Durham police provided an update following the incident at HMP Frankland on Thursday of the double murderer.

A spokesman for the force said: "The 52-year-old man remains in hospital in a serious condition; there have been no changes overnight."

According to reports, the triple killer Anthony Russell shouted "I've done it, I've done it", after Huntley, 52, was smashed over the head at HMP Frankland, Durham.

Durham police, who have not confirmed the identity of the suspect, said that a man in his mid-40s had been detained in prison, but had not yet been arrested.

Huntley, a former caretaker, killed 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman after they left a family barbecue to buy sweets in Soham, Cambridgeshire, on August, 4, 2002.

Their bodies were found in a ditch near an airbase in Mildenhall, following a two-week search.

Huntley’s girlfriend, Maxine Carr, who was a teaching assistant at the girls’ school, served 21 months for perverting the course of justice for giving Huntley a false alibi.

She is now living under a new identity.

Russell, who reportedly attacked Huntley was sentenced to a whole life tariff in 2021 for the murders of Julie Williams, 58, and her son David Williams, 32, at separate flats in Coventry, and pregnant 31-year-old Nicole McGregor, who was found in woodland near Leamington Spa three days later.

© Eastern Daily Press