Ian Huntley, who murdered ten-year-old friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, has died in hospital after he was attacked in prison – and his funeral could be paid for by the UK taxpayer
Taxpayers could be left footing the bill for thousands of pounds to cover the funeral costs of child killer Ian Huntley. The former school caretaker, who murdered ten-year-olds Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, passed away this morning following an assault by a fellow prisoner wielding a metal bar at a high-security prison.
Reports suggest that alleged perpetrator and triple murderer Anthony Russell supposedly yelled “I’ve done it, I’ve done it” after battering 52-year-old Huntley repeatedly about the head at HMP Frankland in Durham last Thursday morning.
Ex-caretaker Huntley slaughtered the schoolchildren after they departed a family barbecue to purchase sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on August 4, 2002. Their vanishing sparked nationwide outrage as search operations swept across Cambridgeshire before their remains were found in a ditch.
In a final kick in the teeth, taxpayers may be landed with covering the monster’s funeral expenses under Ministry of Justice (MOJ) regulations.
Present MOJ guidelines for prisons stipulate: “Prisons must offer to pay a contribution towards reasonable funeral expenses of up to £3,000.”, reports the Express.
“The only exceptions to this are where the family has a pre-paid funeral plan or is entitled to claim a grant from other government departments e.g., Department of Work and Pensions.”
Reasonable costs encompass coffin expenses, undertaker charges, hearse hire, cremation or burial fees and religious or belief leader payments.
The funds cannot cover headstone costs, floral tributes, wake expenses or obituary advertisements.
Thursday’s attack marked the most recent bid on Huntley’s life, with the killer believed to have been monitored closely to ward off such incidents.
Back in 2010, burglar Damien Fowkes sliced him with a makeshift blade, inflicting a “severe, gaping cut to the left side of his neck” – a 7in (18cm) gash requiring 21 stitches.
Fowkes enquired of a prison guard: “Is he dead? I hope so.”
He branded Huntley a “notorious child killer, both inside prison and in society in general”.
Huntley’s life term stipulated he must serve a minimum of 40 years for the Soham killings.
The Ministry of Justice has been approached for comment.
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