Double little one killer Ian Huntley was cremated in a £265 coffin with no mourners
The body of sick double child killer Ian Huntley was burnt inside a £265 cloth coffin, following his death at HMP Frankland in February of this year, in a service that cost the Ministry of Justice almost £2,000
Ian Huntley was cremated in a £265 cloth coffin. (Image: PA)
The double child killer Ian Huntley was cremated in a £265 cloth coffin. He was dispatched in an eco-friendly container made of jute at a service attended by no mourners and paid for by the taxpayer.
The Ministry of Justice spent almost £2,000 on funeral services for Huntley, who died in hospital after being attacked at HMP Frankland in February. An inquest last month heard how Huntley, 52, who murdered 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambs, in 2002, suffered a fatal injury to the head from a metal bar in the high security jail and died later in hospital.
A petition signed by 64,000 people was launched calling for the Government not to use taxpayer funds to pay for his funeral after it was revealed it offers up to £3,000 towards prisoners’ costs.
Justice chiefs revealed they spent £1,915 on Huntley’s cremation.
That included £625 for ‘professional services’, £275 for the transfer of his body from hospital, £65 for a cremation casket and £265 for a ‘jute natural coffin’. £100 was also paid for staff attendance and supervision.
A jute coffin is made from natural, biodegradable materials to minimise environmental impact.
The fee for the ‘direct unattended’ cremation was £585, the MoJ said.
Under MoJ standard practice for covering basic funeral expenses, money is paid directly to the funeral director and does not cover the cost of wakes, headstones or burial plots.
The coffin was reportedly selected because it was the most cost-effective option.
Previous prisoners who have had their costs paid for by the state include Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe in 2020 and child killer Raymond Morris in 2014.
Huntley’s ashes are due to be returned to his mum Lynda next month.
She reportedly visited her son in hospital where he was said to be in a vegetative state after his life support machine was switched off.
An MoJ spokesman said: “The murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman remain one of the most shocking and devastating cases in our nation’s history, and our thoughts are with their families.”
Huntley, a former school caretaker, was serving a life sentence for the 2002 murders when he was killed.
He attacked best friends Holly and Jessica after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on 4 August 2002.
Later, he dumped their bodies in a ditch 10 miles away.
He denied their murder but was convicted in a trial at the Old Bailey in 2003 and jailed for life with a recommended minimum term of 40 years.
Fellow prisoner Anthony Russell, 43, was charged with his murder.
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