The inquest into the death of Soham killer Ian Huntley has been suspended while criminal proceedings are ongoing, a coroner has announced. Huntley, 52, died from serious head injuries after being struck multiple times with a metal bar at HMP Frankland, a high-security prison in County Durham.
Coroner's officer Bradley King told a brief two-minute hearing that the inquest would be halted pending the outcome of a criminal case. Anthony Russell, 43, a fellow inmate at Frankland, has been charged with Huntley's murder and is due to face trial.
Durham senior coroner Jeremy Chipperfield adjourned the hearing at Crook Coroners' Court until September 15 for an update. He stated: 'A coroner must suspend an investigation if the coroner is aware a person has been charged with an indictable offence.'
Huntley was serving a life sentence for the murders of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in 2002. He was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years. The girls' disappearance sparked a massive search, during which Huntley posed as a concerned member of the public.
He later lured the girls into his home after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets. Huntley denied the murders, putting the families through a six-week trial at the Old Bailey. He was initially held at Wakefield Prison before being transferred to Frankland in 2008.
Earlier this month, reports emerged that Huntley had been cremated in secret without a funeral service or mourners. His family declined a £3,000 state-funded funeral out of respect for the victims' families.
