It was 23 years ago that Ian Huntley was given two life sentences after being convicted for the murders of two little girls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, in 2002. But he never got to serve the 40 years that was his due. Another prisoner, allegedly the triple murderer Anthony Russell, battered him to death with a pointed iron bar. He died on Saturday, nine days after the attack, it seems with his mother, Lynda Richards, at his side. He is reported to have been so battered during the attack, he was unrecognisable.
Perhaps she mourned him; he was, after all, her son. But others have taken the opportunity to dance – not on his grave, for he is unburied – but metaphorically on his remains; it is as if the one way we have of demonstrating our revulsion at the crime is by outdoing each other in contempt for the criminal. A statement from the Ministry of Justice said that its thoughts were with the girls’ families; one BBC report suggested that a spokesman added that “no-one would shed tears for Ian Huntley”. Really? Perhaps his mother did.
