BEHIND the walls of Broadmoor Hospital live some of the most notorious male prisoners in the UK.
But where is this high-security psychiatric hospital and which infamous patients have once called this home? Here's everything you need to know.
Where is Broadmoor Hospital?
Broadmoor Hospital is based in the village of Crowthorne in
Berkshire.
It is the oldest of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth Hospital near Liverpool and Rampton Secure Hospital in Nottinghamshire.
The hospital originally opened as Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum in 1863 and has been run by West London Mental Health (NHS) Trust since 2001.
Today it is the most well-known high-security psychiatric hospital in England, housing many infamous criminals.
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Most of the patients suffer from severe mental illnesses and many also have personality disorders.
Patients at the hospital are treated with a range of therapies, such as medication and occupational therapy, so they become less of a risk to themselves and others.
Today the hospital is only home to male inpatients after the female service at the hospital closed in 2007.
Due to the appearance and its high walls, many believe Broadmoor is a prison.
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However, it is in fact a hospital – the staff consist of nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and therapists, among other roles.
Broadmoor Hospital has space to cater for 240 patients who suffer from mental illness and personality disorders.
According to the NHS, most patients stay at the facility for five to six years although some can be there for a considerably shorter time or longer time if necessary.
After that, patients are often transferred to lower-security facilities when they are deemed to not pose a risk to themselves or others.
New Broadmoor Hospital opened in 2019, as the Victorian buildings of the old site were causing some concern.
The NHS said: "The new buildings are much more conducive to care, treatment and recovery than the Victorian buildings which they replaced and are also safer for staff and patients."
There have been many notable patients who have been admitted to Broadmoor since it opened.
Peter Sutcliffe
One of the most notable people to be treated at Broadmoor is Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, who was sent there in 1984.
Sutcliffe was attacked three times by other patients while at the hospital, one of which caused him to lose vision in his left eye.
In 2016 he was moved to HMP Frankland in Durham after it was deemed he no longer suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.
The Yorkshire Ripper died at University Hospital of North Durham, aged 74, having been sent there due to a Covid diagnosis and other health issues.
Ronnie Kray
Ronnie Kray, one of the infamous Kray twins, carried out crimes across the East End of London in the 50s and 60s.
The pair were convicted in 1969 and sentenced to life imprisonment for their extensive list of crimes.
Ronnie was a Category A prisoner who was not allowed to mix with other prisoners before being certified insane and moved to Broadmoor in 1979.
He suffered from schizophrenia, which was kept under control through medication.
The twins operated Krayleigh Enterprises, a celebrity bodyguard business, with their brother Charlie while they were behind bars in separate prisons.
Kray died of a heart attack in Broadmoor in March 1995 and died at the age of 61, his twin Reggie attended his funeral in handcuffs.
Ian Ball
Ian Ball tried to kidnap Princess Anne in 1974 while her car was on route to Buckingham Palace.
The Princess was just 23 when Ball began shooting at the car before trying to drag her from the vehicle.
He wanted to hold her for ransom and planned to donate the £3million to the NHS, apparently, he felt mental health services were not good enough.
This was the first ever kidnap attempt on a member of the Royal Family and four men were wounded including the Princess' chauffeur.
Ronnie Russell, a boxer, happened to be walking past and intervened.
He said of Anne's reaction: "She was very, very together, telling him, 'Just go away and don't be such a silly man'."
Robert Napper
Robert Napper was convicted of murdering young mum Rachel Nickel on Wimbledon Common in July 1992 in front of her young son Alex.
He was also previously convicted of the double murder of Samantha Bisset and her daughter Jazmine in 1993.
Napper is also thought to be the Green Chain Rapist who carried out at least 70 attacks over a four year period.
DNA profiling helped connect Napper to the case and on December 18, 2009 he was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
He has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and Asperger's syndrome (now diagnosed as Autism Spectrum Disorder), and committed to Broadmoor, indefinitely.
Robert Maudsley
Robert Maudsley, from Toxteth in Liverpool, carried out his first murder in 1974 when a builder called John Farrell picked him up and took him back to his flat in North London.
Farrell showed him photos of a young girl he had abused, Maudsley, then 20, flew into a rage and slowly garrotted him, turning the builder’s face blue.
He handed himself in to police and was sent to Broadmoor hospital — where he soon earned his first nickname, “Blue”, after the colour of his victim’s face.
While in prison Maudsley took an inmate, a convicted child molester, hostage in his cell and tortured him to death for nine hours with the help of another prisoner.
A guard claimed Maudsley had eaten part of the victim's brain, which led to the monster being marked with a "cannibal" tag – despite the grim information being false.
He was moved to Wakefield Prison and killed two more convicted criminals before being deemed too dangerous for general population.
Maudsley now spends most of his day in a purpose-built glass two-cell unit in the basement of Wakefield and is only allowed out for one hour a day with heavy guard supervision.
