Robert Maudsley

Robert Maudsley was born in June 1953, in Toxteth, Liverpool, into a lower middle-class working family. He was one of the 12 children in the family and was frequently assaulted, both mentally and physically, by his parents. He is said to have remarked that he wished he had killed his parents while he was a kid, as that would have changed a lot of things for him.

His father was a drunkard and a violent man, who used to beat all his kids quite regularly. Robert was the one who was beaten the most and this turned him into a chronically depressed kid. He was eventually sent to ‘Nazareth House,’ a foster home run by nuns. However, his father did not let him stay there for too long and brought him back home.

In order to safeguard himself from the beatings, Robert would hide for days and when he would came back, he would be beaten more severely. The neighbours complained about this and Robert was finally taken away from his parents by social service authorities. Experts believe that those initial years of torture and pain had scarred Robert for life and had sown the seeds of a highly unstable and criminal life.

In the late 60s, when he was still a teenager, he moved to London and did odd jobs to support himself. Suffering from loneliness and depression, he turned to drug addiction to keep his mind away from his drab reality. He attempted suicide several times, but was never successful.

He is said to have told the doctors that he heard voices that urged him to kill his parents.

Robert Maudsley was 20, when he was contacted by a client, a farmer named John Farrell. They had sex in March 1974, and after that, they developed a bond. Robert said that John was a child molester who was proud of his deeds. He showed Robert the pictures of the children whom he had molested, and this enraged Robert.

In a fit of rage, Robert strangled John with a garrotte and killed him. Robert pleaded ‘not guilty’ and was accused of manslaughter. He was sent to ‘Broadmoor Hospital,’ meant for the criminally insane, for life. He spent the next three years there, without causing any major trouble.

During his time at the hospital and while he was going through the treatment, he teamed up with another patient and planned to kill another inmate, who had been accused of child sexual abuse. Robert and his friend held the man hostage and brutally tortured him for nine whole hours, before eventually killing him.

This incident did not sit well with the authorities and Robert was sent to the ‘Wakefield’ prison, which he thoroughly disliked. He made a plea to be sent back to the hospital, but it was denied. While in jail, he was watched closely and the security around him was tightened furthermore.

A 1978 afternoon in the ‘Wakefield’ prison turned out to be a shocker. A prisoner’s dead body was found in Robert’s cell. Several other prisoners also claimed that Robert had invited them to his cell but all of them had refused. Robert had garrotted Salney Darwood to death and had hidden the body under his bed.

The same day, he went around hunting for his second victim. By evening, Robert had located him. This time it was Bill Roberts. Robert used a spoon, pointed enough to be used as a dagger, and stabbed Bill several times after cornering him. He showed no sign of remorse over the murder and walked into the officer’s office, placed the dagger on his table, and told him that two prisoners will be short for the roll call that day.

These two murders led to an atmosphere of fear among his fellow prisoners and the security around Robert was further tightened. Other prisoners protested and asked for him to be taken out of the prison.