Charles Bronson would not cope with release, panel told

Image source, Getty Images

Charles Bronson, who uses the name Charles Salvador, has had parole refused at previous hearings

By Daniel Sandford

BBC News, Home Affairs Correspondent

Charles Bronson, one of the UK's longest-serving prisoners, would not cope with being released, a Parole Board panel has heard.

The 70-year-old, one of the UK's most violent offenders, has been in prison for much of the last 50 years.

The panel heard that Bronson spends 23 hours a day in his cell and only associates with three other inmates.

The first witness, his prison offender manager, said Bronson would not have the skills to cope with being released.

At the beginning of the hearing the panel chairman asked Bronson: "Do you intend to give evidence?"

In a gravelly voice he replied: "Oh yes, yes, certainly."

When he was told the Parole Board panel hearing the case had not watched a recently-broadcast television documentary about him, he replied "I find that hard to believe".

Shaven-headed Bronson was wearing a suit and his trademark small round sunglasses.

Within minutes of the hearing starting Bronson spilt some liquid over himself while drinking from a carton.

He told the panel he had not wet himself, but used stronger language, and later swore and said "we'll be all day" when his prison offender manager paused while giving evidence.

The prisoner - who now uses the last name Salvador - is being held at a specialist close supervision centre at Woodhill Prison in Buckinghamshire.

This is only the second Parole Board hearing ever to be held in public but this one has a far higher profile than the first.

Members of the press and public filled Court 76 at the Royal Courts of Justice to watch the hearing on a live video link.

The panel heard Bronson is allowed out of his cell for about an hour a day.

He comes out to collect his food and goes out to the yard or to the gym, or he walks along the balcony. He is allowed to associate with three other inmates, but the panel heard that he did not get along with one of them.

While in his cell for 23 hours a day he his listens to the radio or does artwork.

The Parole Board panel is deciding whether he is still a risk to the public, or whether he can be released from prison.

If they decide against releasing him they are also being asked to consider allowing Bronson to be moved to "open" prison conditions where he would have much more freedom.

Charles Salvador's real name is Michael Gordon Peterson.

He was convicted of armed robbery in 1974, aged 21, and apart from a couple of brief spells of freedom, he has been in prison ever since.

He changed his name to Charles Bronson in 1987 and most of his notoriety came after that moment.

Most infamously he took an art teacher hostage in 1999, for which he received a life sentence.

In 2014, he changed his name, again, to Charles Salvador as a tribute to the Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali.

He was last convicted in 2014 of assaulting a prison governor.

The Parole Board panel is deciding whether he is still a risk to the public, or whether he can be released from prison.

If they decide against releasing him, they have been asked to consider allowing Bronson to be moved to "open" prison conditions, where he would have much more freedom.

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