Triple murderer suspected of attacking Ian Huntley in prison attack has been named

He is serving a life sentence

The 52-year-old murderer was left fighting for his life after being attacked at around 9am on Thursday, at HMP Frankland in County Durham.

Huntley was air-lifted to hospital from his prison wing after being “bludgeoned” and found “lying in a pool of his own blood”, according to The Sun sources.

It's been reported that Huntley has only a 5% chance of survival after his head was 'split in two' in the attack.

Attacker of Huntley has been named as Anthony Russell.

He is a triple killer who once raped a pregnant woman, according to multiple prison sources.

Russell strangled 31-year-old Nicole McGregor to death before dumping her body in woodland near Leamington Spa, and in October 2020 he also murdered Julie Williams, 58, and her son David, 32, during a week-long crime spree.

He was eventually the subject of a national manhunt and fled Leamington Spa by stealing a car from a pensioner.

“'Huntley was working in waste management with other prisoners from Wing A, the segregated wing for prisoners who can't be in the normal jail population for their own protection”, a prison source told the Daily Mail.

“The other prisoner got a metal bar from the waste metal crates and smashed Huntley three times in the head with it. It was a very, very serious injury, having been struck on the skull like that.”

Before Russell swung at Huntley with the metal pole, it is believed a fight broke out between the two prisoners.

He reportedly hit him with such force that part of the bar was lodged inside of him.

Currently, Huntley is serving a life sentence for murdering Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in 2002.

Officers initially feared that Huntley had died due to the extent of his injuries amid concerns he was not breathing.

Paramedics put him in a medically induced coma and transported him to hospital, and he is said to remain there in a critical condition.