“Britain’s most dangerous man” has been in solitary confinement for 40 years

Robert Maudsley
One of the most dangerous prisoners in the world: serial killer sits in a glass case 23 hours a day

View into Wakefield Prison, where Robert Maudsley is housed

© PA Gareth Copley 5407206 / Picture Alliance

Robert Maudsley is considered one of the most dangerous prison inmates in the world. The quadruple murderer is therefore housed alone in a glass case in the basement of a prison – without any contact with other inmates.

In Great Britain, the name Robert Maudsley alone sends a chill down the spine of many people. The nickname given by the tabloid media to him reveals why: “Hannibal, the cannibal”. Maudsley is considered “Britain’s most dangerous man,” wrote the “Mirror”. In 1974 he brutally murdered a man and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He killed three other inmates in prison.

Thus Maudsley is considered Britain’s most dangerous prison inmate, perhaps one of the most dangerous in the world. The 68-year-old is being held in Wakefield Prison near Manchester, one of the largest high-security prisons in Europe. A special cell was made especially for him in the basement of the building, a glass box in which the guards can watch him around the clock. Maudsley is serving his time in solitary confinement; he is not allowed to have contact with other inmates – the risk of killing again is too great.

Life imprisonment for brutal murder

Robert Maudsley committed his first murder in 1974, when he was 21 years old. Since the time he had offered himself sex for money to finance his drug addiction, he had developed an irrepressible hatred of pedophiles. When a worker showed him a video of child pornography, Maudsley directed him so that the victim was “no longer recognizable as a person”. After this act, Maudsley was sentenced to life imprisonment and the court recommended that he never be released. The killer was detained at Broadmoor Hospital.

But although high security measures were already in place there, they were not enough to put a stop to Maudsley. On the contrary: he continued to murder behind bars. In 1977, Maudsley and another prisoner barricaded themselves in a cell with a man convicted of child abuse and tortured him for seven hours. Rumors circulated in the media at the time that Maudsley had eaten the victim’s brain, earning him the nickname “Hannibal the cannibal”. However, the autopsy report did not confirm the suspicion of cannibalism.


Robert Maudsley: One of the most dangerous prisoners in the world: serial killer sits in a glass case 23 hours a day

Trapped in a glass case

In response, Maudsley was relocated to Wakefield, with even higher security standards. But the criminal struck again: just a year after the second murder, he lured a prisoner into his cell, cut his throat and hid him under his bed. He then stabbed another inmate and then rammed his head against the wall over and over again. Then he calmly went to a guard and told him that two fewer people would be coming to dinner today.

From that point on, Maudsley was prohibited from approaching other inmates. The administration at Wakefield Prison ordered the construction of a special cell for the quadruple murderer. Until its completion in 1983, the guards managed to keep Maudsley at bay in his conventional cell. Since then, the Briton has been held in a 5.5 by 4.5 meter glass case. Here, too, the British tabloid media saw a parallel to the famous cannibal Hannibal Lecter from the Hollywood film “The Silence of the Lambs”.

Maudsley spends 23 hours a day in this glass cell, and he is allowed to leave it for an hour to move around. He is guarded by six guards. Contact with other prisoners or the outside world is prohibited. The food is handed to him through a narrow slit into the cell.

Requests for better conditions of detention were denied

In 2000 Maudsley tried to crack down on the conditions of detention. Solitary confinement had massive psychological consequences, he said in letters to the London Times. Among other things, his ability to speak has suffered greatly. “I have no hope and nothing to look forward to,” said Maudsley. “I would like a guard to speak to me now and then, but they never do.” If that doesn’t happen, he would like a capsule of potassium cyanide to end his life. However, nothing has changed in his situation – the brutal murderer will most likely spend the rest of his life alone in a transparent box.

Sources: “Mirror” / “Manchester Evening News”

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