Ian Huntley’s last letter hints at fears before fatal prison attack | UK | News
Huntley posted his last letter on February 18, hinting at struggles within the prison walls (Image: TV grab)
Ian Huntley dispatched a final letter to a female pen friend just eight days before he was savagely assaulted in prison last week.
The 52 year old was serving a life sentence, with a minimum term of 40 years, for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman , both ten at the time.
The girls vanished after leaving a family barbecue to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on August 4, 2002, never to be seen alive by their families again.
Huntley posted his last letter on February 18, hinting at struggles within the prison walls and suggesting fears of an impending attack. To his female correspondent, Huntley confided, “I’ve had a lot to deal with lately”.
In his letter, Huntley – prisoner A5274AE – starts off by saying: “Sorry for not writing sooner but I’ve had a lot to deal with lately. I hate writing letters at the best of times.”
Read more: Soham murderer Ian Huntley could get taxpayer-funded funeral
Read more: ‘I sat through Ian Huntley’s trial – I have abiding memory of monster’
As reported by The Sun, the paranoid murderer continues: “I’ve had to do some thinking. For your safety I’ve decided to discard everything you’ve sent and not proceed with having you cleared for calls and visits.”
He tells the woman, who began corresponding with him in October of the previous year and sent him a Christmas card: “You’re a lovely person and I don’t want you placed in harm’s way due to your affiliation with me.”
Huntley concludes: “Believe me when I say I have given this a great deal of thought and firmly believe it to be for the best. I hope all is well your end. Best wishes Ian.”
Ian Huntley, 28, caretaker at Soham Village College Secondary School, in Soham, Cambridgeshire (Image: PA)
The woman’s identity has not been disclosed.
The Soham murderer was rushed to hospital last Thursday following allegations that a fellow prisoner struck his head with a metal pole. Huntley was initially presumed dead when prison officers discovered him lying unconscious in a pool of blood at HMP Frankland, otherwise known as ‘Monster Mansion.’
The child killer suffered catastrophic injuries – including skull fractures, brain damage and a broken jaw. His final days were spent in a medically induced coma, relying on a ventilator to breathe.
The Soham murderer was rushed to hospital last Thursday (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)
His mother Lynda Richards, who visited her dying son, reportedly couldn’t recognise Huntley following the assault.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed Huntley died on Saturday morning (March 7), after Huntley’s mum Lynda, 71, consented to medics withdrawing life support.
This wasn’t Huntley’s first prison attack. Previous attempts have been made to harm him, including in September 2005, when the killer was doused with boiling water whilst held at HMP Wakefield in Yorkshire.
Huntley posted his last letter on February 18, hinting at struggles (Image: Daily Mirror)
Five years later, in 2010, Huntley was taken to the University Hospital of North Durham after sustaining a slash wound to the throat from an improvised weapon.
Damien Fowkes, 36, pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Huntley, along with the killing of fellow prisoner Colin Hatch, a paedophile and child murderer, at Full Sutton Prison, near York.
Fowkes inflicted a seven-inch wound on Huntley’s neck using a razor blade melted onto a piece of plastic cutlery. It is reported that Fowkes turned to a prison officer and asked: “Is he dead? I hope so.”
