Ian Huntley hinted at hard time in jail in letter to pen pal as fiend’s self-pitying note 8 days before murder revealed
SOHAM monster Ian Huntley sent a self-pitying final letter eight days before he was brutally battered in the savage prison attack which took his life.
The 52-year-old, who was serving at least 40 years for murdering best pals Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both ten, wrote his last note to a female penpal.
In it, Huntley hinted that he was having a tough time in Frankland Prison, County Durham.
He died in Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary on Saturday after mum Lynda agreed to let medics withdraw his life support.
Huntley hinted at fears he was about to be targeted in prison. The Soham beast told a female penpal “I’ve had a lot to deal with lately” in the note sent on February 18.
It was received days before Huntley was battered around the head by another lag using a 3ft spiked metal pole.
He never regained consciousness but clung to life “like a cockroach”, finally succumbing after loyal mum, Lynda, 71, agreed to let medics withdraw life support.
The letter — the last known to be written by Huntley — indicated that he believed he could be attacked at high-security Frankland Prison in Co Durham.
He had been a regular target of other inmates during his 24 years behind bars, twice having his throat slashed.
He also twice attempted to kill himself — in 2003 before his trial and again at Wakefield Prison in 2006.
In his letter, Huntley — prisoner A5274AE — begins by telling his correspondent: “Sorry for not writing sooner but I’ve had a lot to deal with lately. I hate writing letters at the best of times.”
The paranoid killer goes on to add: “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 started writing to him in October last 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 ends: “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.”
He also thanks her for a birthday card she sent on January 31 and tells her: “I appreciate it.”
His reference to having “a lot to deal with lately” is believed to be related to ongoing threats from other inmates about which Huntley was increasingly concerned.
One lag finally pounced on February 26 as Huntley bent down to tie a piece of string to a crate in the jail’s recycling workshop.
Huntley was struck up to 15 times by his alleged attacker, triple killer Anthony Russell, 43, who yelled: “I’ve done it! I’ve done it! I’ve killed him! I’ve killed him!”
Russell was dragged away as Huntley lay unresponsive in a pool of blood. Huntley was driven to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary and whisked in for surgery on his massive head wound.
He was given a five per cent survival chance. A second surgery on his broken jaw followed amid repeated scans for brain activity.
But on Thursday last week, his mum was recalled to the hospital and told that he stood no chance of recovery. She agreed that his life support should be switched off.
Medical intervention was withdrawn at noon on Friday and Lynda remained at his bedside on Ward 18 where he was the sole patient and guarded 24/7.
She returned late on Friday after receiving a call to say he was on the brink of death. He died at around 8:45am on Saturday.
The Ministry of Justice issued a “death in custody” statement shortly before 10am. It made no direct reference to the cowardly killer.
Instead it read: “The murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman remains one of the most shocking and devastating cases in our nation’s history, and our thoughts are with their families.”
Huntley’s alleged attacker remained in segregation at Frankland. Sources said it was likely he would be charged with Huntley’s murder and transferred to another nick after appearing in court.
An inquest into Huntley’s death is due to be opened and adjourned in the coming days
It will confirm the date and time he died and the circumstances which led to it.
A full hearing will take place after the police probe.
In the meantime, Huntley’s body will be returned to his family ahead of a funeral service likely to take place close to his former home in Grimsby.
His death comes almost 24 years after he murdered best friends Holly and Jessica. They went missing on Sunday, August 4, 2002, after setting off to buy sweets at a leisure centre in Soham, Cambs. Holly’s mum, Nicola, took a photo of the pair in Manchester United shirts and black shorts at 5:04pm.
Ninety minutes later they had vanished. As the local police hunt to try to trace them stalled, Scotland Yard were called in.
They realised Jessica’s phone had automatically sent a signal to a phone mast when it was turned off on the day she went missing.
Analysis showed it could receive a signal from only three places and one of those was outside school caretaker Huntley’s house.
He was taken in for questioning along with his girlfriend, teaching assistant Maxine Carr.
He was released but followed and that night police found the girls’ partially burned Manchester United tops. Huntley was arrested.
Hours later, the girls’ bodies were discovered in a drainage ditch close to RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk. Huntley and Carr stood trial in 2003 at the Old Bailey.
She admitted covering for him but from the witness box shouted: “I’m not going to be blamed for what that thing in that box has done to me or those children.”
Huntley was convicted by an 11-1 majority verdict.
Carr was jailed for perverting the course of justice and released in 2004 under a new identity as part of a blanket anonymity order. She married in 2014.
Huntley was caged at Woodhill Prison, Bucks, before transfer to Wakefield jail and, later, Frankland where his own life was ended.
