One of the UK's most threatening serial killers has spent a total of 16,400 days living in solitary confinement inside a glass cell since 1979. Robert Maudsley, who is Britain's longest-serving prisoner, has spent the last 49 years of his life in prison and is set to die in an underground glass box after killing four men in the 1970s.
The murderer will live out the remainder of his life alone after an appeal to live alongside other prisoners was rejected having previously warned he will kill again if ever released, the Mirror reports. He carried out his own wave of vigilante justice after three of his victims were fellow inmates who committed heinous crimes but despite his confinement, the serial killer claims he is 'happy and content in solitary'.
The now 68-year-old prisoner has now set the world record for the most time ever spent in solitary confinement. In a disturbing documentary 'HMP Wakefield: Evil Behind Bars', Maudsley's nephew Gavin, 40, reveals how his uncle is content with being locked away from the rest of the world.
Previously nicknamed 'Hannibal the Cannibal' Maudsley was once rumoured to have eaten some of the brain of one of his victims in prison. While there is not believed to be any truth to the rumour, the 'happy and content' killer earned himself a reputation as one of Britain's most dangerous criminals.
Maudsley was imprisoned for the murder of John Farrell, 30 in March 1974. Whilst serving a life sentence, he then embarked on a sickening wave of vigilante killings and murdered three other men behind bars.
These victims were David Francis, a convicted child molester, Salney Darwood who was serving life for the manslaughter of his wife and William Roberts who was serving seven years for the sexual assault of a seven-year-old girl.
In a letter to his nephew who is currently living in London, the serial killer revealed he is happy in solitary confinement and said he would kill again if he was ever released. The caged killer has repeatedly been turned down for his requests to spend time alongside other human beings and will live out the rest of his days in a cell specially designed to keep him contained.
Measuring 18ft by 15ft, the glass cell is made from bullet proof perspex and contains furniture made out of compressed cardboard. Maudsley spends 23 hours of each day in his cell, sleeping on a concrete slab and using a toilet and sink which are bolted into the ground.
The killer from Toxteth Liverpool committed his first murder when he was just 21-years-old in 1974. After running away to London, Maudsley began working as a male prostitute.
He then brutally killed paedophile John Farrell in Wood Green London after he showed him images of children being sexually abused. He then handed himself in to police and immediately confessed to his crime.
He was deemed unfit to stand trial and was sent to Broadmoor Hospital which is home to some of Britain's most violent criminals. He was initially a model prisoner but in 1977 he and fellow prisoner, David Cheeseman locked themselves in a cell with child molester David Francis.
The men gruesomely tortured the rapist for nine hours before dangling the lifeless body of Francis for prison guards to see. Maudsley was consequently convicted of manslaughter and sent to HMP Wakefield.
In 1978, he then strangled and stabbed Salney Darwood, 46 who has been imprisoned for murdering his wife. He hid Darwood's body under a bed before sneaking into the cell of paedophile Bill Roberts, 56 who had sexually assaulted a seven-year-old girl.
He stabbed Roberts in the head with a makeshift dagger and smashed his skull against a wall which resulted in him being later sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2000, he launched a legal bid to the courts requesting that he was given permission to die.
In a letter he wrote: "What purpose is served by keeping me locked up 23 hours a day? Why even bother to feed me and to give me one hour's exercise a day? Who actually am I a risk to?
"As a consequence of my current treatment and confinement, I feel that all I have to look forward to is indeed psychological breakdown, mental illness and probable suicide. Why can't I have a budgie instead of flies, cockroaches and spiders which I currently have.
"I promise to love it and not eat it? Why can't I have a television in my cell to see the world and learn?
"Why can't I have any music tapes and listen to beautiful classical music? If the Prison Service says no then I ask for a simple cyanide capsule which I shall willingly take and the problem of Robert John Maudsley can easily and swiftly be resolved."
Maudsley who set the world record for the longest person in solitary confinement beat Albert Woodfox's previous record who spent 43 years completely alone, after entering confinement at 26-years-old and coming out as a 69-year-old elderly man.
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