Inside 'Monster Mansion' - 'punishment block and killer buried in glass box'

12 February 2024 , 15:52

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Triple killer Robert Maudsley lives in solitary confinement in HMP Wakefield and spends most of his time in a glass cell (Image: Unknown)

HMP Wakefield, dubbed 'Monster Mansion', holds some of the country's most notorious and dangerous criminals, from serial killers to terrorists and prolific rapists.

Within its high walls and security gates, the prison acts as a home to Category A offenders, including child killer Roy Whiting, 'Hannibal the Cannibal' Robert Maudsley, and mass murderer Jeremy Bamber. Today, it was reported exclusively by the Mirror that Whiting was attacked behind bars over the weekend.

The paedophile, caged for life in 2002 for murdering eight-year-old Sarah Payne, was left soaked in blood after being repeatedly stabbed inside Wakefield, sources claim. His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening. A source said: "Whiting is hated in prison. He was stabbed and was covered in blood. They were trying to kill him."

Murderer Roy Whiting, who killed schoolgirl Sarah Payne, has reportedly been attacked in prison (PA)

The men's prison in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, has around 750 inmates and got its monstrous nickname due to the number of high-profile, high-risk sex offenders and killers held there. It was originally built as a correction house back in 1594 and many of the current buildings date from the Victorian era.

In 2001, an ultra-secure unit - the first of its kind in the UK - was added to the site, built especially to cage some of Britain's most dangerous criminals. Some 'underground' cells reportedly have no natural light and one wing - F wing - is described as the "punishment block" for disruptive inmates.

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A Channel 5 documentary, HMP Wakefield: Evil Behind Bars, heard how sex offenders were considered the "lowest form of life" in the prison. They aren't segregated at Wakefield, and one contributor to the programme referred to the inmates as the "dregs of society".

One of the most notorious criminals housed there is Robert Maudsley, who has been in jail since he was 21 years old, after he murdered convicted child molester John Farrell, 30, in 1974. He went on to murder another three men behind bars, and last year, set a new world record for the most days spent in solitary confinement.

A cell in the segregation unit at Wakefield with a fixed bed, table and cardboard chair (PA Archive/Press Association Images)

He is deemed to be so dangerous that he is no longer allowed to associate with other prisoners or even guards, and spends most of his time alone in a specially-built glass cell said to be 18ft by 15ft. The cell has large bulletproof windows and a table and chair made of compressed cardboard.

The lavatory and sink are also bolted to the floor. A steel door opens into a small cage within the cell, encased in thick Perspex, with a small slot at the bottom through which he is passed food.

It is said to bear an uncanny likeness to the cell of cannibal killer Hannibal Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins in the 1991 film Silence of the Lambs. Maudsley got his 'Han­­nibal the Cannibal' name amid claims he dug a spoon into the brain of one of his victims, an allegation he always denied.

The B-wing in the West Yorkshire prison which holds 570 inmates, 70 percent of whom are serving life (PA Archive/Press Association Images)

The triple killer once described his cell as "like being buried alive in a coffin", and in the early days of his confinement, he wrote to newspapers campaigning for better treatment. In 2000, he went to court in a bid to be "allowed to die". In a letter, he asked why he couldn't have a pet budgie, promising to love it and "not eat it".

Alongside Maudsley, Jeremy Bamber is serving life with no chance of parole after he was convicted of the White House farm murders - a desperate attempt to steal a large inheritance and blame his schizophrenic 28-year-old sister. He killed his adoptive parents, sister, and nephews in the 1985 massacre.

Meanwhile Roy Whiting, ineligible for parole until 2051, abducted and murdered seven-year-old schoolgirl Sarah Payne in July 2000. Whiting has been the target of a number of revenge attacks while inside Wakefield. In 2002, he was attacked with a razor while fetching hot water.

The prison was originally built in 1594 and has been dubbed 'Monster Mansion' for its notorious inmates (Anders Hanson/Flickr - CC BY-SA 2.0)

Then in 2004, murderer Rickie Tregaskis slashed Whiting and left him with a six-inch scar across his right cheek, adding a further six years to his sentence. In July 2011, Whiting was attacked again after being stabbed in the eye but decided not to press charges. He was attacked for a fourth time in 2018 when he was stabbed by two other prisoners.

Such attacks are said to happen against inmates who commit crimes against children. In August 2022, Lithuanian Deividas Skebas, a former fruit picket who stabbed nine-year-old Lilia Valutyte to death, was airlifted to hospital after a group set upon him.

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Another former inmate was Harold Shipman - the British doctor who is thought to be one of the most prolific serial killers of all time. Before his suicide, the man dubbed 'Dr Death' had been convicted of murdering 15 patients but was thought to have killed as many as 250 people.

Harold Shipman was found hanging in his cell in 2004 in Wakefield (Getty Images)

Jeremy Bamber is currently serving life in the Yorkshire prison (Quest Red)

More recently, Reynhard Sinaga, an Indonesian PhD student at Leeds University ended up in Wakefield. He would lure victims to his flat before sedating and raping them - then taking to WhatsApp to boast about his actions. Known as 'Britain's worst rapist', he was sent to the Monster Mansion in 2020 after sexually assaulting up to 200 men.

The infamous Charles Bronson, regarded as the country's 'most violent prisoner', has also enjoyed a spate of time in Wakefield. Bronson, who was born under the name Michael Peterson, was convicted of armed robbery in 1974 and has gone on to spend most of his life behind bars.

Paedophile and disgraced Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins is serving 29 years after pleading guilty to 13 sex offences, including two of attempting to rape a baby. After being caught with a mobile phone behind bars in 2019, Watkins told a court that he was locked up with "murderers, mass murderers, rapists, paedophiles, serial killers". "The worst of the worst," he told the judge.

In August 2023, the former singer was reportedly beaten and stabbed in the neck in a 'targeted and prolonged' attack at Wakefield. It was reported that three unnamed inmates held him down and officers had to wait for an armed 'Tornado' team of specially trained riot officers to break up the situation with grenades being hurled into the cell to free Watkins.

Nia Dalton