Soham killer Ian Huntley will be sent to a £300,000-a-year secure hospital at the taxpayer's expense if he survives the prison attack, according to reports. The cost is significantly higher than the £85,000 it cost to keep him at HMP Frankland in County Durham. However, he cannot return there due to the serious risk from other inmates.
Only three secure hospitals can accept Category A prisoners: Broadmoor, Rampton, and Ashworth. It is understood Huntley would be sent to Ashworth in Merseyside, a stark contrast to Frankland, known as 'Monster Mansion'. A source said: 'It's still touch or go whether he will even survive beyond the next few weeks. But if he does live, there is no way he will ever return to Frankland.'
On Sunday night, reports indicated Huntley's life support was switched off and he had hours left to live at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary. Sources told The Sun that the attack has left him 'effectively dead'. Yet, should he defy the odds, the 52-year-old will need round-the-clock care at a secure hospital.
It is a grim irony that Huntley will receive far more mercy than he afforded Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, the ten-year-old Soham schoolgirls he murdered in 2002. He has had at least three guards by his bedside at all times. Staff are reportedly paid £24 an hour for the overtime, considered the 'holy grail' by many prison officers.
