Quadruple killer Robert Maudsley, 73, from Liverpool, has given his first interview in 50 years, speaking to the Mirror from 'E' Wing at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire. He has spent 52 years behind bars, held in segregation or solitary confinement for the vast majority of the past five decades, and is believed to have spent around 17,500 consecutive days alone.
Maudsley, branded 'Britain's most dangerous prisoner' after killing a series of child molesters in the 1970s, warned he could kill again if ever released. He was dubbed 'Hannibal the Cannibal' after killing a fellow inmate, though claims that he ate the man's brain with a spoon were later disproved by a post-mortem examination.
Warning he could kill again
In the hour-long interview, Maudsley 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.' He added: 'I do have the possibility within myself to kill again, but with therapy, I think that I could overcome that.'
Maudsley, one of 12 children, told his prison psychologist Dr Bob Johnson, also interviewed by the Mirror, that his father abused him and locked him in a cupboard under the stairs at the family home. Known as 'Uncle Bob' to his family, he said: 'We called them the drunk, and the witch. We referred to them by those names rather than as mother and father.'
Life in solitary confinement
Prison barbers refused to enter Maudsley's cell in Wakefield jail after he killed two inmates there on the same day in 1977. He told a prison guard, 'You'll be two down on the roll call,' after walking away from his victims' bodies. A Perspex wall had to be installed in his 18ft by 15ft wide cell so he could not throw liquids or missiles at his guards.
Maudsley recalled: 'On the high security unit at Wakefield, when they built them, the cell door opened flush to the wall. About two feet in front of the cell door, there was a barred gate with Perspex so I could not throw anything at the guards when they entered. It was like a normal cell except down the centre of it, there was a TV shared with the cell next door.' He added: 'For 12-13 months I did not shave or cut my hair, and yes, I was like the Wild Man of Borneo.'
For many years at Wakefield, the notorious prisoner Charlie Bronson was his 'next door neighbour' and they shared the TV in their high-security cells. Maudsley said: 'They (cells) were mirror images of each other. 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.'
No regret and a desire to stay behind bars
Maudsley, Prisoner A9888AA, was first sent to Broadmoor in 1974 for the manslaughter of child sex offender John Farrell. He killed another patient, a convicted child molester, at the high-security hospital in 1976. He was then moved to Wakefield, where he murdered two of his fellow inmates, both described as child sex offenders. He is unapologetic about the deaths of any of his victims.
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 is fighting to see his partner Loveinia MacKenney and has not had a visit since February 2025. He claims visit requests since his transfer to Whitemoor from Wakefield in April 2025 have been refused.
Psychiatrist Bob Johnson, 89, who treated Maudsley in Parkhurst back in the 1980s, said: 'I would sit alone with him in his cell and we'd discuss our favourite composer Schubert. It would be far better to use his intelligence and get him working, he could have earned thousands in compensation to be paid to the victims' families. I believe that he would not have killed again with the help of our sessions. What he has had since is institutional sadism.'
Maudsley was asked what he would say to his younger self. He replied: 'It is difficult because there are so many things that I could say to that 20-year-old. The main thing, irrespective of what happened, is that I had the strength to get up. I know inwardly that I would have the strength to keep going.' He added: '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.'
