Charles Bronson is locked in his jail cell for 23 hours a day and receives post from 500 regular letter writers, his parole hearing heard.
Bronson is one of the UK's longest-serving prisoners, having first been locked up in 1974 at Walton jail. The Parole Board review to decide whether he should remain behind bars began on Monday (March 6) morning, making him the second inmate in UK legal history to have his case heard in public.
The hearing heard that Bronson is allowed to leave his cell for one hour for exercise or other activities each day due to staff shortages. The panel of parole judges heard there are 500 people on a mailing list who write to Bronson in jail but he does not always reply.
READ MORE: Charles Bronson's odd parole outburst as he tells hearing 'I've not p***** myself'
“Bloody hell, I can’t reply to all of them,” he interjected.
The Parole Board will decide whether he should remain behind bars after the hearing, which is taking place over three days this week. A decision is due at a later date. Members of the press and public watched the proceedings – taking place in HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes – on a live stream from the Royal Courts of Justice in central London.
Dubbed one of Britain’s most violent offenders, Bronson – who changed his surname to Salvador in 2014 after the artist Salvador Dali – appeared on camera sat opposite the parole judges wearing a black suit and tie, a white shirt, braces and dark glasses. Outlining Bronson’s criminal history as the hearing opened, the chairman of the Parole Board panel – who was not publicly named – said Bronson has spent most of the past 48 years behind bars, apart from two brief periods of freedom where he reoffended.
When asked if he wished to give evidence at the hearing, the 70-year-old – who could be heard frequently swearing and sighing loudly – said: “Oh yes, certainly.” At one point he muttered “f****** hell” under his breath as the review heard how submissions on behalf of Justice Secretary Dominic Raab had been delayed and could not be provided in advance of the proceedings to the parole board as a result.
A representative for Mr Raab who was present at the hearing apologised for the delays. On the sometimes grainy footage Bronson, who had been sipping what appeared to be a small carton of juice through a straw, was seen briefly standing up during the hearing and began asking for a tissue.
“I haven’t p***** myself,” he told the hearing as he placed the tissue under the juice carton and sat back down. Amid long pauses while the panel asked his prisoner offender manager questions, Bronson said: “We will be here all f****** day, won’t we?”
Bronson was born Michael Gordon Peterson in Luton, Bedfordshire, in 1952. His family moved to Ellesmere Port when he was a teenager.
Throughout his teenage years Bronson had many brushes with the law, but his first jail term came at the age of 22 and marked the beginning of his crimes behind bars. Bronson was first locked up for armed robbery in 1974, but during his time inside he has taken hostages in ten prison sieges, attacked at least 20 prison officers and caused £500,000 in damage in rooftop protests.
While serving time in Walton Prison, Bronson attacked a fellow prisoner with a glass jug and had an extra nine months added to his sentence for unlawful wounding.
Among other offences, in 1996, Bronson took three inmates hostage at Belmarsh prison in London and insisted they call him "General". He told negotiators he would eat one of his victims before demanding a helicopter to Cuba along with a cheese and pickle sandwich to end the stand off.
It wasn't until an incident in 1999 that he was given a life sentence. Bronson kidnapped prison art teacher Phil Danielson and held him hostage for nearly two days after he criticised one of his paintings. In 2014 he was further sentenced to three years for assaulting a prison governor.
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