Charles Bronson: notorious prisoner tells public parole hearing he's an 'angel' compared with past self
A public parole hearing where Charles Bronson will make his latest bid for freedom has started, with the notorious prisoner claiming he's an "angel" compared to his former self.
Making his latest bid for freedom on Monday, he told a panel of Parole Board judges he is now anti-violence, a man of “peace” and “almost an angel now” compared with his old self. But despite insisting he now has ways of managing negative feelings and has turned to art, the 70-year-old – who was once dubbed one of Britain’s most violent offenders – said: “I was born to have a rumble.”
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Hide AdBronson – who changed his surname to Charles Salvador in 2014 after the artist Salvador Dali – appeared on camera sat opposite a panel of parole judges wearing a black suit, white shirt and dark glasses.
What was said on day one?
- Bronson claimed he had been betting for much of the last 50 years while behind bars and won £1,500 last year. Prisoners are banned from gambling and could face sanctions for doing so.
- Bronson is locked in his cell for 23 hours a day due to staff shortages, and receives letters from 500 people.
- Describing one incident, in which the hearing was told he stripped naked and “greased up”, Bronson said: “I took half a tub of Lurpak with me, stripped off and had the rumble of my life. It was f****** brilliant.”
- Speaking of his time at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes, Bronson said: “I’ve had four years here now, I think I’ve outstayed my welcome.”
- Some of Bronson’s comments prompted outbursts of laughter from the public gallery and he could be heard swearing frequently and sighing loudly early on in the proceedings. Before he began giving evidence, he complained he was “getting bored of this” when his lawyer asked for a short break.
- His prison offender manager said they are concerned that Bronson would be overwhelmed in open conditions at a lower security prison, 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 time anyway. He doesn’t enjoy it … but he copes quite well. He has his exercises, he has his routines.”
- They added that he “kind of loses himself in his artwork” – something he has become known for while in jail.
Who is Charles Bronson?
Charles Bronson has spent most of the past 48 years behind bars, apart from two brief periods of freedom where he reoffended. His 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 just 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.
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Hide AdIn 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.
The Parole Board will decide whether he should remain behind bars after the hearing, which is taking place over three days this week. A decision is due at a later date. The hearing resumes on Wednesday.
Charles Bronson public parole hearing - latest
Bronson: 'I’m a chilled-out man'
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: 'I just went wrong'
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 on changing his name (again) to Charles Salvador
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 'almost an angel now'
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.
Bronson will handle threats 'in a different way'
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 not ashamed of prison roof protests
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.”