Ian Huntley battered with metallic spike 15 instances from behind as alleged attacker ‘gutted’
Notorious child killer Ian Huntley, 52, shocked medics when he survived a brutal attack with a metal spike. Triple killer Anthony Russell is being investigated for the assault
Ian Huntley was brutally attacked(Image: PA)
Ian Huntley was attacked from behind while he bent down to tie some string on a recycling crate, it has emerged. The Soham killer was struck up to 15 times with a metal spike as shocked inmates watched on.
Triple killer Anthony Russell, 43, is suspected of carrying out the brutal assault and is understood to be “gutted” Huntley is not dead as he remains in an induced coma in hospital. His chances of survival are said to be just 5%.
Huntley’s mother Lynda came to visit Huntley and is understood to have told friends he is “unrecognisable” due to his severe injuries. Huntley was targeted at a recycling workshop in HMP Frankland, County Durham just after 9am on Thursday.
He is currently hooked up to a ventilator and was left with a broken jaw and brain and skull injuries. A source told the Sun: “The attack was unbelievably savage – more savage than has so far been reported.
“It is astonishing that Huntley is still alive. He was bending down tying some string onto a recycling crate when he was first hit – so was in a position like you’d be in when tying your shoelaces.
“And people who saw it say he was battered around 15 times – Russell just kept hitting and hitting him. A lot of inmates knew an attack was coming, and some were talking about it the night before.
“But none of the prisoners there helped. They just watched it happen and it was staff who stepped in – but not before the attacker had inflicted some really severe damage.”
The source added that everyone thought Huntley was dead and staff and inmates were shocked to discover he was still alive.
Huntley, one Britain’s most notorious child killers, has had a target on his back since he was convicted of the 2002 murders of 10-year-old girls Jessica Chapman Holly Wells. He’s survived getting his throat slit – twice – and getting covered in boiling water while serving a life sentence.
It’s reported that he was placed into a coma on Friday where doctors initially gave him just a 5% chance of survival, but after “working miracles” managed to keep him breathing.
Speaking to The Sun, one source claimed that medical personnel believed he was dead when they first encountered him. They added: “The prison nurses and staff who first saw him thought he was gone. And medics said there was only a five per cent chance of survival after an attack like that.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
