A trial date has been set for a prisoner accused of murdering Ian Huntley, the infamous Soham murderer. Anthony Russell, aged 44, appeared in Newcastle Crown Court via videolink from HMP Frankland on Wednesday. He faces a charge of killing the 52-year-old Huntley with a metal bar at the high-security prison on February 26.
Huntley, known for the 2002 murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, died on March 7 at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle. He was serving a life sentence at the time of his death. Huntley had abducted and killed the two girls after they left a family gathering to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on August 4, 2002. The bodies of Holly and Jessica were discovered 13 days later in a ditch, following an extensive search involving numerous law enforcement officers.
During the trial in 2003 at the Old Bailey, Huntley denied murdering the girls but was found guilty. He was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 40 years. Huntley lived with Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant at the girls’ primary school, at the time of the murders.