Soham child killer Ian Huntley died days after being struck over the head multiple times with a metal bar at HMP Frankland, an inquest has heard.
The 52-year-old died at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle nine days after being attacked at the County Durham Prison on February 26.
Huntley - who had been serving a life sentence for the 2002 murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman - was left with significant head injuries.
Inmate Anthony Russell, 43, has since been charged with his murder and he is next due to appear at Newcastle Crown Court on April 24.
An inquest into Huntley’s death, opened at Crook Coroners Court today (Tuesday, April 14), heard how the killer died of a blunt head injury.
A post-mortem was carried out by Dr Jennifer Bolton at the RVI mortuary on March 9.
Senior coroner Jeremy Chipperfield suspended the inquest due to the ongoing criminal proceedings until May 27.
Ex-school caretaker Huntley was incarcerated at the maximum security jail - dubbed Monster Mansion - for the deaths of Holly and Jessica in 2002.
He killed the best friends after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, and 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.
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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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