Soham killer Ian Huntley will have no funeral service

Huntley, 52, who died on March 7 after he was allegedly attacked with a metal bar in a workshop at a maximum security jail on February 26, will be cremated and his ashes scattered in secret by his family, according to The Sun.

The newspaper also reported it understands Huntley’s family declined to hold a government-funded service out of respect for the families of his victims.

Soham killer Ian Huntley has died in hospital after he was attacked in the workshop of the maximum security Frankland prison (Image: PA/PA Wire)

Justice minister Sarah Sackman previously denied that the state would be paying £3,000 towards the cost of the killer’s funeral, an amount she described as the “maximum in our policy”.

Speaking to LBC earlier this month, she said: “This man, Ian Huntley, doesn’t deserve anything more than the absolute bare minimum.

“We’re not spending £3,000. That’s the maximum in our policy that it affords.”

Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Anthony Russell appearing via video link at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court, where he is charged with the murder of Ian Huntley

Anthony Russell, 43, has been charged with murdering Huntley, who died on March 7 at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, where he was taken after the alleged attack at HMP Frankland, near Durham.

Russell appeared at Teesside Crown Court earlier this month and will attend Newcastle Crown Court on April 24 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.

Huntley murdered schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham in 2002 (Image: ARCHIVE)

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 officers.

At the time, Huntley lived with Maxine Carr, who was a teaching assistant at Holly and Jessica’s primary school.

Killer Ian Huntley (Image: PA)

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.