SOHAM monster Ian Huntley is fighting for his life this morning after being battered unconscious in a vicious jail attack.

Huntley, 52, was left lying in a pool of blood on his prison wing and rushed to hospital after he was targeted by another inmate at around 9am.

Screen grab of Ian Huntley.
Evil child killer Ian Huntley pictured in 2003Credit: Shutterstock
 

Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells smiling while holding onto red ropes, possibly on a swing.
School pals Holly and Jessica vanished after leaving a family barbecue in Soham to go and buy some sweetsCredit: Rex
 

Great North Air Ambulance at Frankland Prison.
A helicopter was seen near to HMP Frankland after the horror attack as he was rushed to hospital by roadCredit: Sun EXCL Collect
 

The Great North Air Ambulance helicopter on the helipad roof at RVI hospital.
The helicopter was then seen at the hospital where Huntley is fighting for lifeCredit: NNP/The Sun
Sources said the double child killer’s condition was “touch and go” after the frenzied attack by a vengeful lag with a metal pole, reportedly in a prison workshop.

The beating at tough HMP Frankland, County Durham, comes after paedo rocker Ian Watkins was killed in an attack at Wakefield Prison last October.

Huntley’s vile crimes have led to fellow inmates attacking him behind bars at least three times before.

The Sun reported in 2018 that violent convict with a shank tried to slit his throat.

In 2010, armed robber Damien Fowkes also slashed Huntley’s throat in Frankland, putting him in hospital.

Murderer Mark Hobson threw boiling water over him in Wakefield Prison in 2005.

A source told The Sun: “It was absolute chaos and Huntley was in a terrible state. I’m amazed someone was able to get anywhere near him because he is usually really closely protected.

“They must have timed it when he wasn’t with prison officers and must have used a weapon to injure him so severely.”

Other inmates locked up in the high-security prison include Sarah Everard’s murderer Wayne Couzens, serial killer Levi Bellfield and Facebook Killer Peter Chapman.

Ian Huntley, wrapped in a blanket, sits in a wheelchair with his wrists handcuffed.
Ian Huntley pictured in a wheelchair in 2006Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

Huntley attacked by lags in prison

Huntley’s vile crimes have led to fellow inmates attacking him behind bars at least twice before.

In May 2018, he said that a violent prisoner armed with a makeshift “shank” knife tried to kill him in his cell.

In a prison recording leaked to The Sun, the Soham killer says the attacker “came in with a razor blade on a toothbrush”.

Details of the alleged incident have never been made public.

Huntley explains on tape: “There was an attempt on my life last year.

“I have no problems telling you his name, it was a prisoner who tried to kill me. A guy called Simon Maskrey.

“He came into my cell armed with a weapon and tried to cut my throat.

“I managed to kick him in the chest and then to the stomach. I took the weapon off him and he was on the floor.

“At that point, one of my friends turned up and I said, ‘He has got a weapon’, just as this Simon was getting back to his feet.

“This Simon then looked at him then looked back at me and then my friend grabbed him from behind.

“Shortly afterwards staff arrived.”

Huntley almost died in a previous blade attack when prisoner Damien Fowkes tried to cut his throat with a shank in 2010.

Huntley had 21 stitches which left him with a scar from his jugular to the other side of his windpipe.

He says: “It was 2mm away from my jugular. The only thing I could think of was get a message to my family to say I was OK.”

Murderer Mark Hobson also threw boiling water over him in Wakefield Prison in 2005.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “A prisoner is receiving treatment after an incident at HMP Frankland on Thursday morning.

“It would be inappropriate to comment further while police investigate.”

Durham Police added that an inmate has suffered serious injuries after being attacked in the prison.

A spokesman for Durham Constabulary said: “Police were alerted to an assault which had taken place within HMP Frankland in Durham this morning.

“A male prisoner suffered serious injuries during the incident and was transported to hospital.

“A police investigation is now under way into the circumstances of the incident and detectives are liaising with staff at the prison”.

A North East Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We received a call at 9:23am to reports of an incident at HMP Frankland in County Durham.

“We despatched two ambulance crews to the scene and requested support from the Great North Air Ambulance Service.

“One patient was transported to hospital by road.”

The Soham killer is serving life in HMP Frankland for the murders of 10-year-old girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

The 52-year-old carried out the double child killing in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in 2002.

School pals Holly and Jessica vanished after leaving a family barbecue in Soham to go and buy some sweets.

But school caretaker Huntley lured the girls to his home and murdered them before disposing of their bodies in a ditch.

He later returned to the scene and tried to set them on fire.

Police and the local community rallied together in a huge search effort to find the children.

Their bodies were not found until more than a week later – near an airbase, 12 miles from Soham.

Suspicions were raised after the school caretaker gave detailed interviews to the press about the girls, and he appeared to take an unusual interest in the case.

The Sun newspaper front page with the headline "Huntley Throat Slashed."
The front page of The Sun reporting on a previous attack in 2010Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
 

Maxine Carr, a woman with auburn hair and freckles, wearing a black shirt with blue floral patterns and a light blue cross necklace.
His then fiancée Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant at Holly and Jessica’s school in the Cambridgeshire town, had given him a false alibiCredit: Reuters
 

File photo of Ian Huntley.
The killer was convicted in 2003, after pleading not guiltyCredit: PA:Press Association
He gave a detailed account when asked how the girls might react to a stranger in one interview.

Chillingly, he described how Holly would likely go quietly but Jessica would “put up a real fight and a real struggle”.

Journalists raised their concerns to the police after feeling something was off with his responses.

“He knew how they’d react because that’s how they reacted when he killed them,” one reporter said later.

Locals also came forward with information about the caretaker after seeing him on the news.

Huntley, one of Britain’s most infamous killers, was convicted in 2003 after pleading not guilty.

His then fiancée Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant at Holly and Jessica’s school in the Cambridgeshire town, had given him a false alibi.

She was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for perverting the course of justice and issued with a new identity on release.

Carr infamously turned on Huntley as he sat in the dock during his murder trial, describing him as “that thing in the box”.

She was granted a lifelong anonymity order in 2005, which protects her new identity indefinitely.

School caretaker Huntley has continually failed to give the grieving families the closure they need.

In court, he claimed both 10-year-olds died accidentally, lying that Holly drowned in his bath and that he inadvertently suffocated Jessica while trying to stifle her screams.

Yet in tapes recorded behind bars in 2018, the beast confessed to deliberately killing Jessica to stop her raising the alarm.

He still insisted Holly’s death was an accident.

It comes after we reported how Huntley had his red Manchester United-style shirt seized by jail bosses — after The Sun revealed he was strutting around in it.

Officers stormed into his cell and confiscated the top, which has a white No 10 on the back in an apparent sick reference to his schoolgirl victims.

Lags had complained about the top — similar to ones worn by 10-year-olds Holly and Jessica on the day he murdered them in 2002.

Guards also seized framed pictures of Huntley with ex Maxine Carr plus other items including DVDs.

HM Prison Frankland with a police van outside.
The Soham killer is serving life in HMP Frankland for the murders of 10-year-old girls Holly Wells and Jessica ChapmanCredit: PA
 

A police officer walking in front of a house sealed off with blue and white police tape.
School caretaker Huntley has continually failed to give the grieving families the closure they need after killing the girls at his houseCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd