The Longest-Serving Prisoner in Solitary Confinement: The Story of Robert Maudsley

Robert Maudsley, born in 1953 in Toxteth, Liverpool, is a British killer, infamous for committing four murders, earning him the nickname "Hannibal the Cannibal." However, it should be clarified that the gruesome story of Maudsley eating a part of the brain of one of his victims was later debunked as a mere rumor. Maudsley holds the dubious distinction of being the longest-serving British prisoner in solitary confinement.

Early Life and Background

Robert Maudsley's early life was marked by considerable adversity. Born into a lower middle-class working family, he was one of twelve children and was frequently mentally and physically assaulted by his parents. This abuse turned him into a chronically depressed child.

Maudsley was eventually sent to Nazareth House, a Catholic orphanage, but his father didn't let him stay there for long. The neighborhood's complaints finally resulted in Maudsley being removed from his parents by social service authorities, but the early years of torture and pain left him scarred.

As a teenager in the late 1960s, Maudsley moved to London, where he began working as a sex worker to support himself while grappling with loneliness, depression, and drug addiction. His mental condition deteriorated further, leading him to attempt suicide several times.

He reportedly told doctors that he heard voices urging him to kill his parents. Maudsley later remarked that he wished he had killed his parents as a child, believing that it could have altered the trajectory of his life and perhaps prevented the deaths of others.

Crimes and Murders

In March 1974, at the age of 20, Maudsley committed his first murder, strangling a client named John Farrell after learning that Farrell was a child molester. Following this incident, Maudsley was sent to Broadmoor Hospital for the criminally insane.

In 1977, while at Broadmoor, Maudsley and another patient brutally tortured and killed an inmate accused of child sexual abuse. This incident led to Maudsley's transfer to Wakefield Prison.

In 1978, while at Wakefield, Maudsley committed two murders in one day. He garroted Salney Darwood to death and hid the body under his bed. Later that same day, he cornered and stabbed William Roberts multiple times with a spoon that had been sharpened into a makeshift dagger. Maudsley showed no remorse for these murders, stoking fear among his fellow prisoners and leading to his solitary confinement.

Life in Isolation

Robert Maudsley has spent the majority of his 49-year sentence in solitary confinement, setting a world record for the longest time spent in isolation. Deemed too dangerous for a regular cell in 1983, a two-cell unit was constructed for him in the basement of Wakefield Prison.

Maudsley's outside time is limited, and he is always escorted by at least four prison officers due to his history of violence.

Maudsley has pleaded unsuccessfully for the terms of his solitary confinement to be relaxed and has even asked to be allowed to take his own life via a cyanide capsule, a request which was also denied.

Maudsley has described his life in solitary as a "long period of unbroken depression." He has been held in specially constructed cells in various locations, including Parkhurst and Woodhill, and he spends 23 of every 24 hours in his cell.

Maudsley's Perspective on His Crimes

Based on his choice of victims—men who had been accused or convicted of sex offenses—it could be inferred that he saw himself as a sort of vigilante, targeting those who had committed acts similar to the abuses he himself suffered as a child.

References:

British prisoner ‘breaks world record’ for longest time in solitary confinement

Evil Behind Bars: 'Hannibal the Cannibal' murderer Robert Maudsley - who has been caged in a glass cell since 1979 - warns he will 'kill again' if ever released and that he's 'happy and content' in solitary