The death of child killer Ian Huntley over the weekend is “no great loss” to society, a journalist who covered his trial has said. 

The 52 year old man, who murdered best friends Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002, was serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years. 

It is believed the girls were on their way to buy sweets when the school caretaker lured them back to his house and killed them. 

Triple killer and rapist Anthony Russell is suspected of murdering Huntley at HMP Frankland. In 2022, he was sentenced to a whole-life prison sentence - meaning he can never be released - for his killing spree. 

Police described the murders of Julie Williams, her son, David Williams, and pregnant woman Nicole McGregor by Russell as one of the most "violent series of killings" that had ever taken place.

In a statement, Durham Constabulary said that an investigation into Huntley's death is "ongoing" and that a file has been prepared for the Crown Prosecution Service.

'He wasn't a great asset to humanity'

In a statement, Britain’s Ministry of Justice said that Huntley’s crime "remains one of the most shocking and devastating cases in our nation's history and our thoughts are with their families".

 On The Claire Byrne Show, Seán O’Neill, who covered the case as a journalist with the Times, said few would mourn his early demise. 

“It's no great loss,” he said. 

“I mean, I know that sounds callous, but he wasn't a great asset to humanity, was he? 

“I think what it does for myself and for anybody who was following the case or closely involved in the case at the time, it kind of triggers a lot of memories and a lot of the sadness that those two girls, just 10 years old, lost their futures. 

“The devastation it must have wreaked on their families was terrible.”

Mr O’Neill continued that Huntley’s behaviour after he killed Holly and Jessica only “prolonged the agony of the families”. 

Even when he was caught and his guilt was obvious, he continued to deny his crimes. 

“He was there laying out chairs at press conferences, hanging around, listening in to what was being said by the police,” Mr O’Neill said. 

“He knew he had killed those girls, that he'd hidden their bodies in a ditch, that he tried to burn the bodies, that he tried to burn their clothes. 

“When he was arrested, as his guilt became patently clear, he just kept that dark secret to himself. 

“And it went to trial 18 months later, creating a completely fantastical story about one of them having a nosebleed and falling over and banging her head and the other one being strangled by accident.”

As the trial went on, journalists began to delve deep into his early life, quickly discovering that he had long been a very dangerous individual who should never have been allowed near children. 

“We went up to Grimsby, where he came from and researched his background,” Mr O’Neill recalled. 

“[We] found that he'd had a very checkered history of assaulting young girls and [he was] a very violent man with an explosive temper. 

“It raised all sorts of questions about how he got a job as a school caretaker and, eventually, led to a complete reform of the criminal records system and police intelligence gathering in Britain.”

Huntley’s girlfriend at the time, Maxine Carr, was jailed in 2003 for providing him with a false alibi. She was given a new identity after her release from prison the following year.

Main image: Anthony Russell and Ian Huntley.