A fundraising appeal has been launched to buy a caravan for Britain's most notorious prisoner. Charles Bronson is waiting to see whether he will be freed by the parole board - and a crowdfunder is collecting pledges so he has somewhere to live if he is released.
The inmate, aged 69, is expected to appear before a public parole hearing in March. He has spent decades behind bars for armed robbery and attacks on other prisoners, but insists he is a changed man.
In one incident he covered himself with butter to attack 12 prison officers because Arsenal won the FA Cup. He had greased himself up as he hoped it would make it harder to restrain him.
Bronson has changed his name to Salvador in prison and has taken up painting while in jail. An online fundraising campaign is underway to raise £32,500 for Bronson so he can buy the caravan, The Mirror reports.
The JustGiving page, set up by Bronson's son George Bamby-Salvador, says: “On March 6, 2023 Charles Bronson (now known as Charles Salvador) will be standing in front of the UK parole board with the hope of finally being released from custody and given the chance at freedom that he so much deserves.
“Charlie is no longer an aggressive criminal, he is a born again artist who has spent the majority of his prison life in segregation doing his artwork.
“He has not been violent or aggressive for nearly 10 years. He is 70 years old in a few months and just wants to get out of prison and enjoy his remaining years as a pensioner, living in a caravan in Devon by himself near his family.
“I am organising a fundraising campaign to pay for Charlie to buy a caravan in Devon when he is released from prison, hopefully on March 6, 2023. We are very hopeful that he will be released at this parole. If he isn't, we will be using the caravan to give free holidays to families that don’t have much money, until the day he is released.”
The page adds: “Weʼre raising £32,500 to buy Charles Bronson a residential site caravan to live in when he is released from prison after 49 years. Charles Bronson is the UK’s longest serving prisoner. He has campaigned for prison reform throughout his life, taken on the prison system and never backed down with anything that he believes in.
“Charlie has been labelled as the UK’s most violent and notorious prisoner, an image he has been trying very hard to get rid of. He has never murdered anybody and never hurt a woman or child. The majority of his crimes have been against the prison system.
“Yes, he has been a very bad man in the distant past but he has also been very charitable and supportive to thousands of people throughout his prison life. Charlie’s artwork has made hundreds of thousands, if not millions of pounds for charities. He has also helped many people with mental health problems and been very supportive of so many from all walks of life.”
Speaking from his cell in HMP Woodhill in Bucks last year, Bronson said: "My last nearly five years, my reports have been excellent, I've changed, I've become an artist, I have rehabilitated myself.
“I'm planning to live in Devon away from all the crime and all the villains. I have turned a chapter in my life, I'm more relaxed, I'm chilled out, I'm not a danger to anybody. And I still say I'm not a danger to the British public. If so, who to?
“Who have I killed? Who have I raped? Who am I a danger to outside? Nobody."
