See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy GLEN KEOGH, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Published: 11:35 BST, 3 June 2026 | Updated: 11:39 BST, 3 June 2026
A trial date has been set for a serving prisoner accused of the murder of Soham monster Ian Huntley.Anthony Russell, 44, is accused of attacking Huntley at high-security HMP Frankland, Co Durham, in February.He was rushed to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary by ambulance but never regained consciousness and died nine days later on March 7.Appearing via video-link from prison for a short hearing at Newcastle Crown Court today, Russell was told he is due to stand trial at the same court on November 23.He is yet to enter any plea to the single count of murder.In the meantime, the court heard that an MRI scan and psychiatric reports will be prepared on the defendant.Balding Russell, who was wearing a grey t-shirt, rested his heavily-tattooed forearms on the table during the hearing.He spoke to confirm his name and date of birth before asking the judge, Mr Justice Hilliard, to ‘remind me of those court dates.’He will next appear at Newcastle Crown Court for a mention hearing on July 3. Huntley was attacked inside high-security HMP Frankland in February and died nine days later having never regained consciousness Anthony Russell, 44, is due to stand trial in November for the alleged murder of Soham killer Ian HuntleyAddressing Russell, Mr Justice Hilliard said: ‘I say this to everyone when I get the opportunity to speak to them for the first time: the rule is if you should decide not to come for your trial or any part of it, we will carry on without you.‘I’m sure you will be there [but] if I have said it to you directly we know it has been said.’Former school caretaker Huntley was serving a life sentence for the 2002 murders of 10-year-old girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambs.He lured them into his home when they left a family barbecue to buy sweets, killed them and dumped their bodies in a ditch 10 miles away.They were not found for 13 days, despite a search involving hundreds of police officers.He denied murdering the girls and claimed in his 2003 Old Bailey trial that Holly had drowned in the bath when he was assisting her with a nosebleed and he had accidentally smothered Jessica to stop her screaming.But the jury rejected his account and he was convicted and jailed for life with a recommended minimum term of 40 years.His girlfriend, Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant at the girls' school, gave Huntley a false alibi.She was jailed for 21 months for perverting the course of justice and is now living under a new identity.The fatal attack was at least the third time Huntley had been targeted in jail.In 2010, his throat was slashed with a makeshift weapon and, in 2005 another inmate threw boiling water over him.
