Who is Soham killer Ian Huntley?

Ian Huntley, the former school caretaker who murdered two 10-year-old schoolgirls in Soham, has been attacked in prison.

Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were best friends who vanished after leaving a family barbecue in 2002 in their small town near Cambridge.

Huntley, a cruel and calculating man who feigned concern for the girls during TV interviews at the time of the search, was jailed for life in 2003.

The brutality of his crimes have made him a target in prison and he has been attacked several times. The latest assault, which saw him bludgeoned with a makeshift weapon in a workshop at HMP Frankland, has left him in hospital with significant head trauma.

Huntley was sentenced to at least 40 years in custody and was told by a judge he had "little hope of release" for the killings that shocked a nation.

Holly and Jessica went missing on 4 August 2002, having left the barbecue to go for a walk.

They were both pupils at Soham's junior school.

Their disappearance made national headlines and led to police appeals and tireless searches of the town and flat countryside of The Fens.

The image of them side by side in their matching Manchester United football shirts became ingrained on the nation's consciousness.

A fortnight after searches began, the youngsters' bodies were found in a ditch about 10 miles away, near RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. They had been asphyxiated.

Suspicions were raised about Huntley after he gave detailed interviews to the media about Holly and Jessica during the search to find the girls.

His trial judge later said he had added to the families' grief by pretending to help and offering words of sympathy to Holly's father.

BBC TV reporter Debbie Tubby gave evidence during the trial. She said that four days after the girls went missing, Huntley asked her if police had found their clothes.

He also told her that police had searched his house and he believed he was the last person to see the girls alive.

Huntley gave another media interview at the College Close home he shared with girlfriend Maxine Carr.

Carr said she was a teaching assistant in the girls' class and the children were taught about "stranger danger".

Huntley then jumped in and said if the girls were approached by anyone in a car, Holly would have gone quietly, but Jessica would have put up a fight.

Their suspicious actions led to journalists reporting the conversations to the police.

Jessica was carrying her mobile phone when she left the barbecue with Holly - and the device proved crucial to investigators.

An expert established the phone had been turned off about 30 minutes after the girls left the barbecue.

Evidence showed the phone's last communication was sent to a telecoms mast in nearby Burwell.

The mast could only be accessed from a handful of spots around Soham, including the area outside Huntley's home.

Huntley and Carr were arrested on 17 August.

On 20 August, Huntley was charged with murder and Carr was charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice by giving him a false alibi.

The trial at the Old Bailey in London started on 5 November 2003. The courtroom was packed and the trial was in the full glare of national media.

Huntley told jurors Holly had died accidentally after falling into his bath when he was helping her with a nosebleed.

But he admitted he had killed Jessica by putting his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming.

He also said he had told lies to police to cover his tracks and admitted dumping the girls' bodies in the ditch and trying to burn them.

After about five weeks of evidence, the jury was sent out to consider its verdicts.

On 17 December, Huntley was found guilty of the girls' murders by 11 to one majorities and was sentenced to life.

Trial judge Mr Justice Moses handed Huntley two life terms and ruled that he would serve a minimum of 40 years in prison before being considered for release.

The judge said the killings did not meet the criteria for a whole-life tariff, but the 40-year term offered "little or no hope" of his release.

He said a whole-life tariff could only be given in sadistic or sexual cases, those involving abduction or a high level of premeditation.

The judge said it was likely, but not proven, that Huntley had enticed the girls into his house and there was a "likelihood" of sexual motivation but no evidence of that.

Carr was 25 years old in 2002. She stood trial with Huntley at the Old Bailey.

She was jailed for three and half years after being found guilty of conspiring with him to pervert the course of justice.

Carr was cleared of two counts of assisting an offender in relation to the murders.

She had told journalists she and Huntley had been at their home in Soham on the day the girls vanished.

Carr later admitted to police she was, in fact, in Lincolnshire so could not provide an alibi for Huntley.

She was given a new identity after being freed from jail in May 2004.

After his arrest, it emerged Huntley, who was originally from Grimsby, had been able to work with children despite being the subject of rape and sexual assault complaints made to Humberside Police.

At the time of the killings, he had been caretaker at Soham Village College, the local state secondary school.

A subsequent inquiry led to the establishment of a process of criminal checks for anyone working with children.

In 2011, police set up a computer system which allowed UK forces to share intelligence on 15 million people.

A Police National Database was the key recommendation from an inquiry into failings by police in relation to the Soham murders.

The Bichard Inquiry found police had failed to disclose details of allegations against Huntley a year before he murdered Holly and Jessica.

The latest attack on Huntley, at HMP Frankland in County Durham on 26 February, was not the first.

In 2005, he was scalded with boiling water at HMP Wakefield.

After that, he was moved to Frankland, a Category A high security jail.

He was then slashed across the throat in 2010.

The BBC understands that triple killer Anthony Russell, 43, is suspected of the latest attack.

Now 52, Huntley has suffered significant head trauma from his injuries and is undergoing treatment.

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