Britain’s longest-serving prisoner, Robert Maudsley, has ended his hunger strike after 10 days.
At 71 years old, the notorious quadruple murderer, once deemed the most dangerous prisoner in the UK, had been protesting by refusing to eat after authorities removed his PlayStation and TV. His possessions, including a hi-fi and books, were reportedly taken last month, according to his relatives.
His elder brother Paul, 74, from Liverpool, previously shared his fears: “We are very worried. Bob called me and sounded angry and anxious.
“He said, ‘I’m going on hunger strike so don’t be surprised if this is the last time I call you’. Bob complained, he’s normally polite, but prison officers accused him of being abusive. When he finally got back in his cell, they had taken his TV, PlayStation, books and radio. He’s back to how he was 10 years ago when he had nothing to stimulate him. He loves playing war games and chess on his PlayStation. He had a phone in his cell, but he’s stopped calling us. We can’t get through to anyone to find out what’s going on.”
Maudsley, who has resumed eating, was infamously nicknamed ‘Hannibal the Cannibal’ by other prisoners. In December, the Mirror reported that he had spent nearly 17,000 days in isolation, setting a world record for solitary confinement, reports The Mirror.
For almost 46 years, he has been segregated from the general prison populace.
Last Christmas marked his 51st year behind bars, but prison officials assert that he’s not in isolation all day, noting that he is allowed exercise time just like other inmates. Despite this, he has voiced a harrowing wish to take his own life to escape the anguish of his daily reality.
Maudsley was convicted in 1974 for the murder of John Farrell, a 30 year old who abused children. During his time in custody, Maudsley has killed three other men whom he identified as rapists and paedophiles.
Since 1983, he has been confined to a glass cell measuring 18ft by 15ft for 23 hours per day, which he compares to “being buried alive in a coffin”. Following the death of Moors murderer Ian Brady in 2017, who served 51 years, Maudsley became the UK’s longest-serving prisoner.
The Ministry of Justice has refused to make any statements regarding his hunger strike and highlighted that solitary confinement does ‘not exist in the UK prison estate’.
In 1983, after employees, including barbers, decided against meeting him unaccompanied, Maudsley was given a specialised cell at Wakefield. Before this, he had slain another inmate at Broadmoor secure hospital in 1974.
The victim was discovered with a spoon handle lodged in his ear, spawning Maudsley’s nicknames – initially ‘Spoons’, later infamous as Hannibal the Cannibal, fuelled by rumours he had consumed part of the brain.
The post-mortem examination debunked the myth, but the nickname stuck. Wakefield prison made special arrangements for him after he killed two inmates there, with his cell drawing comparisons to the one used for Dr Hannibal Lecter, as portrayed by Anthony Hopkins in his acclaimed performance in the 1991 film ‘Silence of the Lambs’.
Maudsley previously said: “The prison authorities see me as a problem, and their solution has been to put me into solitary confinement and throw away the key, to bury me alive in a concrete coffin. It does not matter to them whether I am mad or bad. They do not know the answer and they do not care just so long as I am kept out of sight and out of mind.”
In 2000, he appealed to be released from solitary confinement and penned a series of letters to The Times newspaper, seeking a cyanide pill to end his own life.
Described as possessing a high IQ and a love for classical music, poetry, and art, visitors have recounted Maudsley as being gentle, kind, and exceptionally bright.
A Prison Service spokesperson stated: “Some offenders will be segregated if they pose a risk to others. They are allowed time in the open air every day, visits, phone calls, and access to legal advice and medical care like everyone else.”
Further explaining that the segregation of inmates is ‘reviewed regularly’.