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Charles Bronson shares plans for future if he’s released after nearly 50 years
Published 10:46 6 Mar 2023 GMT
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A public Parole Hearing is taking place later today to decide if he is fit for release from prison
Charles Bronson has got ideas about how he's going to live the rest of his life if he is released from prison after almost 50 years behind bars. Bronson is one of the most notorious and longest-serving prisoners in the UK. He was first jailed in 1974 for armed robbery, and has gone on to receive a number of further sentence during his time behind bars for violent incidents against inmates and staff, including taking 11 hostages in nine different sieges. But today (March 6) a public Parole Board hearing will take place to decide if the 70-year-old is fit for release. And, if he is allowed to be released, he already has plans.
Bronson's ex-wife Irene Dunroe has kept in touch with him since his sentencing, both over the phone and through letters, and has had an insight into his plans for the outside world.
Irene, who has remarried twice since her relationship with Bronson, told the Echo that the first thing he wants to do with his freedom is get two dogs.
He wants to name them Ronnie and Reggie, after the Kray twins, who he got to know while at HMP Pankhurst.
Then, Bronson wants to live a quiet life by the beach, and spend some time with his son Mike.
"He just wants to live out his last few years. He just wants to do his art," Irene explained.
[caption id="attachment_380591" align="alignnone" width="740"]
Bronson apparently just wants to get two dogs and live a quiet life by the beach.[/caption]
Bronson apparently just wants to get two dogs and live a quiet life by the beach.[/caption]
"He wants to feel the sun on his face, walk along the sea and feel the sand on his toes.
"He wants to see the seagulls and listen to the birds.
"As soon as he comes out he's already made arrangements to get the biggest, greasy breakfast you can imagine.
"He's been in there for god knows - 47 years, 48 years now. Mike [his son] - he's 50 this year. Mike needs his dad."
Bronson was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, in December 1952 as Michael Peterson.
He was convicted of armed robbery and wounding in 1974 and earned a reputation as a violent and dangerous inmate due to his attacks on prison staff and other inmates.
In 1975, he attacked a fellow prisoner with a glass jug and in 1985 he carried out a three-day rooftop protest, the BBC reports.
In 1994, Bronson held a prison librarian hostage and demanded an inflatable doll, a helicopter and a cup of tea as ransom.
Four years later, he took three inmates hostage at Belmarsh Prison in London.
Then 12 months on, he took a prison education worker hostage for 44 hours at HMP Hull and was sentenced to a discretionary life term, with a minimum of four years.
In 2014, he received a further two-year jail term for holding a prison governor in a headlock at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes. Bronson was refused parole in 2017 while an inmate at HMP Wakefield. But in recent years he has claimed he is a changed man thanks to his son George coming into his life. During a trial in 2018 in which he was cleared of trying to seriously harm a prison governor, he admitted he had been a "very nasty man" in the past. He told the jury how he had held 11 hostages in nine different sieges - including governors, doctors, staff and, on one occasion, his solicitor. In a recent documentary aired by Channel 4, Bronson said he could "taste freedom".He said: "The system have labelled me for so many years untameable, untreatable, unpredictable, dangerous, blah, blah, blah. I've had every label you can think of.
"But at the end of the day, what people don't realise, since George, my son, has come into my life, I've changed and... George has got me the best legal team in the world... I'm coming home, I'm definitely coming home."
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