SOHAM monster Ian Huntley’s mum secretly visited him in hospital and told pals he was “unrecognisable” after being battered in a jail attack.

Mum Lynda Richards, 71, told friends “part of me hopes he passes away this time” after he was left with massive brain injuries following a brutal prison ambush.

Lynda Huntley, Ian Huntley's mother, in a beige jacket and holding a quilted bag with a stuffed animal, walking outdoors.
Huntley’s mum Lynda Richards told friends ‘part of me hopes he passes away this time’
 

Ian Huntley with his mother Lynda Huntley.
Ex-school caretaker Huntley with mum LyndaCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
 

Ian Huntley, Maxine Carr, and Lynda Nixon posing together.
Double murderer Huntley with his ex-girlfriend Maxine Carr and mum LyndaCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Huntley, who killed ten-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002, remains in an induced coma after his skull was crushed with a 3ft metal pole at HMP Frankland, Co Durham.

Lynda made the 175-mile car journey from her home to his bedside after surgeons operated on him.

She told friends she “just wants to be free of it” and also told how she knows “flags will fly high” if he dies but she is “still his mother”.

A Prison Service liaison officer escorted Lynda and a pal to him on their secret trip.

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He remains in an induced coma after Thursday’s attack and is the only patient on the ward, which was cleared and shut down ahead of his arrival.

He is being guarded by armed police with senior justice officials also present.

Lynda and her friend were said to be shocked by the extent of his injuries, which include a broken jaw, massive brain injuries and skull fractures.

Huntley is also breathing only with the help of ventilator as he remains on life support at a hospital which we are not naming.

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A source said: “Lynda couldn’t recognise her own son when she saw him in the hospital, his injuries are that extensive.

“She’s understandably torn by what has happened but it was a harrowing experience for her.

“He’s been attacked on so many occasions and she now thinks it might be better if he didn’t pull through. It’s an extraordinarily difficult thing for her to come to terms with.

“Part of her just hopes he passes away this time.

“But he’s still her son, regardless of what happened, and they have remained very close.

Ian Huntley, a man with short hair and a goatee, wearing a dark gray fleece jacket with a navy blue collar, with his arms crossed.
Monster Huntley was left with massive brain injuries following a brutal prison ambushCredit: PA:Press Association
 

Lynda Huntley in a fawn coat and Christine, in a floral purple coat, walking next to a car.
Huntley’s mum told pals how the murderer was ‘unrecognisable’ after the jail ambush
“She spoke to him on the phone two days before the attack.

“She can’t be at peace until it’s all over — and it won’t be over until he’s gone.

“She knows that and accepted it a long time ago. She says everyone is traumatised by what her son did, including his own family.”

Lynda told friends she wanted to be with him if there was a chance he would not pull through.

She learned of the attack via a pal who saw it on the news.

She decided to make the journey from her home in Lincolnshire after she was told by prison bosses his chances of survival were slim.

Lynda and her friend were driven to the North East yesterday morning and arrived at the hospital shortly before midday.

The source added: “Lynda knows what people think about him and she knows few will mourn his passing.

“But she is still his mother and will continue being so until he takes his last breath.”

Huntley’s condition is said to be “grave” after Thursday’s attack at high-security Frankland Prison, County Durham.

Sources said he suffered a massive brain injury, cannot breathe unaided and has a broken jaw.

Surgeons operated on a catastrophic head wound inflicted by repeated blows and are said to be astounded that he is still alive.

They gave him just a five per cent chance of survival after he was battered senseless in the prison recycling workshop just after 9am.

The suspect — triple killer Anthony Russell, 43 — is said to have started an argument with Huntley before bludgeoning him six times with the makeshift weapon.

Sources say Huntley was knocked out by the first blow and his head split open.

They have said it was believed it was “only a matter of time” before Huntley was attacked.

Russell was heard boasting: “I’ve done it, I’ve done it! I’ve killed him, I’ve killed him!” as he was led away in handcuffs.

Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells smiling.
Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were murdered by Huntley in 2002Credit: Rex
 

Ian Huntley in a wheelchair, covered by a blanket, leaving Pinderfield Hospital.
Huntley was bludgeoned six times with a makeshift weaponCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
He was moved to segregation but had not been arrested.

Prison nurses and guards were convinced Huntley was a goner as paramedics and an air ambulance scrambled to the scene.

They found him in a pool of blood and immediately placed him in an induced coma before taking him to hospital by road. Another source told The Sun: “It’s miraculous he is still alive.

“The prison nurses and staff who first saw him thought he was gone. Medics said there was only a five per cent chance of survival after an attack like that.

“It is still touch and go, and he could get worse.

“But it is extraordinary that he is still alive. He’s clinging on like a cockroach.”

Attack suspect Russell, from Coventry, is serving a whole-life sentence for a week-long murder spree in October 2020.

He killed Julie Williams, her son David Williams and Nicole McGregor, whose body was found in woodland near Leamington Spa.

He also raped Ms McGregor, who was five months pregnant, just hours after she showed him a picture of her baby scan.

Huntley is serving at least 40 years for the Soham murders which shocked the nation in 2002.

He lured pals Holly and Jessica into the home he shared with Maxine Carr, their teaching assistant, after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets.

Huntley and Carr were arrested on August 17 — 13 days after the girls went missing.

Huntley denied the murders and put the girls’ families through a harrowing six-week trial at the Old Bailey from November 2003.

Months earlier, in June 2003, he had attempted suicide at Woodhill prison in Milton Keynes, Bucks.

The fiend claimed at his trial that Holly suffered a nose bleed and fell into a bath, banging her head and drowning.

He said Jessica screamed so he put his hand over her mouth until she stopped.

Huntley was sent to Wakefield jail where in 2005 he was scalded with boiling water by another prisoner.

In September 2006, he tried to kill himself in his cell and was rushed to hospital. He was transferred to tough Frankland in 2008.

In 2010, he received non- life-threatening injuries to his neck after his throat was slashed.