County Durham, United Kingdom- Ian Huntley, the convicted British murderer serving life imprisonment for killing two 10-year-old girls in 2002, was seriously injured in an assault by another inmate at HMP Frankland in County Durham, northern England, on Thursday morning, authorities said. Emergency services responded to reports of the attack just after 9:20 a.m., and Huntley was taken to hospital with significant head injuries, police and prison officials confirmed.
Durham Constabulary said officers were alerted to an assault within the high-security Category A facility, and that a male prisoner suffered serious injuries and was transported to hospital. Police stated a suspect, a male inmate in his mid-40s, had been identified but remained in custody within the prison; no arrest had been made by late Thursday. Forensic teams examined the scene as part of an ongoing investigation with prison staff.
A North East Ambulance Service spokesperson said crews were dispatched to HMP Frankland and support was requested from the Great North Air Ambulance Service, though Huntley was transported to hospital by road. A Prison Service spokesperson said it was inappropriate to comment further while police investigations continued.
Huntley, 52, was convicted in December 2003 of murdering Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman after they disappeared in Soham, Cambridgeshire in August 2002, and was later sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment with a minimum of 40 years. The disappearance and killings of the schoolgirls prompted one of the largest police searches in British history.
The attack at Frankland is reported to have occurred in a prison workshop and left Huntley unconscious before he was found and assisted by prison staff, according to media reports citing unnamed sources.
Huntley has previously been targeted in custody; records show he survived multiple attacks, including a throat-slashing by another inmate in 2010 and being scalded with boiling water in 2005.
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