Robert Maudsley turned 64 with a ‘celebration’ very like the previous four decades - locked up alone in prison .He has endured the same miserable existence for 39 years, or 14,235 consecutive days.
On July 28, 1978, already serving life for double murder , Maudsley made a knife from a soup spoon and plunged it into the head of fellow inmate Salney Darwood, 46, in Wakefield jail, West Yorks., before garotting him.
He hid his body under a bunk, then smashed the head of another prisoner, William Roberts, against a wall, before using his homemade weapon to prise open his skull, allegedly to eat his brain, a claim he always denied but which earned him the nickname ‘Hannibal the Cannibal’, although it was later shown to be untrue.
Maudsley strode up to the officer in charge after the double murder and said: “There’ll be two short on the roll call.”From that day to this, prisoner 467637 has spent 23 hours out of every 24 in his cell.
The view from the tiny window of the specially-constructed unit is a brick wall.
He had to take his daily hour-long ‘exercise’ alone, with six guards ever present at his side. Maudsley’s routine differs little every day of the year, and has been the same for most of his adult life.
In 2010, he pleaded with the Home Office to allow him to play board games with prison staff, just to break the monotony of life inside.
His record means he can have no contact with fellow prisoners.
Daily Mirror
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