There is a patient bay at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary that has had its curtains closed for more than a week. 

Behind the drawn blinds and amid the humming ventilators and gently beeping heart monitors lies a patient who is not like the others.

Unusually for the critical care unit, which allows no more than two visitors at a time, this patient has had at least three by his bedside at all hours.

And, stranger still, the unconscious middle-aged man has been booked into the hospital under the name ‘Anonymous’.

Unlike the other patients on the ward, all of whom have suffered serious head or spinal injuries, the man behind the curtain is one of the most reviled individuals in Britain.

And not even the hospital’s top neurosurgeons can be confident about what the future holds for Ian Huntley, who lies in an induced coma after being bludgeoned over the head with a metal pole nine days ago.

One thing that is certain, however, is that the 52-year-old double child killer, who is serving a minimum 40 years, will not be returning to HMP Frankland – the notorious high security prison where he was attacked by a fellow inmate during a workshop session.

Amid reports yesterday that Huntley was blinded in the onslaught and is brain dead, a prison source said: ‘It’s still touch or go whether he will even survive beyond the next few weeks. But if he does live, there is no way he will ever return to Frankland.

Not even the top neurosurgeons can be confident about what the future holds for Ian Huntley (pictured), who lies in hospital in an induced coma after being bludgeoned over the head with a metal pole nine days ago

One thing that is certain, however, is that the 52-year-old double child killer, who is serving a minimum 40 years, will not be returning to HMP Frankland. Pictured: Best friends Holly Wells, left, and Jessica Chapman, right, who Huntley killed in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in 2002

I had no idea I was having tea with a monster

I’m Sam Greenhill, Chief Reporter, and nearly 25 years ago I had an encounter with killer Ian Huntley that still sends shivers down my spine. 

Huntley is one Britain’s most notorious child murderers. But when I was invited into his home for tea and biscuits days before he was arrested for the Soham Murders, this was the last thing on my mind. I’ve written about it in The Crime Desk newsletter – sign up to read it for free.

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‘He won’t be in a fit state to look after himself without round-the-clock care, plus he will never be safe from other inmates.’

It is a grim irony that Huntley will be shown far more mercy than he afforded Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, the ten-year-old Soham schoolgirls he murdered then dumped in a ditch in 2002. 

He will have the best possible care from a dedicated team of top NHS nurses and brain specialists during these critical next few weeks and – should he survive his injuries – for the rest of his life.

But keeping a severely disabled and notorious child killer alive – and safe from himself and others – will require a huge amount of resources.

Sources suggest the cost to the taxpayer for treating Huntley in a secure hospital, for that’s where he would go, could stretch to an eye-watering £300,000 a year – significantly more than the £85,000 it was costing to keep him locked up alongside the other murderers and sex offenders in HMP Frankland.

And even keeping an eye on him in his current immobile state in hospital is racking up an astonishing £16,000 in overtime every week.

A high profile category A inmate such as Huntley requires three prison officers and a prison manager by his hospital bed guarding him at all times, though with Huntley in a coma – meaning the presence is for his own protection rather than because he presents a flight risk – it is likely that it is just the guards who remain there.

Staff are paid £24 an hour for the overtime, which is considered the ‘holy grail’ by many prison officers.

‘Normally a hospital bed watch is the best possible overtime – you can just chat, watch Netflix and eat pizza so everyone wants to do it,’ a prison source said. 

‘On one hand this will be even easier as Huntley is in a coma – but then who really wants to spend their days and nights beside one of the most despicable men in the country?’

For Huntley’s stay at the Royal Victoria Infirmary then, the costs of these prison officers alone will exceed £2,300 a day.

It’s understood he has had only one visitor. A source said Huntley’s mother, Lynda, had made the trip from her Lincolnshire home to see him in hospital last weekend but did not stay long as she was informed it was unlikely there would be any change in his condition.

Should the twisted former caretaker recover sufficiently to leave the hospital, the available options are limited but costly. 

There are only three secure hospitals that can accept Category A prisoners: Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire, Rampton in Nottinghamshire and Ashworth in Merseyside.

Ashworth, which sources say is the most likely destination for Huntley should he leave the Royal Victoria alive, will represent a stark departure from the horrors of Frankland, which is known as Monster Mansion.

With wards named after literary giants such as John Keats, William Blake and Charles Dickens, individuals held at the secure hospital – where Moors Murderer Ian Brady spent 28 years and the Nottingham triple killer Valdo Calocane is a resident – are treated as patients rather than prisoners and cost the taxpayer about £300,000 a year to care for.

Another prisoner, reportedly triple murderer and rapist Anthony Russell (pictured), beat him repeatedly round the head with a 3ft metal pole snatched from a recycling crate, leaving Huntley unconscious on the floor in a growing pool of blood

The hospital runs workshops for music and art, as well as pottery, gardening and cooking classes.

Staff at the secure hospital are NHS employees so do not wear prison uniforms and inmates – who stay in ensuite rooms – have access to music players and books.

The facility also holds social events for its 200 patients held under the Mental Health Act, such as film and bingo nights. 

