Many of us have seen the film ‘Silence of the Lambs’. By far, one of the creepiest aspects of the film is the underground cell, where no one enters and no one leaves. We tend to dismiss it as simply fiction and don’t overthink the idea of being locked up constantly with no company, TV, radio or books, left to rot away until we die. It seems such a cruel and unusual punishment that it would never happen. Except that it has.
Robert Maudsley was born on the 26th of June 1953 in Liverpool, England and was one of 12 children. Before his 2nd birthday, Maudsley, his brothers Paul & Kevin, and his sister Brenda were removed from the house and taken into care due to neglect. They spent much of their childhood in the Catholic Orphanage, Nazareth House. Later, after his convictions, a former nun said, ‘I never thought of him as awkward or troublesome. I certainly do not remember him as being insane. If anything, he was one of the better-behaved boys.’ Their parents came to collect them when Maudsley was eight years old. This shocked the children as they didn’t know their parents, and things just went downhill. Their parents were incredibly abusive towards the children, physically beating them with sticks and belts. Maudsley would take extra beatings, trying in vain to protect his siblings; he also claimed he was raped during childhood. Once, he was locked in his room for six months; his only visitor was his father, who would enter the room 3 or 4 times a day to beat his son. Eventually, social services took him, but the psychological damage had already formed.
At 16, Maudsley moved to London alone and became addicted to drugs before turning to sex work to afford his habit. He also attempted suicide numerous times and turned to doctors for help, admitting he heard voices in his head telling him to kill his parents. He committed his first murder on 14th March 1974. 30-year-old John Farrell had approached Maudsley for sex, and while he was with him, Farrell produced some photos to show him. They were of Farrell sexually abusing young children. This, quite understandably considering his past, triggered Maudsley and he garrotted Farrell and left him dead. He didn’t try to hide his crime in any way and went to the police station, where he confessed straight away and begged them for psychiatric help. When questioned, doctors found Maudsley unfit to stand trial, and he was sent to the infamous Broadmoor Hospital. While in here, on 26th February 1977, he and David Cheeseman (another resident at Broadmoor) locked themselves in a cell with convicted child molester, 26-year-old David Francis. The two tortured Francis for 9 hours before he finally succumbed to his injuries and died; they then dangled his body, openly mocking the prison officers. This killing left him branded a cannibal; for many years, the legend was that Maudsley had left a spoon in the brain of Francis after eating some of it, but there was no proof at all that this happened. Maudsley was convicted of manslaughter and transferred to Wakefield Prison.
Wakefield Prison is a category ‘A’ men’s prison in West Yorkshire, England. It’s nicknamed ‘Monster Mansion’ for housing a long list of notorious prisoners, including Levi Bellfield, Ian Huntley, Harold Shipman, Jeremy Bamber, Colin Ireland, Ian Watkins and Charles Salvador (previously known as Charles Bronson). Maudsley and Salvador had a falling out when Salvador tried to gift him a watch via a correctional officer, but he turned it down. Salvador called him an ‘ungrateful bastard’ and said, ‘I pray to one day bump into him at 300mph and, unlike him, I don’t need a blade. Nobody rips my heart out or eats my brain, especially a fucking nutcase like Bob Maudsley’.
Maudsley hated Wakefield prison and desperately wanted to return to Broadmoor, but his requests were denied. He was sentenced to life imprisonment here and was recommended never to be released. In 1978, Maudsley once again committed murder. On the 29th of July, he invited 46-year-old Salney Darwood into his cell; Darwood had severely physically abused his wife, Blanche, and had been convicted of manslaughter. In the cell, Maudsley garrotted Darwood before stabbing him to death and hiding the bloody corpse underneath the bed. On the same day, Maudsley tried to tempt other prisoners into his cell, but, rather sensibly, they declined his offer until 56-year-old William Roberts entered and was attacked with a makeshift dagger. He stabbed Roberts in the head before smashing his skull against the wall numerous times, killing him. Roberts was serving time for sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl. As before, Maudsley calmly strolled into the prison office, placed the dagger in the desk and told the staff member that there would be two missing for roll call.
In 1983, authorities decided Maudsley was too dangerous to remain in the general prison population. They built him a cell, underneath the prison (thought to be the inspiration for the cell in Silence of the Lambs). It measures 18ft x 15ft and is made of bulletproof Plexiglass, so he has no privacy. His table and chair are made from compressed cardboard, his toilet and sink are bolted to the floor, and his bed is a concrete slab. He is allowed out for one hour daily, escorted by six officers and forbidden to talk to anyone else. Despite having a genius IQ, Maudsley is denied anything to stimulate his mind: ‘I am left to stagnate, vegetate and to regress; left to confront my solitary head-on with people who have eyes but don't see and who have ears but don't hear, who have mouths but don't speak. My life in solitary is one long period of unbroken depression.'
Maudsley’s older brother, Paul, spoke about his brother: ‘I’ve always thought ‘There but for the grace of God go I…’ I could easily have turned out like Bob. But I was lucky. I ended up with someone who showed me affection. Kevin, who now lives in Bradford, was the same. We’re both married with four kids. But for Bob, the chain of abuse was never broken; he’s been abused all his life’.
In the mid-1990s, psychologist Doctor Robert Johnson was allowed to see Maudsley, eventually seeing him for two and a half years. He told Maudsley initially, ‘If you frighten me, I can’t help you’. Doctor Johnson later said, ‘It was my duty as a doctor to discover why he had become a serial killer’. However, after they had earned each other’s trust and Maudsley started to open up, authorities ended the visits without explanation. After sending numerous letters to Maudsley that went unanswered, Doctor Johnson received a letter from him that said, ‘All alone now’.
Robert Maudsley lost his final appeal at Christmas 2021 and has been told he will die in his underground prison. At no point did he ask to be released, but to be able to live in the general population and be allowed to interact with others. Authorities believe he is still unsafe, and an insider is quoted as saying, ‘Being alone for that long does something to you. He isn’t okay, and they cannot take the risk of what he might do.'
And that is the fate of Robert Maudsley. I honestly find this story fascinating; does he deserve his punishment? Or is he a product of his upbringing, let down by everyone who should have helped and cared for him? I’d be very interested in hearing your comments on this one. As always, thanks for reading, take care of yourselves, and I will see you next time.
‘It does not matter to them whether I am mad or bad. They do not know the answer and they do not care just so long as I am kept out of sight and out of mind’.
Hi! I spend a lot of time writing for the website, and I basically exist on caffeine and anxiety - if anybody would like to encourage this habit, please feel free to buy me a coffee!
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