Anthony Russell faces a single charge of murdering Ian Huntley. Photo / Supplied
Anthony Russell faces a single charge of murdering Ian Huntley. Photo / Supplied
A triple murderer has appeared in court accused of killing Ian Huntley in prison.
Anthony Russell, 43, who is already serving a whole life term for three murders and rape, spoke only to confirm his name and his age in the five-minute hearing before Newton Aycliffe magistrates court in CountyDurham.
Russell was remanded in custody overnight to appear on Thursday before Newcastle Crown Court.
Prosecutor Chris Atkinson told the court: “This court has no power to grant Mr Russell bail, but in any event he is serving a whole life term so the matter is somewhat academic.”
Russell, who wore a grey prison-issue tracksuit and appeared via videolink from HMP Frankland, was told that he faces a single charge of murdering the Soham killer at the jail on March 7. He did not enter a plea.
Huntley, 52, died on Saturday morning, a week after an attack with an iron bar in the workshop at the top security prison left him with serious head injuries.
Huntley was serving a life sentence for murdering 10-year-old friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman at his home in Soham, Cambridgeshire, after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets on August 4, 2002.
When paramedics attended Huntley in Frankland on February 26 he was barely breathing and covered in blood. He was taken to hospital by ambulance and placed on a ventilator, but given only a 5% chance of survival.
Huntley killed Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in August 2002. Photo / Getty Images
Huntley died on Saturday after doctors withdrew his life support. His mother, Linda Huntley, was reportedly by his bedside and was consulted on the decision.
Russell, from Coventry, was in Frankland for the October 2020 murders of Julie Williams, her son David Williams, and Nicole McGregor, whom he raped before murdering and dumping her body in woodland near Leamington Spa. He was sentenced to a whole life order for the three murders.
Huntley was jailed for life with a minimum sentence of 40 years in December 2003 after he was found guilty of murdering the two girls.
The former school caretaker dumped their bodies in a ditch about 15km from his home and they were not found for 13 days, sparking a search involving hundreds of police officers.
At the time, Huntley lived with Maxine Carr who was a teaching assistant at Holly and Jessica’s primary school.
Ian Huntley died one week after he was attacked in the prison workshop in HMP Frankland, Photo / Getty Images
He denied murdering the two 10-year-olds but was convicted after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2003.
Carr gave Huntley a false alibi and was jailed for 21 months for perverting the course of justice. She is now living under a new identity.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “The murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman remains one of the most shocking and devastating cases in our nation’s history, and our thoughts are with their families.”
Huntley had previously survived at least two other attacks in jail.
In 2005, an inmate threw boiling water over the former school caretaker while he was on the healthcare wing of Wakefield Prison and in 2010, he underwent emergency surgery after his throat was cut with a homemade weapon.
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