Robert Maudsley, known as Britain's most dangerous prisoner, has spoken out for the first time in 40 years, complaining about being confined to a glass cell with no visitors. He lost his last appeal for release in 2021 and will remain incarcerated until his death.
Maudsley's complaints about conditions
In a recording obtained by the Daily Mail, Maudsley can be heard complaining to a relative about his treatment. He said: "The fact is, for the last 13 months, they've not allowed me to have any visits whatsoever, because they put me on closed visits [where inmate and guest are separated by a glass screen]."
He added: "What they're actually saying is, we want you to talk to staff. I'm locked in my cell 22 hours a day, and the only exercise I get is on the exercise yard. I'm not going to use my time in the fresh air and on the exercise yard, talking to people who are actually abusing me."
Maudsley called the treatment "actual insanity," stating: "I'm stuck in my cell 22 and a half hours a day. If they want to talk to me, all they have to do is come to my cell and say, 'Bob, do you want to have a talk?', or 'Bob, do you want to engage?'" He claimed that for 13 months, no staff member had come to his cell to ask him to talk or engage.
Background and crimes
Maudsley, who murdered child molesters, appealed in 2021 to be allowed to spend the rest of his prison days with the general population, but authorities ruled him too dangerous to mix with prisoners and guards at HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire.
He was jailed for killing several people, including John Farrell after he showed him photos of children he had abused, and Salney Darwood, a man who killed his own wife in the 1970s. Maudsley was first jailed at age 21 for killing someone while working as a gigolo. He was declared unfit to stand trial and sent to Broadmoor Hospital.
Three years later, he and fellow prisoner David Cheeseman barricaded themselves in a room with tied-up child molester David Francis, tortured him to death, and dangled his body for guards to see. He was then charged with manslaughter and moved to Wakefield Prison, where he killed two other prisoners.
In 1978, Maudsley strangled and stabbed Mr Darwood, then crept into the cell of Bill Roberts, 56, who had sexually abused a seven-year-old girl. He stabbed Roberts, hacked his skull with a makeshift dagger, and smashed his head against a wall.
Current confinement
Maudsley is now contained in a glass cell beneath the prison, alone, so he cannot hurt anyone else. His underground cell is a specially constructed 5.5 metres by 4.5 metre space with a bulletproof glass cage, built in 1983, nearly ten years after his prison sentence began.
