Robert Maudsley, the quadruple killer known as Hannibal the Cannibal, has told of his 17,500 consecutive days in solitary confinement and warned: "I could kill again."
Britain's longest-serving prisoner, 73, has spent the best part of 47 years either in segregation or solitary, setting a world record of consecutive days alone. He has now served 52 years behind bars.
Maudsley's Warning and Background
Speaking from 'E' Wing of HMP Whitemoor, Cambridgeshire, in his first interview in 50 years, Maudsley said he should be locked up for life. He 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."
Maudsley, one of 12 children, told his prison psychologist Dr Bob Johnson 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 added: "We called them the drunk, and the witch. We referred to them by those names rather than as mother and father. I do have the possibility within myself to kill again, but with therapy, I think that I could overcome that."
He 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 fellow inmates, both described as child sex offenders.
Conditions 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 and coolly told a prison guard "you'll be two down on the roll call" as he walked away from his victims' bodies. A Perspex wall had to be installed in his 18 ft by 15 ft wide cell so he could not throw liquids or missiles at his guards.
He said: "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."
"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. For 12-13 months I did not shave or cut my hair, and yes, I was like the Wild Man of Borneo."
He added: "It was psychological. I thought that if you want to treat me like an animal, I will act like one. I am refusing all prison food at the moment. I buy whatever I can get from the prison shop in protest at the way I am being treated. That is about the refusal of my visits, my conditions overall."
Relationships and Daily Life
Maudsley is fighting to see Loveinia MacKenney, 71, a mum-of-one, and has not had a visit since 2025. He is desperate to meet her for the first time after almost five years of correspondence and phone calls. He claims visit requests since his transfer to Whitemoor from Wakefield in April 2025 have been refused.
He said: "The denial of visits has added to my isolation, there is no doubt about that. I am locked in my cell for 22 and a half hours per day, getting only 75 minutes to exercise and shower. I always put the radio on in the morning and listen to Magic Classical. I love classical music. I watch TV. Now I get 28 channels. My favourite show is Gogglebox, and I like The Chase with Bradley Walsh, Pointless, and Countdown."
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. The way I cope is that every time I wake up in the morning I think, 'It is a new day'."
He finds joy in a wisp of a breeze coming through his cell window. "To feel the wind when it blows through my window at night is fantastic," he said. "To feel the sun on your skin, it is the little things that you miss."
Given the chance to taste freedom, he would live on an island with Loveinia. With her, he has found love for the first time in his life. He said: "With my parents, there was no love. It has given me hope and for as long as we are alive, we will both have each other and give each other strength. The love we share keeps us going, it is the first time I have ever loved someone in the way that I love her."
Asked what he would say to his younger self, he replied: "It is difficult because there are so many thanks 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 has no regret for his 52 years behind bars. "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."
