A date has been set for a pre-trial hearing for alleged killer of Ian Huntley, Anthony Russell,

The 43-year-old was charged with the murder of Huntley after an attack in HMP Frankland last month.

The Soham murderer died in hospital on Saturday 7 March.

Serving prisoner Russell appeared at Newcastle Crown Court on Thursday (March 12) for a preliminary hearing.

He was not asked to enter a plea and a pre-trial preparation hearing has been arranged for 24 April at the same court.

Former school caretaker Huntley - who murdered two 10-year old schoolgirls in Soham - was reportedly attacked on Thursday 26 February with a makeshift weapon, and had his life support turned off in hospital on Friday.

Huntley was sentenced to 40 years behind bars for murdering schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Cambridgeshire in 2002.

Huntley was reportedly discovered lying in a pool of blood after the attack in the workshop. 

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He has been attacked in prison multiple times before.

In 2002 he killed two 10-year-old girls after luring the girls back to his home and leaving their bodies in a ditch in Suffolk.