Charles Bronson will make latest bid for freedom at parole hearing today

Charles Bronson today told a parole board ‘We all love a bet, guv’ as he made another bid for freedom after nearly 50 years behind bars. 

Known as ‘Britain’s most violent prisoner’, Bronson was jailed for seven years in 1974 after being convicted of armed robbery and was finally given a life sentence for kidnapping prison teacher Phil Danielson in 1999. 

Bronson is the second inmate in UK legal history to have his parole hearing held in public after the rules changed last year in a bid to remove the secrecy around the process.

Appearing on camera sat opposite a panel of parole judges wearing a black suit, white shirt and dark glasses, the 70-year-old was asked if he wished to give evidence, to which he replied: ‘Oh yes, certainly.’ 

Bronson – who changed his surname to Salvador in 2014 after the artist Salvador Dali – insisted he was no longer violent, telling the panel: ‘I know if I do anything serious again I will die in prison, I will never get out of prison.’ 

However, the hearing heard Bronson had been involved in numerous confrontations in prison.  

Quizzed about three incidents involving guards,  the prisoner replied: ‘A rumble clears the air, I love a rumble.. what man doesn’t?

The panel also heard about a series of verbal outbursts, including one occasion where he had complimented a nurse on her top and touched her shirt, asking if it was silk.

The staff member told him it made her feel uncomfortable and he told her to f*** off, the hearing – which took place in prison with journalists and the public on a livestream from the Royal Courts of Justice – was told. 

On August 19 last year when he was told that the deputy governor was visiting his cell, he said: ‘What, do you want me to put my party hat on?’ and told them to leave.

Another time, he drew a picture for a female member of staff after he complimented him on his artwork. 

But she said it was against the rules to accept it so Bronson told her to ‘f*** off’ and ripped it up. 

Bronson was also asked about three confrontations with prison guards, with a panel member asking him: ‘That’s not peace-loving is it?’ 

In response, he replied: ‘A rumble clears the air, I love a rumble.. what man doesn’t? 

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****d 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?’ 

The chairman of the parole board panel, who has not been publicly named, outlined Bronson’s criminal history as the hearing opened.

He has spent most of the past 48 years behind bars, apart from two brief periods of freedom where he reoffended, the hearing was told.

Bronson’s 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.

He was convicted for wounding again in 1975, 1978 and 1985, then in 1987 he was released from prison at the age of 34.

After 69 days he was back in prison, sentenced in 1988 for seven years for robbery at a jewellers’ shop.

He was later released from prison in 1992, but weeks later was jailed for eight years for intent to rob and has been behind bars since then for violent offences committed while in custody.

In 1994 he was given seven years for false imprisonment and blackmail, then in 1997 he took a deputy prison governor, staff and three inmates hostage for which he received five years.

Later, in 1999, he took an art teacher hostage for three days and was given a life sentence with a minimum term of three years which expired in 2003.

In 2014 he was further sentenced to three years for assaulting a prison governor.

Bronson said he ‘found it hard to believe’ the parole judges deciding whether he can be freed from jail have not watched a recent documentary about him.

In the Channel 4 programme which aired last week, 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.’ 

Bronson replied: ‘I find that hard to believe.’

He also muttered ‘f****** hell’ under his breath as the review heard how submissions to the hearing 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.    

The parole review heard Bronson has been held at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes since February 2019, having been previously being behind bars at HMP Frankland after he was moved from Wakefield prison for ‘security reasons’ amid incidents between 2017 and 2018 involving threats to governors.

Bronson’s prison offender manager, who was not named in the hearing, told the parole panel the move to Woodhill prison was so he could mix with more prisoners and take part in a more ‘open’ regime.

A month after he arrived at Woodhill, another threat to a prison governor was made, the hearing was told.

The hearing was told that Bronson had used words to the effect ‘see what happens’ to a member of staff and was prone to verbal outbursts.

There was one encounter where he had complimented a nurse on her top and touched her shirt, asking if it was silk.

The staff member told him it made her feel uncomfortable and he told her to f*** off, the hearing was told.

On another occasion on August 19 last year when he was told that the deputy governor was visiting his cell, he said: ‘What, do you want me to put my party hat on?’ and told them to leave.

Bronson let out loud sighs at points as the prison offender manager gave evidence.

The prison worker said there were some security concerns around him courting media attention.

They said that he has regular phone contact with his son and friends, and has got back in touch with his mother.

There are 500 people on his mailing list who write to Bronson in jail, but he does not always reply, the panel was told.

‘Bloody hell, I can’t reply to all of them,’ he interjected.

Bronson is currently locked up in his cell for 23 hours per day, with only one hour for exercise or any other activities due to staff shortages.

The prison offender manager said they would worry that Bronson would be overwhelmed in open conditions, but that he has started learning breathing exercises and coping methods such as asking for time out in his cell in preparation for any future move.

They said: ‘Charlie’s used to a lot of solitary tine anyway. He doesn’t enjoy it … but he copes quite well. He has his exercises, he has his routines.’

Bronson has become known for his artwork while in jail.

The prison worker said: ‘He kind of loses himself in his artwork and finds that he doesn’t ruminate as much as he used to overnight.’

When the hearing was told that Bronson had tried to get someone outside prison to place a bet for him, he told the panel: ‘We all love a bet, guv, come on.’

He then repeatedly said: ‘I’m getting bored of this’, objecting to his legal representative asking for a break before he gave evidence.

Bronson could be heard asking the lawyer ‘Can’t you just go yourself?’, before telling the chairman: ‘He just wants the toilet.’

