The nephew of Britain’s most dangerous killer has spoken out about the moment he found out who his uncle really was after finding out about his depraved crimes as a schoolkid. Watch a clip here:
Robert Maudsley is a convicted serial killer who is currently serving a life in prison at Category A HMP Wakefield, widely known as ‘Monster Mansion’ due to the large number of high-profile and high-risk offenders held there.
Maudsley’s first murder came in 1974 when he garrotted John Farrell, who had picked him up for sex and showed him evidence of child sexual abuse.
Advert
After handing himself over to police, saying he needed psychiatric help, Maudsley was sent to Broadmoor Hospital - where he and another prisoner tortured and killed child molester David Francis in Broadmoor Hospital. He was then transferred to HMP Wakefield, where he killed two inmates.
Maudsley has been behind bars in solitary confinement for the last 45 years in a specially built cell. In that time, one of the only people allowed contact with him is his nephew Gavin.
Speaking in a new Channel 5 documentary, HMP Wakefield: Evil Behind Bars, Gavin recalls the moment he found out the shocking details of his uncle's murders, having not known about the extent of the crimes until he spotted an article in the newspaper.
"I always knew I had an Uncle Bob, and I knew that he was in prison and that he’d done wrong," he explains.
"But I didn’t really know the details of his crimes."
At the time, press incorrectly reported that Maudsley had eaten part of one of his victim’s brains, and in turn he received the nickname of ‘Hannibal the Cannibal’.
George continues: “And it was when I was in senior school. There was a double article in one of the newspapers, and one of my friends was reading it, and said, ‘Hey, Gav, is this Hannibal Maudsley your uncle?’.
“And there was a picture of him, and one of the other guys said, ‘Bleeding hell, he looks like you’.
“And I knew straight away, ‘That’s my Uncle Bob’. And it was only once I read that article that gave me an insight into what he’d actually done, and how serious it actually was.”
He adds: “That’s a grey cloud that hangs over my family, if you like.”
The new documentary, which airs tonight, takes viewers behind the doors of HMP Wakefield, where some of Britain's most notorious killers and sex offenders are housed.
Along we Maudsley, we hear about the prison's other famous inmates, including Roy Whiting, Jeffrey Bamber and, of course, Charles Bronson.
A synopsis says: "Through interviews with ex-inmates, retired screws, and relatives of Britain’s most infamous inmates, we unlock the cell doors and uncover the secrets of life inside the UK’s toughest jail."
It continues: "Exclusive phone-calls from one of the UK’s longest serving inmates Charles Bronson reveal first-hand what life is really like as inmate in Wakefield Prison. Bronson’s son George recounts how his life changed forever when he was summoned to the prison to meet the Dad he never knew he had. And we hear never before told stories from inside the walls of Wakefield about Jeremy Bamber, arguably as famous for his fight to get out of prison than for the crimes he committed to be sent there."
Watch HMP Wakefield: Evil Behind Bars tonight (Monday 28 March) at 9pm on Channel 5.
Topics: TV and Film, UK News, Crime
Jess Hardiman