Notorious prisoner Charles Bronson has won his bid for his Parole Board hearing next year to be held in public, as he makes his latest bid for freedom.
The Parole Board said it granted an application made by lawyers for Bronson - one of the UK's longest-serving prisoners - to request his latest case review is heard in public.
Dubbed one of Britain's most violent offenders, Bronson - who changed his surname to Salvador in 2014 after the artist Salvador Dali - has been in prison for much of the last 50 years, often spending time in solitary confinement or specialist units.
It is believed he is still being held at high-security HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes.
Bronson has previously said he was first sent to jail in 1968 and has held 11 hostages in nine different sieges - with victims including governors, doctors, staff and, on one occasion, his own solicitor.
He was sentenced in 2000 to a discretionary life term with a minimum of four years for taking a prison teacher at HMP Hull hostage for 44 hours. Since then the Parole Board has repeatedly refused to direct his release.
In a document setting out the decision for a public hearing, Parole Board chairwoman Caroline Corby said: "I have concluded that a public hearing is in the interests of justice in the case of Mr Salvador. I therefore grant the application for the hearing to be held in public."
Bronson's case is yet to be listed and a date for the hearing has not been set but the Parole Board said it is expected to take place early next year.
The 66-year-old won a court case in 2020 arguing for a public parole hearing.
In July this year the law was changed to allow the public and press to observe proceedings, in a bid to remove the secrecy around the parole process.
Russell Causley, who murdered his wife, Carole Packman, in the 1980s and never revealed where he hid her body, is set to become the first prisoner in UK history to have a public Parole Board hearing.
He was freed in 2020 but sent back to jail last year after breaching his licence conditions.
The hearing, originally listed for October, was adjourned and is now expected to take place next month.
Two other applications for cases to be heard in public have been rejected and three are still being considered, the Parole Board said.
According to the Ministry of Justice, anyone will be able to apply for a public hearing, with the Parole Board making the final decision on whether to do so.
These decisions will consider the welfare and interest of victims and reach a conclusion based on the ‘interests of justice’.
This move follows calls for greater transparency after the decision to release black cab rapist John Worboys in 2018.
The MoD said in June, victims in the south-west will also be able to attend parole hearings as an observer from autumn, as part of a pilot ahead of national roll out next year.
Moving forward, at the request of a prisoner, a hearing can be shown to anyone with a legitimate interest in the case.
Interested parties can then request to attend a screening of the hearing at a designated Parole Board Hub.
