Notorious prisoner Charles Bronson has lost a Parole Board bid to be freed from jail. The Parole Board review of one of the UK’s longest-serving prisoners to decide whether he should remain behind bars made him the second inmate in UK legal history to have his case heard in public.
He was handed a discretionary life sentence with a minimum term of four years in 2000 for taking a prison teacher at HMP Hull hostage for 44 hours. Since then, the Parole Board has repeatedly refused to direct his release. Today, the Parole Board concluded he lacks the "skills to manage his risk of future violence". He was also denied a transfer to an open prison.
The news was broken to Bronson via a letter in an envelope at about 11.30am.
In a document detailing the decision published on Thursday, the Parole Board said: “After considering the circumstances of his offending, the progress that Mr Salvador has made while in custody and the evidence presented at the hearings, the panel was not satisfied that Mr Salvador was suitable for release.
“Nor did the panel recommend to the Secretary of State that he should be transferred to an open prison.”
The summary of the Parole Board decision added: “The panel noted that Mr Salvador has spent most of the last 48 years in custody and that much of this time has been in conditions of segregation.
“The panel accepted that Mr Salvador genuinely wants to progress and that he is motivated to work towards his release. It thought that there was evidence of improved self-control and better emotional management.
“However, the panel was mindful of his history of persistent rule breaking and that Mr Salvador sees little wrong with this. He lives his life rigidly by his own rules and code of conduct and is quick to judge others by his own standards. His positive progress has to be assessed in the context of him being held in a highly restrictive environment.
“In the panel’s view, it is unknown exactly what is containing Mr Salvador’s risk. It is unclear whether the strong external controls of custody are mainly responsible or whether his attitudes have genuinely changed.
“The panel could not be satisfied that Mr Salvador has the skills to manage his risk of future violence until he has been extensively tested outside of his current highly restricted environment. The movement and categorisation of prisoners are entirely a matter for the Secretary of State, and parole panels will not ordinarily comment on such matters. However in the particular circumstances of this case the panel observed that there is an identified pathway for Salvador in custody and the evidence supported such a move within a closed prison.
“In the panel’s view, this is a pivotal point in Mr Salvador’s sentence when his motivation to desist from violence is at its highest. Both psychologists instructed by Mr Salvador’s legal representative were unequivocal in their view that he no longer requires the secure placement in his current prison. He will be eligible for another parole review in due course.”
Charles Bronson is a British criminal who is known for his numerous violent and aggressive outbursts while in prison. Born Michael Peterson in 1952, he adopted the name Charles Bronson as a tribute to the actor of the same name.
He was first arrested in 1974 for armed robbery, and has since been imprisoned for various violent crimes, including assaulting fellow prisoners and guards, taking hostages, and causing significant damage to prison property.
He has spent the majority of his adult life in prison, with periods of time in solitary confinement due to his behavior. Bronson has also gained notoriety for his art and has sold many pieces of his work to collectors outside of prison.
Members of the press and public watched the proceedings as he bid to be released – 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 a panel of parole judges wearing a black suit, white shirt and dark glasses.
When asked if he wished to give evidence at the hearing, the 70-year-old said: “Oh yes, certainly.”
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.
In a Channel 4 programme which aired, Bronson said he can “smell and taste freedom” ahead of the parole hearing.
The parole panel chairman told the hearing: “The panel has not seen that documentary.”
But Bronson replied: “I find that hard to believe.”
He could also be heard frequently swearing and sighing loudly as the hearing the began.
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 live stream 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?”
Charles Bronson has spent nearly 50 years behind bars and made his latest bid for freedom in front of the Parole Board.
There were a series of colourful revelations at his high-profile parole hearing.
Here are some of the things we have learned about the long-term prisoner and his time behind bars from the two days of public hearings:
– Bronson has spent most of the past 48 years behind bars, apart from two brief stints of freedom where he reoffended.
– His first conviction was in 1974 when he was 21 and was jailed for seven years for robbery, aggravated burglary, assault with intent to rob and possession of a firearm.
– Real name Michael Peterson, he told how he was lured into crime at a young age, attracted by the “excitement” of stealing.
Charles Bronson (left) gave evidence at the public parole hearing (Elizabeth Cook/PA)
– He changed his name to Charles Bronson in the 1980s as an alias dreamed up when he went into boxing – something he claims he was encouraged to do by notorious east London gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray with whom he said he served time.
– A second name change came in 2014, when he adopted the surname Salvador to represent that he was a man of “peace”.
– Sporting his trademark dark, round glasses and prominent moustache, the 70-year-old is now locked in his cell for 23 hours a day. He receives hundreds of letters.
– Having spent much of his time behind bars in solitary confinement, he passes the time by listening to the radio and creating art.
– The inmate at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, was previously diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder.
– Now he has mild symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, partly due to some “brutal and unacceptable treatment” while in the prison system, according to an independent psychologist hired by his legal team. He also has hearing difficulties.
– In a sign of how long he has been incarcerated, Bronson has never used a cash machine.
– He has been described as “anti-authoritarian”, “suspicious” of other people’s motives and as someone who romanticises his past violent offences. He is prone to outbursts of swearing, being rude to people and becoming “loud and belligerent”, a psychologist told the hearing.
– Bronson told the parole panel he was “born to rumble” and spoke fondly of times where he became involved in brawls in jail.
– He described one incident, where he covered his naked body in Lurpak before facing prison guards, as the “rumble of my life”, adding: “It was f****** brilliant.”
– Among incidents discussed during the proceedings, the Parole Board heard in 2015 he threw his own faeces at a prisoner and threatened to stab him because he called him an old-age pensioner and a nobody.
– Bronson told how he went through a “phase” where he “couldn’t stop taking hostages” and it was his way of “getting back” while “battling against the system. He took 11 people hostage on nine different occasions.
– He said he felt remorse for taking art teacher Phil Danielson hostage, but not the governor of Hull prison Adrian Wallace, or three Iraqi inmates he held at Belmarsh. He said he was not ashamed of his protests when he climbed on to prison roofs.
– Bronson loves a catchphrase. His testimony was packed full of analogies and anecdotes, delivered in cockney-style patter, including: “I have had more porridge than Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and I’m sick of it. I’ve had enough of it, I want to go home.”
– He happily discusses his hard-man image, claiming he once fought a Rottweiler and that prison was now “full of fairies” and run by “namby-pamby people”.
– Claiming he had been “betting for 50 years” while behind bars, he said won £1,500 last year but was not an “addict”. The Ministry of Justice said gambling is against prison rules.
– Despite acknowledging he had been “naughty” in the past, but not “naughty-naughty”, he now professes to be “anti-crime” and no longer violent.
– While he used to find violence “cathartic”, he has since sought solace in his art and practises “deep breathing” to cope with negative feelings.
– Depicting himself as “almost an angel now” compared with his old self, he said his violent ways when he called himself Bronson and was a “nasty bastard” were over.
– He dreams of walking on grass, having not being able to for over 30 years, and plans to live in the country if he is released. He describes himself as “just a normal geezer wanting to get on with his life.”
– Responding to a description of him as a retired prison activist, he said this was the “best thing I’ve ever heard”.
– He also likened facing the Parole Board panel to appearing on BBC television programme The Apprentice in front of “Lord Sugar”.
– In a plea to the Parole Board, he said it is his 95-year-old mother’s “last dream on this planet” to see him released from prison and “making an honest living with my art”.
