A former detective who helped hunt Soham killer Ian Huntley has said he will not celebrate the child murderer's death in prison. Retired Det Chief Supt Russell Wate urged the public not to fuel the monster's 'notoriety' and instead remember his victims, 10-year-old best friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
Mr Wate, 65, who became head of Cambridgeshire CID and received the Queen's Police Medal in 2008, wrote on social media: 'The only people to focus on here are the victims and their families not the perpetrator.' He added: 'I for one am not celebrating the death of the perpetrator of the murders of Holly and Jessica. For me justice was served with his sentence and life would have meant life (not taken early).'
Huntley, 52, died on Saturday after being attacked in a workshop at HMP Frankland in County Durham on February 26. He was placed in an induced coma before medics switched off his life support. Anthony Russell, 43, has been charged with murder and will appear in court via video link.
Mr Wate said: 'Let's not add to the notoriety of the perpetrators if we don't have to and the victims and their families are all that any focus should be on.' Huntley was jailed in 2003 for the murders of Holly and Jessica, who vanished from Soham, Cambridgeshire, in August 2002.