Should the trauma to Huntley’s brain leave him requiring round- the-clock specialist care, costs could soar by additional tens of thousands of pounds.

It was shortly after 9am on Thursday, February 26, when Huntley was set upon in one of the prison workshops at Frankland, County Durham, where inmates make use of their time inside to learn a trade.

Another prisoner, reportedly triple murderer and rapist Anthony Russell, beat him repeatedly round the head with a 3ft metal pole snatched from a recycling crate, leaving Huntley unconscious on the floor in a growing pool of blood. 

After the attack Russell reportedly shouted: ‘I’ve done it, I’ve done it. I’ve killed him, I’ve killed him.’

Huntley was stabilised at the scene by a paramedic and doctor and was so close to death that he could not be transported to hospital by air.

An ambulance with an armed police escort took him, along with two prison guards and an armed officer, to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) so medics could continue the fight to keep him alive while in transit.

Upon arrival at the RVI, Huntley was initially taken to the burns unit, at the time the only place quiet enough to keep him away from other patients, a hospital source said.

‘He was later moved to the critical care ward, which specialises in treating people with serious head injuries and those that require brain surgery,’ they added.

‘He’s still in a very bad way and as far as everyone is aware he hasn’t regained consciousness at all since he was moved here. 

‘There are prison officers or police guarding him at all times but they are wearing civilian clothes so they don’t cause a scene. 

‘Huntley is booked in under “Anonymous” which is very unusual. 

‘Normally all those brought in from prison are booked in under the same name which is known to healthcare staff so we know they are one to keep an eye on.’

Back at Frankland, word of the critical attack on one of its most hated inmates was greeted with jubilation by the prison population. 

‘After news went around that Huntley had been attacked there was cheering all around the wing,’ the source said.

‘Even now most mornings someone is shouting, “Is Huntley dead yet?'”, which is then followed by cheers and laughter.’ 

During almost a quarter of a century behind bars, Huntley has had constant reminders of the target on his back. 

Since his conviction in 2003, Huntley has made multiple trips to hospital after being beaten, burned, stabbed and slashed by other inmates.

During almost a quarter of a century behind bars, Huntley (pictured in August 2002) has had constant reminders of the target on his back 

His own estranged daughter, Samantha Bryan (pictured), 27, probably spoke for many when she said following the attack last month that she was ‘glad’ and that her father deserved the vicious assault

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EXCLUSIVE

Inside Ian Huntley’s miserable prison life: ‘Queue’ of inmates who wanted to kill him

In 2010, he was almost killed by ‘psychopathic’ armed robber Damien Fowkes, who slashed Huntley in the neck with a DIY shank made from a razor blade melted between the handles of two plastic knives.

Seven years later, Huntley was attacked again with a razor blade fixed to the handle of a toothbrush. 

A prison source said bored inmates would also try to tamper with his food whenever possible.

‘People would try to chuck whatever they could get hold of into his meals – bits of glass, beard shavings, excrement, anything,’ they added.

To avoid having his food interfered with, Huntley began to forgo prison meals – instead subsisting on fast food, chocolate and crisps bought from the prison shop, causing his weight to balloon.

Frankland has a shocking recent history of attacks on inmates and prison staff, with Manchester Arena plotter Hashem Abedi allegedly throwing boiling oil on three officers before stabbing them with makeshift knives just last year. 

On another occasion a prisoner’s head was badly burned after having boiling water mixed with melted butter launched at him in a practice known in jails as ‘swilling’.

It should have come as no surprise to anyone, then, that Huntley was in constant danger.

Former prison governor and senior Home Office official Ian Acheson questioned whether prison bosses could have applied basic common sense to have avoided the attack.

‘It is not Huntley’s squalid life we should be reflecting on, rather the state of a high security prison where such extreme violence is becoming worryingly frequent,’ he said. 

‘There was clearly a hazard that Huntley, who had been attacked multiple times in the past, would be a target in a workshop. 

‘Should he have been there at all? Should his alleged assailant? Was there any history between the two? 

‘In prisons like Frankland, even petty personality clashes can explode without warning into murderous violence.’

Senior managers often override warnings about allowing unsuitable prisoners to mix because resources are so stretched, Mr Acheson added.

‘This claim needs to be investigated at Frankland,’ he said.

He suggested managers were more concerned with keeping prisoners ‘busy’, such as in prison employment, than with keeping unsuitable inmates from mixing.

‘Security must take priority,’ he added, noting how difficult it is to manage prisoners with ‘little to lose’, such as Russell, who is serving a whole-life term, meaning he will never be released.

Huntley murdered Holly and Jessica after luring them into his home in Soham, Cambridgeshire, when they left a family barbecue to buy sweets, then dumped their bodies and tried to burn them.

His own estranged daughter, Samantha Bryan, 27, probably spoke for many when she said following the attack last month that she was ‘glad’ and that her father deserved the vicious assault.

Indeed, not many will feel sympathy for Huntley, nor will mourn him should he succumb to his injuries.

But, with precious NHS resources and hundreds of thousands of taxpayers money being diverted simply to keep one of modern history’s most evil men alive following an attack perpetrated by another vicious killer, we should perhaps be careful what we celebrate.