Charles Bronson is seen from inside his maximum security prison for first time in more than three decades as he speaks to his son in video call on Channel 4 documentary ahead of parole hearing
- Notorious Charles Bronson filmed speaking from prison for first time since 1989
- Dubbed ‘Britain’s most violent prisoner’ he has been in jail for nearly 50 years
- Read more: Bronson could be free in months as parole board confirm hearing
A video shows notorious criminal Charles Bronson speaking from prison on camera for the first time in three decades, ahead of his public parole hearing next week.
The hardened criminal spoke to his son George Bamby on secure video calls from prison that will be broadcast in a Channel 4 documentary from 9pm tonight.
Bronson has been convicted 17 times of a variety of violent offences and has taken 11 hostages, including holding prison art teacher Phil Daniels at spear point for 43 hours in 1999.
The 70-year-old said one of his biggest regrets was that he was moved three weeks before the 1990 25-day HMP Strangeways riot and that: ‘You can’t live your life regretting your life.’
He will face a public parole hearing on March 6 and March 8 after being the first prisoner in the UK to request one.
The notorious criminal was filmed speaking for the first time since 1989. He told son George Bamby that he didn’t regret his life
George Bamby, a paparazzi photographer who didn’t know Bronson was his father growing up, has been campaigning for his father’s release for several years
His long-lost son, paparazzi photographer George Bamby, filmed video calls with Bronson sitting in his prison cell, wearing a succession of slogan T-shirts.
Mr Bamby discovered that he was the son of the notorious criminal after he received a phone call in 2017. A DNA test shown on national television confirmed the relationship and he has spent several years campaigning for his father’s release.
Bronson admitted to having a ‘horrible, nasty, vicious, violent past’ but said he had never killed anyone or harmed women or children.
‘I’m focused, I’m settled, I can actually smell and taste freedom like I’ve never, ever done in me life.
‘I’m now anti-crime, anti-violent. What the f**k am I still in prison for?’
When asked if he had changed his ways, Bronson claimed that the thing he was most proud of in his life was his art.
He recently launched a new exhibition in the hopes of demonstrating his suitability for release, with pieces selling for between £700 and £30,000.
But the criminal also said one of his ‘great regrets’ was that he wasn’t still in HMP Strangeways for the riot.
‘Three weeks before that kicked off I was actually in Strangeways and I moved from Strangeways to Parkhurst.
‘I f*****g missed it by three weeks. When I was there it was bubbling up then, really bubbling up, you know?
He described the conditions in Strangeways before the riot: ‘Cons were three to a cell. You imagine shitting in a bucket with another two men in the same cell.
‘It is a great regret of mine. I would have loved… I think I’d have still f*****g been up there.’
Bronson has made seven failed parole appeals and appealed his life sentence in 2004, describing his treatment in solitary confinement as ‘torture’.
When he was convicted of false imprisonment in 2000 after taking a prison teacher hostage for 43 hours in HMP Hull, he was given a minimum term of four years.
The documentary interviews Bronson himself, his son George Bamby and experts to interrogate the prisoner’s claims that he should be free
The prisoner, who was filmed by his son George Bamby on a secure video call from prison, said the thing he was proudest of was his art
The criminal has been held in each of England’s secure hospitals, including Broadmoor, and befriended the infamous Kray brothers in jail
The parole board confirmed that Charles Bronson’s hearing is set for March 6 and March 8, and said that reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care
The violent offender said he ‘overreacted’ during the attack but did not say he was remorseful.
‘I went over the top as I normally do. I never hurt the man. Mentally obviously I did. He didn’t deserve what he got, but did I deserve a life sentence just for wrapping him up?
‘When you’re locked up in a concrete coffin, 23 hours of a 24 hour day, sometimes in life you’ve got to do something mad.
‘The madder it is, the more dangerous it is, the better it f*****g is. I’ve gotta be honest with you, I’ve had a fucking party you know.’
Phil Danielson, the prison art teacher that Bronson kidnapped in 1999, said the 43-hour ordeal had ‘moulded his whole life’.
‘The damage that was caused by him has moulded my whole life since 1999, 23 years nearly.’
Bronson has plans to move to Devon, near where Mr Bamby lives in Torbay, and live in a caravan making art if he is released
The criminal attacked and kidnapped prison art teacher Phil Danielson in 1999 and was sentenced to life in 2000
He was diagnosed with PTSD and acute anxiety disorder after suffering breakdowns and has been unable to work since the attack.
