Charles Bronson sparks jail stand-off over apple crumble

Britain’s most notorious prisoner, the (in)famous Charles Bronson reportedly staged a protest at a maximum-security prison recently after being served apple crumble…without custard.

The 73-year-old refused repeated orders to leave an exercise yard at HMP Wakefield last week.

Officers in riot gear were eventually brought in to force him back to his cell in the jail’s segregation unit, according to the Daily Mail.

The rather unlikely chain of events is said to have begun at dinner on Monday, when Bronson received one of his favourite desserts.

The apple crumble arrived without its usual delicious hot yellow accompaniment, reportedly leaving the veteran inmate ‘infuriated’.

Bronson, who was played by Tom Hardy in a 2008 biopic, allegedly decided to make his point during his allocated exercise time the following day. When officers ordered him to leave the yard and return inside, he staged a sit-down protest and refused to move.

A source at the Category A prison dubbed ‘Monster Mansion’ told the Mail: ‘He was told more than once that exercise time was over and that he needed to come back inside, but he simply dug his heels in.

‘With Bronson, even something as small as a pudding can become a major security headache because officers cannot afford to assume he is bluffing.

‘The whole thing started because he got apple crumble without custard the night before.’

‘He loves his food and saw it as another example of the prison not giving him what he believes he is entitled to, so he decided to make his point in the yard,’ they said.

The incident took place in a yard linked to Wakefield’s Close Supervision center, where some of the jail’s most violent and disruptive prisoners are held. Internal prison staff dealt with the stand-off, which reportedly didn’t last long.

Three teams of three officers are said to have surrounded Bronson once it became clear he wasn’t going to comply.

The source claimed: ‘Bronson ran at the shield, looked to the sky and shouted, “This is for Reggie Kray”.’ He was then returned to his cell.

HMP Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, has been nicknamed ‘Monster Mansion’ because of the high-profile criminals it holds. Bronson has spent previous periods at the prison during his lengthy time behind bars.

On one earlier occasion, he was reportedly kept in a highly secure enclosure which became known as the ‘Hannibal Cage’.

It was also at Wakefield that officers are said to have encouraged him to focus on drawing and cartoons, beginning an interest in art which later became central to his claim that he had changed.

Bronson, who is legally known as Charles Salvador, reportedly spends 23 hours a day in solitary confinement. He cannot associate with other prisoners and must use the gym and shower facilities alone.

He was transferred to Wakefield from HMP Long Lartin after attacking another prisoner. Before his time at Long Lartin, Bronson had been held at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes.

First jailed for armed robbery and wounding back in 1974 at the age of just 22, Bronson has spent most of his life in prison.

His record includes attacks on staff and inmates, rooftop protests and a series of hostage sieges involving prison officers, governors, doctors and his own solicitor.

During one trial, Bronson said he had taken 11 hostages in nine separate sieges. In 1999, he held prison art teacher Phil Danielson hostage at HMP Hull for 44 hours. Mr Danielson was tied up, assaulted and threatened with improvised weapons during the ordeal.

Bronson received an indefinite life sentence for false imprisonment back in February 2000. Although the minimum term expired in February 2003, successive Parole Board panels have decided that he couldn’t safely be released.

His most recent conviction for violence followed an attack on a prison governor in 2014. So he’s stayed in jail.

The reported custard protest comes as Bronson prepares for another parole hearing in November. He had hoped officials would recommend a gradual reduction in his security conditions, potentially opening a route towards his eventual release on license.

Speaking to a friend earlier this year, he reportedly said: ‘I’m very hopeful. I’m not expecting to get it, but I’m expecting to get something.

‘And once I’ve had this parole out of the way, they’ve then got two years to sort me out, put me in a cat C, cat D, give me a hostel, give me some home leave, and they’re not giving me anything. I’ve earned it. I’ve actually earned… a bloody break in life.’

The prison source suggested that the latest incident could hurt his chances.

They said: ‘He wants to persuade the Parole Board that he has changed, that he can control himself yet he’s causing a major disturbance over missing custard.

‘He says he wants the chance to spend his final years of his life on the outside, but incidents like this raise the obvious question of whether he has been rehabilitated. There are a lot of people at Wakefield who would say “no”.’

Bronson appeared at a public parole hearing from HMP Woodhill in March 2023.

During three days of hearings, he joked that he had eaten ‘more porridge than Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ and insisted he was tired of prison life.

The panel concluded that his risk couldn’t safely be managed outside a high-security jail.

His next panel is expected to consider his original offenses, prison record, any evidence that his behavior has changed and the effect of his crimes on his victims.

A Prison Service spokesman said: ‘We do not comment on individual prisoners.’