The girlfriend of Britain's longest-serving prisoner is begging justice chiefs to let her visit the man she says she loves. Loveinia MacKenney, 69, wants to be reunited with her partner despite him being a quadruple killer who has spent almost 50 years in near-total isolation behind bulletproof glass.
MacKenney, a mother of one, has been writing letters and speaking on the phone to notorious inmate Robert Maudsley, 73, for nearly six years. She wants official visitor status so she can "look into his eyes and hold his hand" for the first time. But prison bosses have refused, warning Maudsley is considered too dangerous for in-person contact.
Decades in isolation
Maudsley was jailed in 1974 for killing a man in London and went on to murder three more people while behind bars, taking his total to four. He was wrongly dubbed "Hannibal the Cannibal" after false rumours, but officials still class him as an extreme risk.
For decades he has been kept alone in a specially built cell beneath HMP Wakefield in Yorkshire, often compared to Hannibal Lecter's cage. Built in 1983, the room is a 5.5m by 4.5m bulletproof glass "box" where guards can see him at all times. His bed, table and chair are solid concrete and bolted down. The toilet and sink are fixed stainless steel. Food is slid through a magnetic hatch so staff don't enter.
He spends 23 hours a day inside, and for one hour of exercise he is escorted by a team of six shielded officers to a private yard. He is never allowed contact with other prisoners, and even routine interaction requires staff in full protective gear.
'Demonic system'
MacKenney insists the system is the problem, not him. She said: "I feel that part of me is with him and part of him is with me. I feel in my heart that if he has the visits he has been longing for, it would give him strength, make him feel better and take all the negative energy from his mind. He would be more positive and feel better in his mind and in his soul. I believe we are dealing with a demonic system.
"They do not want him to feel any love whatsoever or have a visit from me… But I believe that Robert is very, very resilient. I know that my love will keep him strong."
Maudsley told the Mirror this week: "At the moment, I am waiting to see Loveinia. They have put me on segregation. If I see her now, there would be a two-inch gap at the top of the glass between us on a semi-open visit. My last visit was back in about February 2025 from my brothers Paul and Kevin and my nephew Gavin at Wakefield."
Legal appeals rejected
Under normal rules, even Category A inmates can have tightly controlled visits, often behind reinforced glass with an intercom, but officials believe moving Maudsley and arranging even a closed visit is an unacceptable risk. Maudsley has repeatedly tried to change his conditions through legal appeals, asking for a TV or pet bird in 2000, requesting a cyanide capsule in a "right to die" appeal in 2003, and seeking a move to the main Category A wing in 2010, but every attempt was rejected.
MacKenney said: "They keep on making him out to be a monster. But he is not a monster, it is the system that is inhumane… He should be able to see the people closest to him." She also says childhood abuse shaped his life, adding: "I feel that if he had received proper treatment and help early on in life, none of this would have happened to him."
