SOHAM fiend Ian Huntley will have no funeral — just a basic cremation before his ashes are scattered in secret by his family.
The Sun understands the double child-killer’s relatives declined the offer of a state-funded service out of respect for his victims’ families.
A source said: “There will be no service, no memorial, no mourners, nothing. It is as it should be.”
Huntley, who was serving life for the 2002 murders of ten-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, died on March 7 aged 52 after being savagely attacked in jail.
Fears had been growing that the public would end up footing the bill for his funeral.
But the source said: “There will be no funeral. How could there be after what he did?
“H”e will simply be cremated and his ashes handed to his family.
“They have always been utterly appalled by what he did.
“It was unforgivable and, for those reasons, they could not in good conscience hold a funeral.”
Under a Ministry of Justice scheme, the prison service can provide up to £3,000 of public money for any inmate who dies while in custody to pay for a funeral and memorial service organised through the jail chaplaincy.
The money is permitted to be paid directly to a funeral director and can only be used to cover reasonable costs including a simple coffin, hearse, as well as cremation or burial fees.
The Sun understands Huntley’s relatives decided any kind of funeral would be seen as inappropriate.
Instead they will scatter the fiend’s ashes at a location kept top-secret over fears of reprisals.
Following his death, daughter Samantha Bryan told The Sun on Sunday his ashes should be “flushed down the toilet”.
A petition protesting against the use of public money to fund a funeral for Huntley had attracted more than 55,000 signatures.
The state paid for Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe’s cremation in 2020, and a funeral for Cannock Chase child killer Raymond Morris in 2014.
Justice Minister Sarah Sackman said: “This man, Ian Huntley, doesn’t deserve anything more than the absolute bare minimum.
“We’re not spending £3,000. That’s the maximum in our policy that it affords.
“But the key thing here is that we stand with those families. I don’t really want to be talking about Ian Huntley.
“What I’m only sorry about is that he’s no longer alive, rotting in prison, thinking about what he did to those two little girls.”
An inquest into Huntley’s death will be opened and adjourned in due course, allowing for his body to be released for cremation.
The initial hearing will confirm the date and time he died and the circumstances which led to it.
A full inquest into his death will be held once criminal proceedings against his alleged killer, Anthony Russell, 43, are concluded.
Russell, who is serving a whole life term, has appeared in court accused of Huntley’s murder.
He allegedly attacked him with a 3ft spiked metal bar in the prison’s recycling workshop on February 26.
Two ambulances and an air ambulance were scrambled to the Durham jail before Huntley was taken to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary in an induced coma.
He was whisked in for surgery on his huge head wound and given a five per cent chance of survival.
A second round of surgery on his broken jaw followed amid repeated scans for brain activity.
But days later medical intervention was withdrawn.
Huntley, who was in a vegetative state, took his last breath at around 8.45am on March 7. Mum Lynda had visited him.
The Ministry of Justice issued a death-in-custody statement but made no direct reference to the cowardly killer.
Instead it read: “The murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman remains one of the most shocking and devastating cases in our nation’s history, and our thoughts are with their families.”
In his final jail letter, written eight days before he was attacked, Huntley, prisoner A5274AE, alluded to the threats he faced.
He told a female pen pal: “Sorry for not writing sooner but I’ve had a lot to deal with lately.”
An internal investigation has been launched into how he was targeted.
His death came nearly 24 years after he murdered Holly and Jessica in August 2002.
The ten-year-olds set off to buy sweets after a family barbecue at Holly’s home in Soham, Cambs.
Holly’s mum Nicola took a photo of the pair in Manchester United shirts at 5.04pm. Ninety minutes later they had vanished.
Their bodies were discovered two weeks later in a drainage ditch close to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, a place where school caretaker Huntley often went plane-spotting.
Huntley was found guilty of the girls’ murders after a trial in 2003 and sentenced to a minimum of 40 years.
His then girlfriend Maxine Carr was jailed for lying to police over his whereabouts.
She was released in 2004 as part of a blanket anonymity order. She married in 2014.
Huntley was serving his sentence on A-wing and had been a constant target for other inmates.
In 2005 he was scalded with boiling water by a lag at Wakefield nick.
In September 2006 he tried to kill himself in his cell and was rushed to hospital.
He was transferred to high-security Frankland in 2008.
In 2010 he suffered non life-threatening injuries to his neck after his throat was slashed.
