WHEN Soham killer Ian Huntley was repeatedly bludgeoned around the head with a metal pole and left for dead last week, the brutal attack sent shockwaves through HMP Frankland, AKA ‘Monster Mansion’.
Because while the prison is home to dozens of the country’s most notorious murderers, high-risk sex offenders and terrorists – all banged up for committing some of the most depraved, evil acts imaginable – insiders say the fiends have been left cowering inside their cells, fearing one of them could be next.
The Sun revealed how Sarah Everard’s sadistic killer, Wayne Couzens, 53, is one of them – terrified of being targeted following Huntley’s savage beating allegedly at the hands of rapist and triple murderer Anthony Russell, 43, on the same prison wing.
Former cop Couzens, who is serving life for the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, 33, which happened exactly five years ago in March 2021, has been reportedly cowering in his cell amid fears lags will compete to batter another high-profile inmate at the Category A County Durham jail, in some sort of “trophy” attack.
A source says: “Couzens is absolutely petrified and is barely coming out of his cell.
“He has told people he fears he will be next and is the number one target now that someone has got to Huntley.
“They were on the same wing at the jail, and he is almost as hated as Huntley.
“The fact that the case has been in the news, with the fifth anniversary of the murder of Sarah, has put him even more in the spotlight.
“Couzens is really scared and is not a tough or imposing bloke either.
“He is obviously an ex-police officer, which puts him in greater danger, and his crime is so notorious.”
TV psychologist and crime commentator Emma Kenny believes he’s got good reason to worry, saying: “Going into a prison as an ex-cop, you’re already the enemy, then he also killed a defenseless woman – that is seen as weak and deserving of retribution.
“This is a man who used his status to kidnap, rape and murder.
“There are many category A offenders who’ve never managed to deal with their own past trauma, and they’re hoarding anger, and perhaps also feel self-righteous. Give them an inch, they’ll take a mile. He is going to be a number one target, as he did the unthinkable.”
But Couzens is not the only high-profile prisoner inside the infamous Monster Mansion who is now living in fear.
KILLERS ‘LOOKING OVER THEIR SHOULDERS’
Bosses have clamped down since child killer Huntley, who is serving at least 40 years for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both 10, in Soham, Cambs, in 2002, was attacked.
The jail, which houses around 800 of the UK’s most dangerous prisoners, has been searched for weapons, and many cons have been confined to their cells since the incident last Thursday.
However, that hasn’t stopped other notorious prisoners, including Urfan Sharif, 43, killer of his daughter Sara, 10, and morgue monster David Fuller, 71, who was jailed for life in 2021 after sexually assaulting 101 female corpses while working at NHS hospitals, fearing for their safety, and “looking over their shoulders”.
The source added: “Urfan Sharif is another massive target because of what he did and who he is.
“They are both looking over their shoulders.
“Prison officers are keeping a really close eye on those two, in particular.
“But there is only so much they can do to keep them safe, and the jail has to function normally.
“A lot of the inmates have been talking about the attack on Huntley and about who will be next – and those two and people like David Fuller have huge targets on their backs.
“A lot of prisoners do not feel safe in there after what happened to Huntley and to Ian Watkins.”
In a separate incident, paedo ex-Lostprophets singer Watkins, 48, was stabbed to death at Wakefield Prison, West Yorkshire, last October.
He was sentenced to 35 years in 2013 for multiple child sex offences, including the attempted rape of a baby.
Two inmates have appeared in court charged with murdering him.
Emma says: “Offenders in these environments grow very used to an understanding that violence is behind every door, and they have to prepare for it.
“When it comes to child sex offenders and child killers in particular, there’s always a chance for violence because they are seen as the lowest of the low. It’s pretty ironic when you consider some of the [other] criminals inside.
“Some have what is known as the ‘triad of dark personality traits – machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism – so they think they’re better than others, they’re superior.
“That’s their belief system. Put them inside a prison, and they’ll find a hierarchy, as it’s what they’ve known their whole lives.
“They’ll have what they consider ‘bottom feeders’, and they will be judged more harshly.
“Ultimately, your serious gang members are at the top of the ladder, then at the bottom there’ll be sex offenders, wife beaters, child murderers. They see themselves as better because they believe their moral sense is still intact.”
Other lags housed at the notorious slammer include soldier Lee Rigby’s killer Michael Adebolajo, who was sentenced to a whole-life term in 2013, and serial killer Levi Bellfield, who murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler, 19-year-old Marsha McDonnell, and 22-year-old Amelie Delagrange.
MOST HATED MAN IN BRITAIN
Sources also previously revealed it was “only a matter of time” Huntley would fall foul of a potentially fatal attack, as his vile crimes have led to fellow inmates attacking him behind bars at least three times before.
He remains in a serious condition in an induced coma in hospital after being battered up to 15 times with a metal pole, stunning medics by clinging to life after being given just a five per cent chance of survival when he was first attacked.
But he is now understood to have been declared blind and “highly unlikely to survive” a week on from the bloody assault.
A source said: “It is now looking like he will not pull through, barring a miracle. Huntley never recovered from the battering and never stood much of a chance of doing so.
“His condition has not really improved since day one despite the best efforts of doctors.
“It looks like it’s only a matter of time. It could be days, it could be weeks. It is probably for the best.”
Emma adds: “Huntley was really unpopular in prison. It was his personality, not just his offending, that [led to the attack]. People struggle to like him. I know a lot of people who have had contact with him who have said that’s the case.”
Previously, journalist David McGee, who found himself guarding Huntley in a Category A jail during a daring undercover operation in 2003, revealed to The Sun that every possible precaution was taken to keep him safe from other inmates who were hungry for blood.
David recalled: “The police and prison management quite rightly feared Huntley would be killed from the very start of his stint in prison.
“From day one, they were terrified he would be subject to some sort of trophy attack.
“They had good reason to think that – he was the most hated man in Britain at the time.
“And he was surrounded by some of the country’s most depraved and dangerous criminals who knew they were never getting out of prison anyway.
“Attacking Huntley would have been seen as a badge of honour.
“Whoever pulled it off would have been rewarded not just with treats like tobacco from the other inmates, but more importantly, the prestige.”
It comes as police chiefs and politicians acknowledged the horror of Couzens’ attack on Sarah, and mourners paid tribute to her on the fifth anniversary of her murder.
Couzens abducted Sarah in a fake Covid arrest as she walked home in Clapham, south London, in March 2021.
A source said prison officers had been alerted to intelligence reports that Couzens was a target – prompting them to step up protection around him.
And when many prisoners have been sentenced to full-life terms, it’s hardly surprising that violence is on the cards.
Finally, Emma adds: “You have to step into the mindset of a killer – if you have nothing to lose, on a day-to-day basis, the grievances that normal people can manage may build.
“Resentment and anger build, and if you already have a predisposition for violence, obviously that will incentivise you to act a certain way.
“When you have a full life sentence, there’s nothing else they can do to you except put you in solitary confinement for a certain amount of time, which isn’t always a bad thing for these individuals.
“[Attacking someone] gives you reputation and status, and when you have nothing else, reputation and status matter – it’s meaningful.”
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