Huntley was airlifted to hospital after being found lying in a pool of blood at HMP Frankland in Durham, having been targeted by another inmate at about 9am, according to reports.

A source told The Sun: "It was absolute chaos and Huntley was in a terrible state. I’m amazed someone was able to get anywhere near him because he is usually really closely protected.

“They must have timed it when he wasn’t with prison officers and must have used a weapon to injure him so severely.”

Sources said the double child killer was left in a “touch and go” condition.

The 52-year-old has been attacked in prison on several occasions.

In 2010, armed robber Damien Fowkes knifed Huntley in the throat at Frankland, leaving him needing hospital treatment.

Five years earlier, at Wakefield Prison, killer Mark Hobson attacked him with boiling water.

On August 4, 2002, 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were enjoying a family barbecue at Jessica's family home just over the border in Cambridgeshire.

The bodies of Holly Wells (left) and her best friend, Jessica Chapman, were found in Suffolk (Image: PA)

The school friends were dressed in matching Manchester United football shirts when they left the home, but did not return.

The bodies of the two friends were later discovered by a farmworker in a ditch close to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.

Former school caretaker Ian Huntley, 48, was found guilty of the murder of Holly and Jessica and is serving a life sentence.

Huntley's then girlfriend Maxine Carr was handed a three-and-a-half year prison sentence in 2003 after being found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice for giving him a false alibi.

What did Ian Huntley do?

Two weeks after Holly and Jessica went missing on August 17, their bodies were found in a ditch near the perimeter fence of RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, around 10 miles east of Soham.

The coroner later ruled the girls died from asphyxiation.

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The search then turned to who could do such a thing. Locals from Huntley's hometown of Grimsby revealed he had previously been linked to sex attacks on a woman.

It was later found that he had been investigated for the alleged rape in 1998, along with his alleged sexual relationships with underage girls before moving to Soham.

When it was discovered that Jessica’s phone last had a signal to a mass outside of Huntley’s home, police conducted a search.

Ian Huntley is serving a life sentence for murdering Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham (Image: PA)

They were able to find fibres of clothing the girls had last been wearing when they were seen and fibres connecting Huntley’s body and clothing.

On August 20, Huntley was charged with two counts of murder, while his girlfriend Carr was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice when lying about Huntley’s whereabouts.

The trial took place in December 2003 and saw Huntley found guilty on two counts of murder and he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 40 years.

Huntley is not eligible for parole until 2042 when he will be 68 years old.

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