Nocturnal 
Charles Bronson, routinely dubbed Britain’s most notorious prisoner, will get the chance to plead his case for freedom at a two-day parole hearing on 2 and 3 November – meaning, if it succeeds, he could be out of jail by Christmas.
The Parole Board has confirmed the oral hearing will go ahead for the 73-year-old, who also goes by Charles Salvador, after more than five decades behind bars. It is his ninth attempt to secure release since his sentence was eventually extended to life.
His solicitor, Gurdeep Singh, said Bronson is “delighted” to have been progressed to a full hearing but is “under no illusions” about the scale of the fight still ahead of him.
“He wants to show the world he is not the person he was, he hopes to convince the panel that he is a changed man intent on living a simple life in the outside world,” Singh said. “He has high hopes he can see his 95-year-old mother this year.”
Decades behind bars
Bronson, originally from Luton, was jailed in 1974 at the age of 22 for armed robbery, starting out with a seven-year sentence. Repeated attacks on prisoners and guards saw that term extended again and again.
He was briefly released in 1987 before being locked up again the following year after a second armed robbery. In 1999, holding a prison teacher hostage for almost 48 hours led to a discretionary life sentence with a minimum term of four years.
He has spent 23 hours a day in solitary confinement for 37 years on and off, and is currently held in the Category A unit at Wakefield prison. In a letter to Sky News, Bronson wrote: “I am 23 years over my tariff. I am forever denied progress. I am forever kept in solitary. They won’t even take me off Cat A.”
He added: “I have to expose this unlawful sentence and treatment. It’s now gone on for far too long, its become a total joke.”
His previous eight bids for parole have all failed, including a public hearing in 2023 at which he told the panel: “It’s no secret I have had more porridge than Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and I’m sick of it. I’ve had enough of it. I want to go home.”
Why it matters
A Parole Board spokesperson told LADbible that panels “carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.”
Evidence from probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, along with victim personal statements, will all be heard before a full day or more of questioning. The board stressed that “protecting the public is our number one priority.”
Even if Bronson isn’t granted outright release next month, the hearing could still see him referred for a move out of solitary confinement – either to an open prison or onto a normal wing to see how he copes around other people, after what his lawyer says is 12 years without a violent conviction.
It hasn’t been a smooth run-up to this point, either. Sky News has reported that before this review progressed, Bronson fired his lawyer and refused to take part in the process at one stage, frustrated with how his case was being handled.
The hearing is expected to be held in private, though Bronson is believed to want to address the panel directly, as he has done before. Nothing is guaranteed – Parole Board decisions rest solely on the risk a prisoner poses to the public and whether that risk can be safely managed outside prison. A decision is expected to follow in the weeks after the hearing concludes in November.
