Psychopath tried to kill Ian Huntley in prison infirmary

Damien Fowkes, 36, admitted attempting to murder Huntley at Frankland Prison, in Durham.

He also admitted killing another inmate – paedophile and child murderer Colin Hatch – at Full Sutton Prison, near York.

A judge at Hull Crown Court yesterday heard it was Huntley’s “good fortune” that the gaping seven-inch wound Fowkes inflicted, with a razor melted on to a piece of plastic cutlery, missed any vital blood vessels.

Fowkes, from Northampton, sat in a sealed dock surrounded by five prison officers as prosecutor Graham Reeds, QC, described how he chased Huntley around the healthcare unit at the jail, brandishing two homemade weapons.

At one point Fowkes trapped Huntley but he managed to escape by throwing a bedside table at him. Mr Reeds said: “The defendant chased him around the room, still armed with the weapon, but he couldn’t catch him.”

Huntley eventually shut himself in a servery until prison guards were able to subdue Fowkes.

Judge Mr Justice Coulson heard Huntley was in hospital for three days and needed 21 stitches in the wound. He also suffered a gash to his chest.

Mr Reeds said: “It was good fortune that it missed all the vital structures in the neck.”

He said Fowkes had asked a prison officer: “Is he dead? I hope so.” When told he had not killed Huntley, he said: “I wish I had.”

Huntley, 37, is serving life for the 2002 murders of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, with a minimum of 40 years.

Following the attack at Frankland, Fowkes was moved to Full Sutton where he was placed on D Wing, for vulnerable prisoners, because of his regular bouts of self-harm. The court heard it was in a cell on D Wing that he attacked Hatch – a paedophile serving life with a minimum of 25 years – in February this year.

Hatch was jailed in 1994 for the murder of seven-year-old Sean Williams, in north London while on licence for a similar, non-fatal, attack.

Mr Reeds said Fowkes barricaded himself and Hatch into a cell and told prison officers he would not kill him if they stayed outside. But Fowkes then tied Hatch to a bed and used strips of bedding to strangle him.

At one point, Fowkes told officers: “He’s a nonce [paedophile]. He doesn’t deserve to live.”

Mr Reeds said Fowkes said he was motivated to commit both attacks because “they were offenders against children”.

He said Fowkes remarked: “They just do my head in. It was the same when I did Huntley.”

Mr Reeds said Fowkes boasted later he was now “more notorious than Ian Huntley”.

Fowkes admitted attempting to murder Huntley on 21 March, last year. He denied murdering Hatch but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Mr Reeds said this plea were accepted.

The court heard Fowkes – who was in Frankland serving life for robbery after being jailed in 2002 – showed “strong psychopathic traits”.

The court heard his minimum tariff had already expired when he attacked Huntley.

Mr Justice Coulson adjourned the case and is expected to sentence Fowkes today.