UK's most dangerous prisoner locked in Hannibal Lecter-style cell behind 17 steel doors
27.06.2024 - 14:45
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A notorious serial killer has been detained in a Hannibal Lecter-style transparent cell for years.
Robert Maudsley, 70, has been spending his days in solitary confinement for the last 45 years because of the risk he poses to fellow prisoners.
Originally sentenced for murder, he then went on to kill three more inmates during his time behind bars.
A new book, Inside Wakefield Prison: Life Behind Bars in the Monster Mansion, written by authors Jonathan Levi and Emma French, delves into the terrifying specifics of his penal life.
The writers detail: "Today, in Wakefield Prison, Maudsley is kept in confinement for twenty-three hours of the day. Everything in his cell is made of cardboard, and you have to go through 17 steel doors to get to it."
His confinement closely mirrors Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins in the film Silence of the Lambs, which has led to Maudsley being dubbed "Hannibal the Cannibal".
The authors spoke to a prison insider named Pete who gave more insights about the infamous "strongbox" in which he resides.
Pete remarked on Maudsley's harsh reality, asserting: "The sad thing is, if he were living with someone else, he'd kill somebody else. It'd have been more humane to just put him down."
He was unequivocal in his belief that Maudsley would kill again if released. Levi and French delved into the myth of the "Perspex cell", noting "every contributor tells a different story".
"Pete, for example, described the box in the following terms: 'Metal with thick Perspex around them that looked out into the middle, and there was a metal door with thick Perspex on it and then an outer cell door," they said.
They added: "They were boxes. As he described it to us, it was all completely see-through, except from