Ian Huntley Cremated in £265 Coffin After Family Refused £3,000 Funeral

ian huntley was cremated on May 11 in a £265 jute coffin, with no funeral service and no mourners present. His family refused a £3,000 taxpayer-funded funeral, and his ashes were later given to a relative and scattered at a secret location.

May 11 Cremation

A trusted undertaker took his body away. The cremation went ahead in secret, with no funeral service or mourners, after the family declined the state-funded send-off.

He was cremated, and that was it, nothing more. The coffin cost £265, far below the £3,000 funeral arrangement that had been available at taxpayer expense.

Huntley Sentence

Huntley had been serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years for the killings of Holly Marie Chapman and Jessica Aimee Chapman. The two 10-year-old girls vanished on August 4, 2002, after leaving a family barbeque to buy sweets, and their bodies were found in a ditch two weeks later.

He was 52 when he died nine days after an alleged attack at HM Prison Franklin in Brasside, County Durham. He was taken to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary and placed on life support before dying from significant head injuries.

Dr Jennifer Bolton Report

Dr Jennifer Bolton concluded two days later that the cause of death was a blunt head injury. Huntley had been allegedly struck multiple times on the head with a spiked metal pole by another inmate on February 26, and the post-mortem findings narrowed the account of how he died.

His family was adamant — how could he have a funeral after what he did? Their thoughts remain with the victims and their families, and that’s why he will not be mourned. For readers, the practical outcome is simple: the funeral bill was limited to the cremation, and the ashes left the process through a relative, not a public service.