Inquest into Soham killer Ian Huntley death is suspended as coroner gives update

An inquest hearing into the prison death of Soham killer Ian Huntley will follow criminal proceedings after a fellow inmate was charged with murder, a coroner has said. The 52-year-old died in the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle on March 7 after he was attacked with a metal bar in a workshop at HMP Frankland in Durham on February 26. The County Durham and Darlington Coroner Jeremy Chipperfield held a brief hearing in Crook to find out about progress in the case. Listed under the name Ian Kevin Huntley, the hearing lasted less than five minutes. Coroner’s officer Bradley King said Durham Police had informed him that a defendant will appear in court on June 3 for a plea and trial preparation hearing. Mr King said more would be known about a potential trial date following that hearing. The coroner adjourned the inquest until September 15, when another mention hearing will be held. Mr Chipperfield said the law required him to suspend his investigation once a coroner became aware that someone has been charged with murder. Huntley died from a blunt head injury, a post-mortem examination revealed. Anthony Russell, 43, has been charged with murdering Huntley at the maximum security jail. Huntley was serving a life sentence for the 2002 murders of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. The ex-school caretaker killed the best friends 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. 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.