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An inmate at HMP Frankland accused of murdering Soham killer Ian Huntley has appeared at crown court.
Anthony Russell is accused of bludgeoning the child killer to death with a makeshift weapon in the workshop of the high-security prison on Thursday February 26.
Former school caretaker Huntley was rushed to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle where medics battled to save his life.
However, the double killer, who had suffered severe head injuries in the attack, died ten days later on Saturday March 7 after his life support machine was switched off.
At Teesside Crown Court today, Russell, 43, appeared dressed in a grey prison-issue sweatshirt and spoke only to confirm his date of birth.
There was no application for bail.
Prosecutor Matthew Bean KC said a trial could take five days although no date for that has yet been listed.
Tyrone Smith KC, defending Russell, told the court: ‘We will be asking for a psychiatric report.’
Huntley was attacked at HMP Frankland on February 26 and died 10 days later at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary
Anthony Russell has been charged with murder over the attack8 and will next appear before a judge in April
Russell will appear at Newcastle Crown Court for a plea and directions hearing on April 24 and has been remanded in custody in the meantime.
Huntley killed 10-year-old best friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on August 4 2002.
He dumped their bodies in a ditch 10 miles away.
They were not found for 13 days despite 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.
He denied murdering the girls but was convicted after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2003.
He was jailed for life with a recommended minimum term of 40 years.
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.
Before his death, 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.
Huntley’s daughter this week said there was a ‘special place in hell’ for her father.
Samantha Bryan said she was ‘glad’ to hear he had been attacked and started crying with an ‘overwhelming sense of relief’ because she thought he was dead.
Ms Bryan added: ‘It felt like I could breathe again. I felt if he died, that burden died with him.
‘I have always been judged for being his daughter – it has been a very difficult thing to deal with over the years.’
Christopher Atkinson from the Crown Prosecution Service said: ‘The Crown Prosecution Service has decided to prosecute Anthony Russell with murder following a police investigation into a fatal attack on Ian Huntley at HMP Frankland.
‘Our prosecutors have worked to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings.
‘We have worked closely with Durham Constabulary as they carried out their investigation.’
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.’