‘It will be with me for the rest of my days because if it hadn’t have happened, I would probably just about now, at 60, thinking about retiring.
‘Mentally I couldn’t bring myself round to do it [to work]. That’s why it was decided that I was unfit to teach.
‘On a personal level, I’ll never forgive him for what he did to me and my life.’
The former teacher said Bronson admired him for being the only one of his hostages not to soil himself during the kidnapping.
Mr Danielson said that while part of him thinks justice has been done, Bronson needs to show true remorse before he is released.
‘I think he needs to show remorse and it needs to be documented remorse, not a load of clever talk to get in the papers.’
The parole board confirmed that Charles Bronson’s hearing is set for March 6 and March 8, and said that reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care.
After rule changes made last year, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab could intervene in the case, even if the parole board decides to release the violent offender.
Bronson has plans to move to Devon, near where Mr Bamby lives in Torbay, and live in a caravan making art if he is released.
A Justgiving page has been set up and has raised nearly £4,000 for the violent offender.
He said that the last time he was released from prison, in 1995, he had a ‘shorn-off shotgun’ within 48 hours.
Bronson completed a Violence Reduction Programme in HMP Wakefield in 2012 but another violent incident was reported in 2018.
Twelve prison guards were forced to intervene after the prisoner ‘covered himself in margarine’.
Kevin Lane, who was sentenced to 22 years for murder and lived with Bronson in prison, said the penal system is ‘run on violence’.
‘If I was an animal in the zoo, I’d bite someone, and that’s what he does.’
Bronson, who has changed his name to Salvador, was first locked up for armed robbery in 1974. Pictured: On his way to a parole hearing at the Old Bailey in 2004
Bronson has been diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder and paranoid personality disorder and has spent time in England’s three special psychiatric hospitals, including Broadmoor
Mr Bamby said his father should have the chance to show that he was no longer a threat to the public.
‘Also he has been really violent in the past and he could come out and cause someone some real damage but we won’t know that until he comes out and gets given the opportunity to prove that he’s changed his ways.
But the criminal’s son also recognised the potential that his father could reoffend when he comes out of prison, including by attacking him.
‘I could be being completely f*****g manipulated by my old dad and he could get out of prison and fall out with me one day and kick the living f****g s**t out of me one day and stab me with a bread knife.’
Criminal forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes said the violent reoffending rate for prisoners over the age of 70 was nil.
‘Charlie might be the exception to that rule,’ she said,’ anybody reading about Charlie’s history was told to take a deep breath and think about how can this man move forward, who is capable of such violence and what does that mean for his future?’
Bronson has been diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder and paranoid personality disorder, the psychologist said, and has spent time in England’s three special psychiatric hospitals.
He befriended the infamous Kray brothers while in prison and took up illegal bare-knuckle fighting when he was released in the 1980s on the advice of Reggie Kray.
The criminal recently said he’s still able to do ’95 press-ups in 30 seconds’ and exercises regularly.
Bronson was born Michael Peterson in 1952 to Aberystwyth bar maid Eira Peterson, who he called ‘The Duchess’.
He moved to Ellesmere Port to live with his grandparents and met his first wife, Irene, who gave birth to their son Michael in 1971.
Bronson was imprisoned in 1974 for armed robbery, aged 22, and has been in and out of prison ever since.
Bronson, who has changed his name to Salvador, was first locked up for armed robbery in 1974
Tom Hardy (pictured) played the hardman in the 2008 biopic Bronson, which is loosely based on the prisoner’s life
During his time inside he has taken hostages in 10 prison sieges, attacked at least 20 prison officers and caused £500,000 in damage in rooftop protests.
He has been moved prisons more than 120 times during his 43-year spell behind bars – much of which has been spent in solitary confinement.
Bronson changed his name to Salvador in 2014 in honour of the artist Salvador Dalí and has won multiple prison awards for his poetry, art and prose.
Tom Hardy played the hardman in the 2008 biopic Bronson, which is loosely based on the prisoner’s life.
The documentary will be shown on Channel 4 at 9pm this evening and the second part will air tomorrow night at the same time. Both episodes will be available on All 4 from this evening.
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