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A former prison officer who previously looked after Charles Bronson has said he hopes the infamous convict gets released.
Roy Kirk was just 21-years-old when he met Bronson for the first time back in the mid-1980s and he spent the next 10-years looking after him, building up an unlikely friendship in that time.
Seventy-year-old Bronson is currently awaiting the outcome of his public parole hearing to find out if he can finally be released after spending almost 50-years behind bars.
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Bronson insists he’s no longer a danger to society and believes he should be released.
In an interview with the BBC, Kirk has opened up about his relationship with Bronson, saying: "We got on like a house on fire. I stuck up for him when I felt necessary."
He added: "I was very close to Charlie, like I would be with anybody I've worked with daily, [I] kept professional distance and boundaries. But we'd become very good friends.”
The former prisoner officer, 58, said he spent time in the gym with Bronson where the convict became a sort of physical fitness ‘mentor’.
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He said: "I'd sit on his shoulders with his head between my legs and he'd do 50 press-ups as a warm-up with me sat on his back. I always used to think, 'he's like a machine'.
"I've never been as fit because he was like a mentor in the gym.”
Kirk was also one of the officers working on the day Bronson took the jail's deputy governor, Adrian Wallace, hostage, in April 1994.
Bronson was upset after being promised a visit that didn’t materialise, Kirk said.
The convict ended up dragging Wallace and ‘carrying him by the throat in one hand, with his feet off the floor’.
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Recalling the horrific event, Kirk told the BBC: "I ran across, got probably within about 10ft of him.
"Charlie put his hand on the side of his head - still off the floor - and said, 'one more step and I'll just snap his neck here and now'."
Despite his best efforts to negotiate with Bronson, the stand-off lasted for five hours and saw the deputy governor tied to a chair and punched.
Eventually, Kirk was able to tackle Bronson to the ground and secure Wallace’s freedom.
In the struggle, Kirk sustained an injury to his leg which took more than seven weeks to heal.
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Kirk admits that it would be ‘extremely difficult’ for Bronson to reintegrate back into society. "He's always going to be volatile,” he said.
"He'll always have that side. But you could say that about other offenders. They're still a risk in society."
However, he is hoping that the parole decides to free Bronson.
"I hope he does get released,” he said. “I'd like to go and see him if at all possible."
Featured Image Credit: Alamy Stock Photo / World History Archive / BBCTopics: UK News, Crime, Charles Bronson