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Ian Huntley attacker faces 10 years isolation for bludgeoning him with metallic bar

Soham murderer Ian Huntley was attacked by a fellow prisoner at HMP Frankland in Durham on Thursday morning and left in a pool of blood after being struck around the head with a metal bar in a prison workshop

The prisoner suspected of viciously assaulting killer Ian Huntley could face a decade in solitary confinement after allegedly splitting the Soham murderer’s head open.

Soham child killer Huntley was reportedly attacked by a fellow inmate at Durham’s HMP Frankland on Thursday morning. He was found lying in a pool of his own blood in a prison workshop, having been hit over the head with a metal bar.

Huntley, 52, was rushed to hospital in a critical condition, where medics have him just a five per cent chance of survival following the brutal attack which reportedly left his head split open.

The identity of his assailant has not been officially confirmed, but is believed to be triple murderer Anthony Russell.

A source from within the prison told the Mirror that the suspect is likely to be isolated from other prisoners for several years. They added: “It’ll be business as usual [in the prison], it’ll be absolutely same as always, just there’ll be one less prisoner to worry about.”

“Because it’s a serious assault, he’ll be moved to the segregation unit. He’ll probably just be held there for the foreseeable, certainly, because you can’t go around either trying to kill another prisoner or killing other prisoners, so he’ll probably be in a segregation unit for the next five, 10 years, maybe.”

Durham Constabulary confirmed that Huntley remains under medical care in hospital. “He remains in hospital in a serious condition,” a force spokesperson stated.

Huntley is currently serving a life sentence for the savage murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both aged 10, after the pair left a family barbecue to purchase sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in August 2002. He subsequently dumped their bodies in a ditch and tried to deflect suspicion by brazenly appearing in media interviews discussing the police inquiry.

Since his imprisonment, Huntley has suffered three assaults whilst incarcerated and has made two suicide attempts. He also developed such severe paranoia about his meals being tampered with believing he “knew that he was a target.”

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Huntley allegedly purchased junk food and sweets from the prison shop, leading to significant weight gain. The source revealed: “He has been living on a diet of things like cheesy Wotsits.

“He would not eat the prison food because he was convinced an inmate would poison him. So he bought snack food from the shop so he knew exactly what he was eating.”

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