Charles Bronson shows signs of PTSD, parole panel told

Image source, Julia Quenzler/BBC

Charles Bronson, who uses the name Charles Salvador, has had parole refused at previous hearings

By Daniel Sandford

BBC News, Home Affairs Correspondent

Charles Bronson, one of the UK's longest-serving prisoners, has signs of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a Parole Board panel has heard.

The 70-year-old, one of the UK's most violent offenders, has been in prison for much of the last 50 years.

A psychologist said his symptoms were partly due to "brutal and unacceptable treatment" while in prison.

"He feels like the whole system is about humiliating and degrading him," she added.

The independent psychologist, hired by Bronson's legal team, told the panel that his symptoms were "mild".

The Parole Board panel is deciding whether he is still a risk to the public, or whether he can be released from prison. Evidence started on Monday and has continued on Wednesday.

Bronson said the parole process was "like being on The Apprentice with Lord Sugar" as it broke for lunch.

He also invited the panel to view his art, which he said is "a piece of me".

The psychologist told the hearing that Bronson had been previously diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder and was "naturally somewhat suspicious of other people's motives".

He also held "anti-authoritarian views", she added.

Bronson regarded himself as a "retired prison activist", she said, at which point he interrupted the hearing, saying: "It's the best thing I ever heard."

He has never used a cash machine and would need practical support if released, the psychologist added.

She said his violence towards prison staff would not extend to the public, as it was fuelled by a dislike of authority figures.

The psychologist said that when Bronson changed his last name to Salvador, it was not because of his respect for the surrealist artist Salvador Dali, but because of the meaning of the name Salvador in Spanish, which she said meant "man of peace" - though a more usual translation was "saviour".

"Mr Salvador is always going to value violence and he found violence cathartic in the past," she told the hearing.

Bronson had some psychopathic traits, she added, but she did not think he would be diagnosed with Paranoid Personality Disorder.

In reference to a hostage situation at Hull Prison in 1999, the psychologist said Bronson needed to have "a cathartic experience".

He was about to be moved and "was concerned about where he might go and what prison officers he might meet", she said.

The psychologist said Bronson now found his art cathartic in the same way that violence once was.

Image source, Getty Images

Charles Bronson told the parole hearing on Monday: "I want to go home"

The prisoner is being held at a specialist close supervision centre at Woodhill Prison in Milton Keynes.

The psychologist, who was not named, said she believed he would improve rapidly if moved out of close supervision.

He might be safer in a less restrictive environment, she said, suggesting a prison with "open" conditions might be the perfect environment for him.

"If I was to make recommendations, I would like to see him moved down through security," she said.

As he listened to evidence during the day, he could be seen gently rocking in his chair and sighing. He was wearing a black T-shirt with white writing on it, dark, round glasses, and he was sipping from a drink carton using a straw.

The psychologist said Bronson had coped "pretty well" sitting through the parole hearing, saying "we're expecting too much" if the panel wanted him to "not become frustrated and not become loud, belligerent and swear" during proceedings.

In the past he would "not have been able to tolerate this at all without some sort of outburst", she said.

During the first day of evidence on Monday, Bronson could be heard muttering under his breath at times and sighing loudly, but he largely remained silent as the psychologist gave evidence.

This is only the second Parole Board hearing ever to be held in public, but this one has a far higher profile than the first.

Members of the press and public filled Court 76 at the Royal Courts of Justice to watch it on a live video link.

If the Parole Board panel decide against releasing Bronson, they are also being asked to consider allowing him to be moved to "open" prison conditions where he would have much more freedom.

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