Soham killer Ian Huntley died as a result of a blunt head injury, an inquest has heard.
The 52-year-old died in the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle on 7 March after he was attacked with a metal bar in a workshop at HMP Frankland in Durham on 26 February, an inquest opening hearing was told on Tuesday (14 April).
The County Durham and Darlington Coroner Jeremy Chipperfield was sitting in Crook, County Durham.
Listed under the name Ian Kevin Huntley, the inquest opening lasted less than five minutes.
Coroner’s officer Bradley King read a statement in which he said: “This 52-year-old male was born on January 31 in 1974 in Grimsby.
“His last employment status and occupation is recorded as being a prisoner.
“He resided at HMP Frankland.
“He died on March 7 2026 at the Royal Victoria Infirmary.”
Mr King added that Huntley was left with “significant head injuries” following an attack in prison.
The coroner’s officer said Home Office Pathologist Dr Jennifer Bolton conducted a post mortem on 9 March and gave the cause of death as “blunt head injury”.
Huntley’s body was formally identified on the day he died.
The inquest was told that a police investigation was under way and that Anthony Russell, 43, has been charged with murdering Huntley at the maximum security jail.
Mr Chipperfield adjourned the hearing until 27 May when there will have been an update in the criminal proceedings.
Russell will attend Newcastle Crown Court on 24 April for a pre-trial preparation hearing.
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 4 August 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.
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