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Cachella Smithand Adam Goldsmith
Elizabeth Cook/PA
Anthony Russell appeared at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court via video link
A prison inmate charged with the murder of Soham killer Ian Huntley has appeared in court.
Anthony Russell, 43, was charged earlier this week after Huntley died in hospital following an attack at HMP Frankland in County Durham at the end of February.
Huntley, 52, was taken to hospital following the attack on February 26 and died nine days later, police said previously.
Appearing via video link at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, Russell confirmed his name and address. No plea was entered and Russell will appear at Newcastle Crown Court on Thursday.
Huntley had been serving a life sentence - with a minimum term of 40 years - at the time of his death for the murders of 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002.
The schoolgirls had gone missing after leaving a family barbecue in Soham in August 2002.
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Ian Huntley had been serving a life sentence at HMP Frankland at the time of his death for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman
It is believed they were on their way to buy sweets when Huntley, then aged 28 and working as a school caretaker, lured them back to his home and killed them.
Their disappearance made national headlines and led to police appeals.
The girls bodies were found in a ditch a fortnight after they went missing.
Huntley was arrested on the same day.
His girlfriend Maxine Carr was also jailed in 2003 after being found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice for giving him a false alibi. She has since been released and given a new identity.
The Ministry of Justice has previously said Huntley's crime "remains one of the most shocking and devastating cases in our nation's history, and our thoughts are with their families".
The attack in February was not the first time Huntley had been attacked in prison, after a previous incident in 2010 resulted in him needed 21 stitches.
