LONDON: One of Britain’s most notorious child killers, Ian Huntley, died on Saturday following an attack in prison where he was serving a life sentence, police said.
Huntley murdered 10-year-old girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in eastern England in 2002, in a case that horrified the country.
Fifty-two-year-old Huntley suffered serious injuries when he was assaulted at Frankland maximum security prison in the northeastern English city of Durham on Feb. 26.
He “died in hospital this morning,” a spokesperson for the local police force said in a statement emailed to AFP.
A spokesperson for the government’s justice ministry said the double murder of Holly and Jessica “remains one of the most shocking and devastating cases in our nation’s history, and our thoughts are with their families.”
Huntley killed the two best friends after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets in the village of Soham, Cambridgeshire, on Aug. 4 2002.
Their disappearance sparked a massive search involving hundreds of police officers and appeals for help.
A photograph of the two girls wearing matching Manchester United football tops became instantly recognizable to many Britons.
Their bodies were found almost two weeks later, dumped in a ditch several miles away.
Huntley, then a 28-year-old school caretaker, aroused the suspicion of police after he gave media interviews claiming to be concerned for the girls’ welfare.
He denied murdering them but was convicted at trial in 2003.
His girlfriend at the time, Maxine Carr a teaching assistant at the girls’ school, gave Huntley a false alibi and was jailed for perverting the course of justice. She now lives under a new identity.
Revelations that Huntley had been the subject of prior rape and sexual assault complaints led to the establishment of criminal checks for anyone working with children.
He had been attacked before in prison, most seriously in 2005 and 2010.
“A police investigation into the circumstances of the incident is ongoing,” the spokesperson said, adding that prosecutors would consider bringing charges against his assailant.
UK child killer Ian Huntley dies after prison attack: police
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UK child killer Ian Huntley dies after prison attack: police
- Huntley murdered 10-year-old girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in eastern England in 2002
- He suffered serious injuries when he was assaulted at Frankland maximum security prison in the northeastern English city of Durham on Feb. 26
German union calls Lufthansa pilots strike for Thursday, Friday
- Andreas Pinheiro, the union president, said there was “still no offer on the table” from Lufthansa
- Almost 800 flights were canceled during the February 12 walkout
BERLIN: Pilots for German airline Lufthansa will go on strike for a second time Thursday and Friday over a pensions dispute, the Vereinigung Cockpit union said in a statement.
The strike will affect Lufthansa Cargo and passenger flights “departing from German airports between 00:01 local time on March 12, 2026 and 23:59 local time on March 13, 2026,” the union said.
However, flights to several key Middle East destinations will be excluded from the industrial action “in light of the current situation” in the region, according to the statement.
Andreas Pinheiro, the union president, said there was “still no offer on the table” from Lufthansa following a one-day strike last month.
Almost 800 flights were canceled during the February 12 walkout, with cabin crew also staging a strike on the same day.
Pilots for Lufthansa subsidiary CityLine will hold strike on Thursday, Vereinigung Cockpit said, blaming “the failure of negotiations on a new collective wage agreement.”
Lufthansa announced one year ago that it would close Lufthansa CityLine, with operations and staff moved to a new subsidiary.
Destinations in Egypt, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Yemen, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will be excluded from the strikes, the union said.
Announcing its 2025 annual results last week, the Lufthansa group reported a forecast-beating operating profit of 1.96 billion euros ($2.27 billion), around 20 percent higher than the previous year.
However, the airline warned it faced an uncertain outlook because of the Middle East conflict.
