ONE of Britain’s most infamous prisoners looks unrecognisable in an old photograph taken before he was sentence to life in prison.
Charles Bronson, 70, has spent most of the last 50 years behind bars, often being kept in specialist units or solitary confinement and is currently being held at high-security HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes.
The aging photograph which dates from 1973 shows Bronson, or as he was then known as Michael Peterson, in a blue suit jacket and showing a full head of dark hair along with a beard and moustache.
This is in stark contrast to an image of him taken in 2017 where Bronson has a completely bald head and just a large, bushy ‘tache.
It comes as it was revealed last year that Bronson expected to be out of prison before Christmas, after he was the first person to request his next review was held in public.
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In a letter to Metro.co.uk he said he “should be having a Guinness by Crimbo.”
Bronson’s “jam roll” hearing was set for December 12 but is now understood to have been pushed back to this year.
He wrote in the letter: "My legal team are up for it.
"We could, should, make history here. This mob have now run out of excuses on locking me up in a concrete coffin. It’s now just pure vindictiveness. Make believe crap."
Bronson, who changed his surname to Salvador after the Spanish surrealist artist, is one of Britain’s longest serving and notorious prisoners.
Born Michael Gordon Peterson in Luton, Bedfordshire, in 1952 he became involved in petty crime from a young age.
He was first locked up 1974 for armed robbery, being sentenced to eight years but after attacks on guards and other prisoners he saw his sentence increased.
While he was in Parkhurst psychiatric facility he got to know the Kray twins.
During his time there he staged a rooftop protest and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage.
He would only come down when staff agreed to his demand of getting fish and chips, a cup of tea and some apple pie and pink custard.
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Bronson was then freed in 1987 but was back behind bars just 69 days later following another raid.
While a free man he got into hard knuckle fighting and changed his name to Bronson.
He was released in 1992 but only saw freedom for 53 days when he was arrested again for planning a robbery.
He took a librarian hostage while on remand and told cops to bring him an inflatable doll, a helicopter and a cup of tea.
Then in 1996, he held two Iraqi hijackers and another inmate hostage while in Belmarsh Prison and also kidnapped an art teacher who had criticised a painting he’d drawn.
Now, Bronson sees himself as a “born again artist” who enjoys drawing, writing poetry and exercising.
In December last year though he delivered a chilling threat to serial killer Robert Maudsley.
Bronson claimed he and Maudsley, known as Hannibal the Cannibal, fell out over a rejected gift - and he wants revenge.
He said Maudsley told the prison guard who was instructed to give it to him to throw it in the bin.
Bronson said the gift had been a watch - and didn’t appreciate it being chucked away, calling Maudsley “an ungrateful b*****d”.
After the incident he threatened: “I pray to one day bump into him at 300mph and, unlike him, I don't need a blade."
