Hand-picked prisoners spend an hour a day with Huntley

Governors at Belmarsh high security prison have also moved the Soham killer from a specially-built suite of rooms to a normal cell within the jail's healthcare centre.

The cell has bolted-down furniture to prevent inmates hanging themselves.

Huntley, 29, will be surrounded by a small group of carefully chosen offenders who will spend an hour a day with him.

The former school caretaker was jailed for life in December for the murders of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman at Soham in Cambridgeshire.

A prison spokesman said on Friday: "He is having limited contact with a couple of hand-picked prisoners.

"These will be articulate, capable prisoners who pose no threat to him and will all be located in the healthcare wing.

We can't force prisoners to spend time with someone they don't want to spend time with Prison spokeswoman

"Staff have found five or six prisoners to do this so they do not put any pressure on particular prisoners to be his 'mate'.

"If it was just two people it would be quite intense."

She added: "We can't force prisoners to spend time with someone they don't want to spend time with.

"They will have been picked for being well-behaved, but they will also have been asked because we can't force them to do this."

The process is known as "resocialising" and is designed to get Huntley familiarised with prison life.