A prison inmate has been charged with the murder of Soham killer Ian Huntley following a violent attack inside a high-security prison.
Durham Constabulary confirmed that Anthony Russell, 43, has been charged after the assault at HMP Frankland in County Durham on 26 February.
Huntley, 52, was seriously injured during the attack in the prison workshop and was taken to hospital where he later died nine days afterwards.
He had been receiving treatment at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle and had been placed on life support after suffering severe brain trauma.
Police said emergency services were called to the prison following reports of an assault during the morning of 26 February.
Russell is due to appear before Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court via video link.
Huntley had been serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years after being convicted of the murders of 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.
The two girls disappeared in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on 4 August 2002 after leaving a family barbecue to buy sweets.
Their disappearance sparked a massive search operation involving hundreds of police officers before their bodies were discovered 10 miles away nearly two weeks later.
Huntley was convicted at the Old Bailey in 2003 after denying responsibility for the murders.
He had been living with Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant at the girls’ primary school, at the time of the killings.
The Ministry of Justice previously described the Soham murders as one of the most shocking crimes in modern British history.