A PRISONER has appeared in court charged with murdering Soham monster Ian Huntley in a jail attack.
Huntley, 52, was rushed to hospital last week after his head was “split in two” during the horror at HMP Frankland.
The killer – serving serving life for the murders of 10-year-old friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman – died on Saturday morning.
Anthony Russell appeared at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court today charged with murder.
The 43-year-old, who is also an inmate at HMP Frankland, spoke only to confirm his identity.
Russell will next appear at Newcastle Crown Court tomorrow.
District Judge Steven Hood told him: “The offence of murder can only be heard in the crown court.
“Therefore I am sending this matter to Newcastle Crown Court and you will appear at Newcastle Crown Court tomorrow morning.
“The reason for that is because in matters such as murder, the magistrates’ court cannot consider anything other than a remand in custody, and the law states that a person must appear within 48 hours before a crown court.”
Huntley was attacked with a metal spike at a workshop on February 26 and suffered severe brain trauma.
The child killer was rushed to hospital with serious injuries and placed in an induced coma.
Sources said medics “worked miracles” to keep the fiend Huntley alive after he reportedly had his “head split in two” in the attack.
But The Sun exclusively reported he was taken off life support after brain tests showed he was in a vegetative state.
The monster died nine days after the attack.
Huntley murdered ten-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in August 2002 in a case that horrified the nation.
He had abducted the pals and murdered them after luring them both to his home in Soham on August 4, 2002.
During a two-week appeal to find the girls, Huntley gave TV interviews and joined in searches while his then-girlfriend Maxine Carr gave him a false alibi.
The brute, a caretaker at the local Soham Village College, was arrested after the girls’ bodies were discovered 13 days later.
He later admitted he had returned to the site and set fire to their bodies.
Huntley was convicted in 2003 of the girls’ murders and sentenced to a minimum term of 40 years in jail.
Carr was jailed for perverting the course of justice and released in 2004 with a new identity.