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson, also known as Charles Salvador, is often dubbed as Britain's "most violent prisoner".
In 1974 he was sentenced to seven years in prison for armed robbery but racked up a life sentence for attacks on inmates and staff alike.
Infamously, while at Broadmoor he staged a three day protest on the roof, causing £250,000 worth of damage.
Bronson has spent time at prisons and hospitals across the country including Frankland and Belmarsh.
He has a parole hearing approaching which will be held publicly.
David Copeland
Neo-nazi David Copeland, known as the "London nail bomber", killed three and injured 79 in a series of attacks with homemade nail bombs in the capital across three successive weekends in April 1999.
He was radicalised from an early age and joined the British National Party (BNP) before leaving because he thought they did not do enough to curb the "threat" of mass immigration.
Copeland, then 22, set off three homemade bombs in Brixton, Brick Lane and Soho, targeting the black, Bangladeshi and gay communities with each bomb.
On his diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, he was committed to Broadmoor, although his plea of manslaughter by diminished responsibility was not accepted by the jury.
Upon sentencing – where he was given six life sentences and a minimum of 30 years – he was taken to HMP Belmarsh.
Daniel Gonzalez
Daniel Gonzalez, then 25, murdered four people and injured two across two days in London and Sussex in September 2004.
After a failed murder attempt, he attacked Marie Harding, 76, while wearing a hockey mask, imitating Jason Voorhees on Friday the 13th.
His mother had written to her MP previously, asking for help and criticising the lack of support.
She rhetorically asked: "does my son have to commit murder to get help?"
While at Broadmoor awaiting trial, he tried to bite himself to death and was so violent that he was accompanied by officers in riot gear everywhere.
He was jailed for life in 2006 and then killed himself in Broadmoor Hospital the year after.
Peter Bryan
Peter Bryan from London killed three people while on release from various mental hospitals.
The then 24-year-old first beat a shop-owner's daughter to death after he was fired, which landed him in Rampton Secure Hospital.
He convinced staff that he was improving and on release killed, dismembered and cooked his friend Brian Cherry, 43.
The police found a frying pan with human brains, which Bryan described as "really nice".
Once detained at Broadmoor, Bryan killed fellow patient Richard Loudwell, 59, and planned to eat him.
Bryan is still at Broadmoor and is unlikely to ever be released.
James Kelly
Thought to be a possible suspect for Jack the Ripper, James Kelly fled Broadmoor just a few months before the infamous Whitechapel spree began.
Born April 20, 1860, Kelly worked as an upholsterer and met Sarah Brider, who would be his wife and victim.
He displayed jealous and obsessive tendencies, accusing her of various infidelities and becoming increasingly unpredictable.
Kelly slashed his wife's throat just 17 days into the marriage and was declared insane, causing his sentence of death by hanging to be changed to life in the psychiatric hospital.
He escaped Broadmoor on January 23, 1888, just in time for the Ripper murders to begin.
For nearly four decades he remained at large before turning himself back into Broadmoor in 1927 and serving the final two years of his life in the prison.
John Straffen
John Straffen is one of the longest serving prisoners in British history, serving 55 years before his death.
After killing two girls in 1951 he was committed to Broadmoor hospital due to an examination that showed he suffered wide and severe damage to his cerebral cortex.
A year later he climbed Broadmoor's ten-foot wall and mounted an escape, dressed in civilian clothes.
Sadly, he managed to killed Linda Bowyer who was only five at the time before being captured again shortly after.
His escape triggered a siren warning system at the hospital that can be heard throughout the surrounding area, this was tested every Monday at 10am until 2018.
After his escape he was moved to Wandsworth prison and a series of other prisons over the years.
Eventually he died in HMP Frankland in 2007, at the age of 77.
Kenneth Erskine
Erskine, also known as the Stockwell Strangler, carried out his crimes during 1986 in London.
He targeted elderly victims, broke into their homes and violently attacked them.
He was found guilty of seven murders in January 1988 and was sentenced to life.
Erskine was 24 years old when he committed the crimes but had the mental age of a 12-year-old according to mental health professionals.
He has been held at Broadmoor since 2009.
Graham Young
Young was sentenced to 15 years detention in Broadmoor at just 14 years-old, after he used poison to kill his victims.
Obsessed with poisons from an early age, Young began poisoning relatives and school friends by lacing their food and drink with thallium and antimony.
Young was charged with administering poison to his father, sister and schoolfriend and later claimed responsibility for the death of his stepmother, although he was never charged with this crime.
In 1971, Young was deemed rehabilitated and released from Broadmoor.
However, upon his release Young began poisoning his workmates, resulting in two fatalities and several others left critically ill.
In 1972, he was convicted on two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
He served most of his sentence at HMP Parkhurst, where he died of a heart attack in 1990.
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