moses,said the sentence – then one of the longest tariffs ever handed down – ‘offers little or no hope of the defendant’s eventual release’.Carr now lives under an assumed name as a result of a rare ‘Mary Bell’ anonymity order imposed upon her release from prison.Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at .