Ian Huntley was allegedly attacked with a metal bar at a maximum security jail
A trial date has been set for an inmate charged with the prison murder of Soham killer Ian Huntley. Anthony Russell, 44, appeared at Newcastle Crown Court by videolink from HMP Frankland, near Durham, on Wednesday for a brief hearing during which he did not enter a plea.
Russell is charged with a single offence of murdering the 52-year-old, who was allegedly attacked with a metal bar in a workshop at the maximum security jail on February 26. Huntley was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, where he died on March 7.
Russell, wearing a brown T-shirt, appeared before Mr Justice Hilliard. The judge set a trial date for November 23, with a further pre-trial hearing on July 3.
Huntley was serving a life sentence for the 2002 murders of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. 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.
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.
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