A fellow inmate has been charged with the murder of the child killer Ian Huntley in a maximum security prison, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.

Anthony Russell, 43, will appear before magistrates charged with murdering the 52-year-old at HMP Frankland, in County Durham.

Christopher Atkinson, of the CPS, said: “Our prosecutors have worked to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings. We have worked closely with Durham constabulary as they carried out their investigation.”

Huntley, a former school caretaker, killed Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both aged 10, in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on 4 August 2002. The girls had left a family barbecue to buy sweets.

On 26 February, reports emerged that Huntley, 52, had been taken to hospital after suffering severe brain trauma in an attack in a workshop. It is thought he was attacked with a spiked metal pole, according to the Sun, which first reported the incident.

He was taken off life support on 6 March after his condition deteriorated.

Russell will appear at Newton Aycliffe magistrates’ court, via video link, on the afternoon of Wednesday 11 March.