Double child killer Ian Huntley has been blinded and is not expected to regain consciousness following an attack in the workshop of a British maximum security prison, according to reports.
The former school caretaker, who murdered ten-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002, has been kept on life support in hospital after being hit repeatedly over the head by an inmate armed with a metal bar.
The Sun reported that the attack left Huntley blind and it quoted a source saying: "Huntley never recovered from the battering and never stood much of a chance of doing so."
He was attacked in the recycling area of the prison.
Durham Constabulary has not identified the suspect but it said on the day of the attack that a man in his mid-40s had been detained.
After the attack, Huntley's only daughter Samantha Bryan, 27, told The Sun on Sunday of her father: "There's a special place in hell waiting for him."
Huntley murdered Holly and Jessica after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on 4 August 2002. He dumped their bodies in a ditch.
The attack was the latest attempt on Huntley's life and he was thought to have been kept under close observation to prevent such attacks.
In 2010, robber Damien Fowkes slashed him with a home-made weapon, causing a "severe, gaping cut to the left side of his neck" with an 18cm wound which required 21 stitches.
Fowkes asked a prison officer: "Is he dead? I hope so."
He described Huntley as a "notorious child killer, both inside prison and in society in general".
Huntley's life sentence recommended he serve at least 40 years for the Soham murders.
