Robert Maudsley was 20 when, in March 1974, he strangled, stabbed, and beat John Farrell with a hammer. Farrell had shown him images of child sexual abuse. Robert then walked to a police station and turned himself in, saying he needed help.
He was sent to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, where the darkest chapter of his record began. At the facility, he killed a convicted pedophile. Later, in another prison, he entered the cell of 56-year-old Bill Roberts and attacked him with a homemade knife. He then left the weapon in the wing office and told the guards that two prisoners would be missing at roll call.
Since then, he has lived in a custom-built glass cell, with meals delivered through a hatch and 24-hour surveillance by officers who work in rotating pairs. His sentence is life imprisonment with no possibility of release.
The press dubbed him the real Hannibal Lecter, although the rumor that he ate part of one victim’s brain has been debunked. He was born in Liverpool, was the fourth of 12 siblings, and grew up between an orphanage and abuse by his father.