I am almost an angel now, says Bronson
ONE of Britain’s longest-serving prisoners told a public Parole Board hearing yesterday that “maybe” he was sorry for his past violent crimes and he would “definitely not” commit them again.
Charles Bronson, 70, was first jailed in 1974 for armed robbery and has spent most of the past 48 years behind bars.
He claimed to be “almost an angel now” and said there would be no more “rumbles” behind bars. “Bronson was a nasty b------,” he said when asked why he had changed his name to Salvador in 2014. “I wasn’t a nice person and I didn’t like him. Salvador is a man of peace.”
He insisted he could now manage his negative feelings, through deep breathing and art, but told the hearing: “Sometimes people push, push, push, take the piss ... and some people need a slap.”
In 2000, Bronson received a discretionary life sentence for taking Phil Danielson, a prison art teacher, hostage with a makeshift spear in a two-day siege.
Bronson remains a Category A prisoner at Woodhill Prison in Milton Keynes, in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day due to staff shortages.
A prison psychologist told the panel he would pose a high risk to the public if released. The Parole Board will make its decision at a later date.
‘I wasn’t a nice person and I didn’t like who I’d become. The new me is a man of peace’