Britain's longest-serving prisoner Robert Maudsley has revealed how a spat over what to watch on TV led to a bitter falling-out with notorious inmate Charles Bronson.
The feared pair were in fact once neighbours in two adjacent high-security cells at Wakefield Prison, where despite being separated from the other inmates they could speak through their windows and shared a television positioned between them.
Both Bronson and Maudsley have grown to be notorious for their violence in jail, however, Maudsley, who killed three people while already behind bars, said they never got along because Bronson always wanted to be “top dog”.
Dispute Over Television Programme
Speaking in his first interview in almost 50 years, the 73-year-old told the Mirror: “We could talk to each other through the windows, but we did not really get on.
“He was a narcissist, he always had to be top dog, trying to put me down at every opportunity to establish dominance.”
Maudsley recalled: “We had a falling-out over what programme to watch one night. So I asked a prison guard to open the gap for the TV and I put my foot through it.
“Charlie was not very happy about that.”
Risk of Reoffending
Maudsley admits it is probably best that he remains behind bars because there is a chance he could kill again, particularly if he encountered a sex offender.
He said: “I have to be honest and say that if I had the opportunity to harm a sex offender then I would do so. If I met someone who had sexually abused me, I would do my best to kill them.
“I do have the possibility within myself to kill again, but with therapy, I think that I could overcome that.”
Despite that suggestion, Maudsley believes his whole-life term is justified and says he wants to spend the remainder of his life in prison to pay for his crimes.
He said: “I want to spend the rest of my life behind bars to pay for what I have done.
“I see the whole-life term as justified for my crimes.”
History of Violence
Maudsley has been continuously incarcerated since March 1974, when he killed John Farrell in London at the age of 20.
He strangled Farrell after the man allegedly showed him photographs of children he had sexually abused. Maudsley was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and sent to Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital.
While at Broadmoor in 1977, Maudsley tortured and killed David Francis, a convicted child molester.
Maudsley was subsequently transferred to Wakefield Prison, where he killed two more inmates on the same day in July 1978.
He strangled and stabbed Salney Darwood before reportedly hiding his body beneath a bed. Darwood had been imprisoned for sexually assaulting and killing his wife.
Maudsley then attacked William Roberts with a makeshift dagger, repeatedly stabbing him and inflicting horrific injuries to his skull. Roberts was reportedly serving a seven-year sentence for attempting to strangle a four-year-old girl in order to rape her.
After the killings, Maudsley reportedly walked into the wing office, placed his weapon on a table and told a guard: “You’ll be two down on the roll call.”
Now 73, he has spent around 52 years in custody and much of that time in segregation or solitary confinement.
