The notorious killer also requested a cyanide pill
As someone who’s often pegged as the UK’s most dangerous prisoner, you’d expect that Robert Maudsley rarely has his requests listened to – however one in particular was too bizarre to ignore.
According to reports, Maudsley once asked wardens for a pet for his prison cell – before promising not to eat it.
Dubbed as the “cannibal killer” across the UK, Maudsley killed a total of four people – three of whom were murdered whilst he was already in prison.
While Maudsley only gets to see an hour of sunlight a day, he requested a pet for his bespoke-built cell back in 2000. The killer also requested a TV to keep up to date on current affairs and asked for a cyanide pill with which to take his own life.
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Writing to the prison system back in 2000, he said: “As a consequence of my current treatment and confinement, I feel that all I have to look forward to is indeed psychological breakdown, mental illness and probable suicide.
“Why can’t I have a budgie instead of flies, cockroaches and spiders which I currently have. I promise to love it and not eat it?
“Why can’t I have a television in my cell to see the world and learn? Why can’t I have any music tapes and listen to beautiful classical music?”
He added: “If the Prison Service says no then I ask for a simple cyanide capsule which I shall willingly take and the problem of Robert John Maudsley can easily and swiftly be resolved.”
Maudsley had a rough childhood, suffering abuse at the hands of his parents and those in charge of a religious orphanage. The 68-year-old took his first life in 1974 when he killed John Farrell in London. Farrell had picked up Maudsley for sex but also revealed evidence of child abuse which ultimately led to his death.
After garrotting Farrell, Maudsley turned himself over to the police and requested psychiatric help.
While inside Broadmoor Hospital in 1977, Maudsley and another prisoner captured, tortured and then killed child molester David Francis. The Liverpool-born killer then killed a further two inmates at HMP Wakefield.
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