It’s home to some of Britain’s most depraved criminals but now the secrets from behind the bars of ‘”Monster Mansion” have been revealed.
Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire, is where the likes of Levi Bellfield, Michael Sams, Charles Bronson and Ian Watkins have been sent to fester in as punishment for their grim and gruesome crimes.
A new book now reveals the sordid and depraved ongoings inside the walls.
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In researching Inside Wakefield Prison: Life Behind Bars In The Monster Mansion, authors Jonathan Levi and Dr Emma French spoke to insiders, officers and ex-prisoners to cast light on what it is like to live and work among savage murderers and sex criminals.
(Image: Daily Mirror)
Author Jonathan said: “We got prisoners to tell us what it’s like to live and work there, to tell us what these horrifying inmates — that they see as peers in a way — are like close up.
“What they are like to live with, what they are like as cellmates, as people on the same wing.”
Here’s just a few of the secrets the book exposes.
(Image: PA)
Michael Sams doesn’t like his mattress
Sentenced to life behind bars for killing Julie Dart in 1991, one-legged Sams also kidnapped estate agent Stephanie Slater, and handcuffed, gagged and blindfolded her while keeping her in a coffin-like box inside a wheelie bin while a ransom was paid.
In 2023 the 82-year-old, was denied parole, and has now taken to whinging about life on the inside, the Sun reports.
A prison officer told the authors: “He came to the office to complain about his mattress.
“Picture the scene, Michael Sams, he’s at the window on his one leg, complaining about the state of the mattress and how he couldn’t sleep and it was unfair and inhumane and all these things against what he had done to his poor victims.
“So this cleaning officer said, ‘Listen kid, you wanna try sleeping in a f***ing wheelie bin’.
“And Christ Almighty I nearly choked on my coffee.
“He just stared at him and walked off.”
(Image: Unknown)
Charles Bronson and Robert Maudsley tensions
One of Britain’s most violent criminals, Charles Bronson is described by insiders as “a spoiled child” who “moans when he doesn’t get his own way”. He lived in a cell with a TV, plush furniture, his own bedding and had access to the gym and luxury showers.
“Hannibal The Cannibal” Maudsley, 70, who forced a spoon into the brain of a child molesterer in 1977, hated Bronson, and used to love winding Bronson up by playing loud rock music. He has been caged inside a locked glass cell in the basement since killing two inmates.
(Image: PA)
‘Weak’ John Worboys
A fellow prisoner revealed Worboys who was a serial sex offender, drugging and raping women in his London black cab now lives in the healthcare department for his own protection, a fellow prisoner revealed.
He told authors: “Because of his profile he is now a huge target.
“He is petrified of his own shadow, he is no fighter or hard man, very vulnerable and weak.”
(Image: PA)
Former prison officer Martin Baker revealed how inmates would take medical advice from serial killer Doctor Harold Shipman – dubbed Dr Death – even though he murdered around 250 patients.
He also described Levi Bellfield, who slaughtered three people, including 13-year-old Milly Dowler in 2002, as a “typical psychopath”.
Sex offender and Lostpropgets singer, Ian Watkins was also said to pay gangsters for protection. And Ian Huntley, who murdered 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, who was held in Wakefield until 2008 was described as a “pathetic wet lettuce leaf” who was “very needy.”
- Inside Wakefield Prison: Life Behind Bars In The Monster Mansion by Jonathan Levi and Emma French (John Blake, £9.99) is out on Thursday.
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