Charles Bronson: notorious prisoner tells public parole hearing he's an 'angel' compared with past self

Members of the press and public are watching the proceedings – taking place in prison – on a live stream from the Royal Courts of Justice in central London.

Bronson 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, he said: “Oh yes, certainly.”

Charles 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.

Bronson, who had been sipping what appeared to be a small carton of juice through a straw, briefly stood up during the hearing and began asking for a tissue.

“I haven’t pissed 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 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 has been told that Bronson had used words to the effect of “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 19 August 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.

He 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.”

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 “crap, 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.

Bronson has 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.”

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.

Bronson said he now has ways of managing negative feelings.

He said: “When I’m in my cell and I’ve got a bad letter, or something’s happened, or someone has been nasty or whatever, I can sit in my cell now and switch off, and go into myself with deep breathing.

“Sometimes people push, push, push, take the piss, it’s blatant piss-taking, and some people need a slap, it’s as simple as that.”

In 2014 he decided to change his surname to Salvador, which he said means man of peace.

“Bronson was a nasty bastard,” he said. “I wasn’t a nice person and I didn’t like him. Salvador is a man of peace. I feel peaceful.”

Asked about an incident in 2015 when he threw his own faeces at another prisoner, Bronson claimed the inmate had killed four people and had insulted him, calling him an OAP and a nobody, and threatened to stab him.

He also claimed that the prisoner had asked him to do it so that he could claim compensation.

Bronson told the hearing he is “almost an angel now” compared with his old self.

“I have not walked on grass for over 30 years and I dream of walking on grass,” he said.

He said he has changed his ways and there would be no more “rumbles” behind bars.

He is in a unit of eight inmates, and has time out of his cell with three others, one of whom he does not like and avoids.

But he said on a larger wing he would be able to handle any conflict should it arise.

Asked about difficult situations he might face if released, Bronson said: “If some muppet wants to fight me or cause me problems I will handle it in a different way.”

He said he behaves like a “gentleman” and plans to go and live in the country if released.

He told the panel: “Give a man a break. We could be sitting around this table until the cow jumps over the moon talking the same old crap.

“I’m just a normal geezer wanting to get on with his life.”

Bronson 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 also said he is not ashamed of his protests when he climbed on to prison roofs.

“Why would I be ashamed? I’m fighting the penal system that has done humiliating things to me for decades,” he said.

Describing his treatment by the prison system over the years he said: “If I was a dog I’d have had the RSPCA on my side.”

That's all for today.

The hearing resumes on Wednesday.