Soham killer Ian Huntley died in hospital from a head injury following an attack days earlier at HMP Frankland, an inquest into his death has heard.
The 52-year-old died in the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle on 7 March after he was allegedly attacked with a metal bar in a workshop at the maximum security jail in Durham on 26 February.
Senior coroner Jeremy Chipperfield is hearing the inquest opening, listed under the name Ian Kevin Huntley, in Crook, County Durham, on Tuesday.
Anthony Russell, 43, has been charged with murdering Huntley and will attend Newcastle Crown Court on 24 April for a pre-trial preparation hearing.
Huntley was serving a life sentence for the 2002 murders of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
The ex-school caretaker killed the best friends after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on 4 August 2002. He dumped their bodies in a ditch 10 miles away. They were not found for 13 days, despite a search involving hundreds of police.
He denied murdering the girls but was convicted after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2003. He was jailed for life with a recommended minimum term of 40 years.
At the time, Huntley lived with Maxine Carr, who was a teaching assistant at Holly and Jessica’s primary school. Carr gave Huntley a false alibi and was jailed for 21 months for perverting the course of justice. She is now living under a new identity.
Last month it was reported that there would be no funeral for Huntley, and his family would scatter his ashes in private. The family also declined a government-funded service out of respect for the families of the victims.
Huntley’s daughter Samantha Bryan said, after learning of his death: “I felt relieved. I didn’t cry. I smiled. I was over the moon to be honest.” She suggested his ashes should be flushed down the toilet.