As Bronson’s lawyer questioned the prison offender manager, the hearing was told that prisoners can be released despite being assessed as posing a high risk of serious harm to the public.

There has been no persistent disruptive behaviour while he has been at HMP Woodhill, despite ongoing security concerns about his contact with the media.

Wearing a white shirt with dark braces, and a dark tie, Bronson could be seen rocking his chair backwards and forwards at times during the questioning.

He wore round, darkly tinted glasses and has a prominent moustache.

Bronson and his legal representative were sitting on one side of a large, wooden polished table, with the Parole Board panel members on the other.

The prison offender manager said that while Bronson is anti-drugs and anti-violence, and has made progress, there are concerns around understanding harm caused by behaviour other than violence, and victim empathy.

They went on: ‘The risk of violence is untested in lots of ways. Mr Salvador is still being kept in very small units with very limited opportunities to engage with others.

‘As the external controls fall away or diminish, Mr Salvador will need the internal controls to manage himself appropriately and I feel he’s got a way to go to establish that safely.’

The panel has a 738-page dossier of material relating to Bronson’s case.

Bronson was given 15 minutes to make an opening statement, to which he replied: ‘I could fill 15 hours.’

The panel chair replied: ‘That, privately, is my concern.’

Bronson said: ‘First of all, it’s no secret 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 told the panel that half of the 738-page dossier about him is ‘c**p, absolute rubbish’.

Bronson told the parole judges he was a ‘retired prison activist’ but he deserved much of his time behind bars.

He said: ‘Out of the 50 years I’ve been in prison, I have probably deserved a good 35 years of it … but I have been naughty. Not ‘naughty, naughty’, but naughty.’

Describing how in the past he had ended up on prison roofs in protest, he said: ‘I enjoyed every f****** one of them.’

He told how he had slept in ‘cages’ and ‘boxes’, and spent ’40 years of my life in solitary’.

He added: ‘Don’t think I’m wearing these glasses for sinister reasons. My eyes are blown away with the light’ as he discussed how being in solitary confinement made his eyes sensitive to light.

He told the panel of his previous crimes: ‘Am I sorry? Maybe. Would I do it again? Definitely not.’

Listing all the conditions in which he has been held, including high-security mental health hospitals, he said: ‘I’ve had every thing you can think of 10 times over.

‘How much longer have I got to go? I’m ready now, I’m a chilled-out man, I feel comfortable in myself. I handle situations 100 times better than I used to. I’m no longer angry.’

Bronson went on: ‘I am terrified of the consequences of my actions because I know if I do anything serious ever again I will die in prison.’

He recalled how one officer, Mick O’Hagan, inspired him to take up art, telling him: ‘You carry on the way you’re going, Charlie, you will never get out.’

Bronson said: ‘Today I’m an artist, a born-again artist, and that’s down to him. He didn’t have to do what he did, he done it because he believed in me.’

He then made a plea on behalf of his mother, now aged 95, who he referred to as ‘my old duchess’.

‘You people have got the power to let me out, that’s my mum’s last dream on this planet, to see her son outside, doing well, making an honest living with my art, as you know I’m anti-crime,’ he said.

‘If you’ve got any heart, any compassion, give it to my mum and make an old lady’s dream come true.’

Giving evidence at the parole hearing, Bronson said he had a ‘beautiful childhood’ but he enjoyed the ‘excitement’ he got from crime.

He said: ‘I just went wrong, I don’t know how, I don’t know why. I just enjoyed the excitement.’

Discussing how he got into stealing, burglary and guns, he said he was ‘very proud’ that he ‘never went down the road of drugs’.

‘I never shot anybody, never wanted to,’ he added.

When questioned, he conceded he did carry a loaded shotgun in the 1970s.

Suggesting if he were to use a gun that he would replace the pellets with rice, he was asked why he would need to shoot someone.

‘If a situation occurs,’ he replied.

The parole review heard how Bronson’s real name was Michael Peterson.

Asked why he changed his name to Charles Bronson, he said it was an alias dreamed up when he went into boxing once he was released in prison.

Bronson told the parole panel that notorious east London gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray – who he says he served time behind bars with – recommended he get into unlicensed boxing, and when he got a manager he was told to come up with an alias for ‘tax’ purposes.

He said he fought six fights while out on release, five against men and one against a Rottweiler.

He was later charged under the name of Charles Bronson in 1987, the hearing was told.

‘I love boxing, my father was a great champion boxer, it is a fraternity, it is a family … we used to box in prison but they are run by namby-pamby people now,’ he said.

Bronson later told the hearing: ‘I lost the plot in prison’, adding: ‘The only thing I knew was violence.’

Referring to Phil Danielson, the prison art teacher who he took hostage for three days in 2014, he said he told him: ‘You’ve been my best hostage, you’re the only one who hasn’t sh** himself.’

He told the hearing that the teacher had taken objection to one of a series of health and safety posters created by Bronson, one of which, about the risk of Aids, the staff member misunderstood as ‘having a pop at the gays’.

Bronson said at the time the prison wing where he was held was ‘cold, empty and f****** brutal’, whereas now things are too easy.

‘I’ve got a telly in my cell, I can’t even believe it,’ he told the panel.

Bronson, who has taken hostages on nine different occasions while in prison, said: ‘I was a horrible person and I couldn’t stop taking hostages.

‘I went through a phase, I couldn’t help taking hostages.

‘I was battling against the system … it was my way of getting back.

‘There’s nothing better than wrapping a governor up like a Christmas turkey.’  

The hearing continues.