Ian Huntley has been blinded and is not expected to regain consciousness following an attack in the workshop of HMP Frankland, a maximum security prison in County Durham
Soham killer Ian Huntley will be sent to a £300,000-a-year secure hospital at the taxpayers’ expense if he survives the prison attack, it is reported.
The price would be significantly more than the £85,000 it was costing to keep the double killer locked up alongside the other murderers and sex offenders in HMP Frankland, County Durham. It is thought Huntley, though, cannot return there if he survives because he would be at serious risk from other inmates.
There are only three secure hospitals that can accept Category A prisoners; Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire, Rampton in Nottinghamshire and Ashworth in Merseyside. It is understood Huntley, the former school caretaker, would be sent to Ashworth, a stark departure from the horrors of Frankland, which is known as Monster Mansion.
A source said: “It’s still touch or go whether he will even survive beyond the next few weeks. But if he does live, there is no way he will ever return to Frankland. He won’t be in a fit state to look after himself without round-the-clock care, plus he will never be safe from other inmates.”
READ MORE: Ian Huntley’s mum ‘decides if life support should be withdrawn’ from his bedsideREAD MORE: Killer cop Wayne Couzens ‘petrified to leave cell’ after Ian Huntley prison attack
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But we reported last night Huntley’s life support was switched off, and he had hours left to live at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary as a result. Sources told The Sun it has left Huntley “effectively dead”.
Yet, should he defy the odds, 52-year-old Huntley will need care at one of the three secure hospitals which can accept an inmate of his notoriety. It is a grim irony that Huntley will be shown far more mercy than he afforded Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, the ten-year-old Soham schoolgirls he murdered then dumped in a ditch in 2002.
The man will have the best possible care from a dedicated team of top NHS nurses and brain specialists during these critical next few weeks and – should he survive his injuries – for the rest of his life.
He has had at least three guards by his bedside at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary at all hours. A high profile category A inmate such as Huntley requires three prison officers and a prison manager by his hospital bed guarding him at all times guarding him at all times, though it is likely just the guards remain as Huntley is in a coma.
This means the presence is for his own protection rather than because he presents a flight risk. Staff are reportedly paid £24 an hour for the overtime, which is considered the “holy grail” by many prison officers.
