The fatal attack on Soham monster Huntley, 52, at HMP Frankland in Co Durham will have emboldened other inmates who know staff cannot always protect high-profile prisoners

Soham monster Ian Huntley died several days after being attacked in jail(Image: Shutterstock)

Notorious killers fear “they could be next” after Soham monster Ian Huntley was bludgeoned to death in a prison attack.

The attack on Huntley, 52, will have emboldened other inmates who have seen that staff cannot protect high-profile prisoners 100% of the time, a source warned.

Following the attack, near-death Huntley was taken to hospital but had his life support machine turned off last week. Dubbed “Monster Mansion”, Frankland’s other infamous killers include Wayne Couzens – reckoned to be a prime target. He and the likes of Levi Bellfield, will be “looking over their shoulders” according to the source.

Frankland, in County Durham, has experienced a series of violent incidents recently. In April last year, Hashem Abedi, who was jailed for life for helping his brother carry out the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, allegedly attacked three prison officers with boiling liquid and an improvised weapon. He has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder.

Huntley, the former school caretaker who murdered 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002, died after being attacked in the prison workshop.

Hashem Abedi, plotted Manchester Arena attack(Image: AP)

Anthony Russell, 43, has been charged with Huntley’s murder and appeared via video link from the prison at Teesside crown court this week. He spoke only to confirm his name in the brief preliminary hearing and the case was continued to a later date.

The prison source said some inmates regarded themselves as “above Huntley both morally and in the prison food chain” which could encourage attacks on other notorious prisoners.

Anthony Russell is accused of Huntley’s murder(Image: BPM Media)

“Others will be thinking ‘how can I put myself on the map too?’ That’s why in the days and weeks after an attack like this, things get extra dangerous,” the source said. “High-profile inmates will want to stay in the cells or be looking over their shoulders thinking they could be next.”

Other inmates said to be at risk are Urfan Sharif, 43, who beat his 10-year-old daughter Sara to death, and David Fuller, 71, who was jailed for life in 2021 after sexually assaulting more than 100 female corpses in NHS hospital morgues.

Huntley suffered catastrophic injuries and never recovered(Image: Geoff Robinson/Shutterstock)

The source added: “These people are hated both inside and outside of prison, but the difference inside is that you can earn kudos from other inmates by getting one over on them. You have to remember that prison life is incredibly boring. It’s also hierarchical and a lot of these people have nothing to lose.”

At another high security prison, HMP Wakefield, paedophile Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins, 48, died last October after being stabbed in the neck. Two men have been charged with his murder.

Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins died after a jail attack(Image: SOUTH WALES POLICE/AFP via Getty)

Weeks later at the same prison Kyle Bevan, 33, who had been jailed for life for murdering his partner’s two-year-old daughter, Lola James, was also killed in an alleged attack. Three fellow inmates have been charged with killing him.

The head of the Prison Governors’ Association has said prisoners like Huntley are facing increasingly violent attacks from inmates with “nothing to lose”.

Tom Wheatley, the president of the PGA, which represents governors in England and Wales, said those serving lengthy sentences or whole-life tariffs in high-security institutions had “no fear” of being given additional time in prison. They could even earn status by singling out famous child murderers and paedophiles.

Mr Wheatley, who was the governor at HMP Wakefield for nearly five years until March 2024, said that prisoners are serving longer sentences, so there was little incentive to resist committing a vicious attack

He said: “As prison sentences have become longer, and as more prisoners are given whole-life tariffs or given minimum sentences of 20, 30 or 40 years, it is harder to persuade them to hold back on their violent instincts. They have nothing to lose.

“If you are serving a long sentence, you can feel as if you don’t have a life ahead of you – your family may well have disowned you, your relationships may have broken down. And in those circumstances, you have to make your alliances among the people you live with – your fellow inmates – to survive

“In those circumstances, making yourself notorious, being well-known by committing a violent act, might help. If you murder a high-profile child murderer or paedophile, you can establish yourself as a dangerous man. That has some value.”

Ministry of justice figures show there were seven homicides in prisons in England and Wales in 2025, up from six in 2024. From 2019 to 2023, there were between one and three each year.

Andrea Coomber, the chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said vulnerable prisoners, such as sex offenders and high-profile murderers, are often seen as easy targets.

She said: “There are hierarchies in every prison, and sex offenders are right at the bottom. We are hearing from many sex offenders that they are spending more time self-isolating in their cells because they do not feel safe.”

A spokesperson for the MoJ said: “This government inherited a prisons system in crisis, overcrowded and with significant staffing shortages. We are recruiting more officers and deploying them where they’re most needed, as well as investing £40m in new security measures to clamp down on the contraband that fuels violence behind bars.”

Wayne Couzens kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard(Image: SWNS)

Bellfield, who raped and murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler has converted to Islam in the hope muslim gangs will protect him. Former police officer Couzens, who abducted, raped and killed Sarah Everard in 2021, has been told it’s “only a matter of time” before he is seriously hurt.

They’ve been warned they would be slashed, beaten up, or ‘kettled’ – have boiling water mixed with sugar thrown in their faces. The prison source said: “Couzens is already getting abuse and threats every day. You look at someone like him, murderer, rapist, and worst of all a copper, and you know it’s only a matter of time.”