Britain’s most enduring inmate has been permitted the use of a phone in his cell, but it is improbable that he will be returning to his confinement in the prison known as ‘Monster Mansion.’
Robert Maudsley, aged 72, initiated a hunger strike when his privileges, including a PlayStation, TV, and other amenities, were revoked earlier this year. Once deemed the most hazardous prisoner in the penal system, the quadruple murderer was relocated from his specially constructed cell in Wakefield prison, West Yorkshire.
In March, Maudsley was transferred 125 miles to HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire, where he was placed in a unit tailored for inmates with personality disorders. Allegations arose from his acquaintances that he was facing persecution following an incident involving Manchester bomber Hashem Abedi at Durham’s Frankland prison.
His girlfriend and longtime pen pal, Loveinia MacKenney from London, expressed apprehensions about his well-being. Maudsley, known as the ‘Hannibal Cannibal,’ had been isolated from the general prison populace in Wakefield for many years due to his history of extreme violence.
His extended period of seclusion has made him particularly susceptible to infections, as he has spent nearly 47 years in solitary confinement. Although the likelihood of his return to Wakefield seems slim, he has been reunited with his personal belongings, such as books and music, and now has a phone in his cell, along with access to half an hour of outdoor exercise daily.
This phone access serves as a crucial communication lifeline for Maudsley after decades of incarceration. His nephew, Gavin Maudsley, disclosed that his uncle had struggled to adapt to the abrupt change in his environment at Whitemoor prison. Christmas marked his 51st year behind bars, as he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1974 for the murder of John Farrell, a child abuser.
Following the killings of three individuals he believed to be rapists and pedophiles, Maudsley reportedly remarked to a prison officer, “There’ll be two short on the roll call.” From 1983 until April of this year, he spent 23 hours daily confined in a glass cell measuring 18 ft by 15 ft in Wakefield, which he likened to “being buried alive in a coffin.”
Maudsley assumed the title of the UK’s lengthiest serving prisoner after the passing of Moors murderer Ian Brady, who was incarcerated for 51 years until his death in 2017.