Britain's longest-serving prisoner, Robert Maudsley, has warned that he could kill again, speaking in his first interview in 50 years from his cell on E Wing at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire.
Maudsley, 73, has spent 52 years behind bars and 17,500 consecutive days in solitary confinement, a world record. He was nicknamed 'Hannibal the Cannibal' after killing a fellow inmate, though a post-mortem proved claims he ate the victim's brain were untrue.
Maudsley's Warning and Past Crimes
Maudsley told the Mirror: "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."
He killed two people in one day in 1977 at Wakefield jail, after which prison barbers refused to enter his cell. He told a prison guard, "You'll be two down on the roll call," after walking away from the bodies.
Maudsley was first sent to Broadmoor in 1974 for the manslaughter of child sex offender John Farrell. He killed another patient, a convicted child molester, in 1976. He was then moved to Wakefield, where he murdered two fellow inmates, both described as child sex offenders.
Life in Solitary Confinement
Maudsley described his treatment at Whitemoor as 'sinister'. He said: "They believed the stories in the newspapers and books. They thought I was dangerous, then their treatment became more sinister."
A Perspex wall was installed in his 18 ft by 15 ft cell at Wakefield so he could not throw liquids or missiles at guards. He recalled: "For a long time I just had a mattress and a pot to pee in. I would have to put my feet through a gap in the door for the officers to cut my toenails."
Maudsley said he is "refusing all prison food at the moment" in protest at the refusal of visits and his conditions overall.
Love and No Regret
Maudsley has found love for the first time with partner Loveinia MacKenney, 71, a mum-of-one from London. He has not had a visit since February 2025 and is desperate to meet her after almost five years of correspondence and phone calls.
He said: "The love we share keeps us going, it is the first time I have ever loved someone in the way that I love her."
Despite early prisoner release, he insisted: "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."
He expressed no regret for his 52 years behind bars, saying: "The people I killed did not see their victims as human, in a sense I was a piece of meat. I treated them the same, and got my revenge that way. If I say that I should not have done that, the years in prison would be worthless."
