Bronson visited in jail by ex-wife after nearly 50 years and hopes to remarry
Charles Bronson's ex-wife has visited him for the first time in nearly 50 years to talk about their relationship - and all the signs are there for a positive outcome.
Irene Dunroe, 71, claims Britain's most notorious prisoner wants them to get back together. The pair split in 1976 but stayed in contact. And, after a meeting at HMP Woodhill last week, Irene says Bronson, 70, wants to try again.
She says the infamous inmate is even talking about buying her a ring. And Irene is not ruling a new start out - but wants to take things slowly and get Bronson his freedom first. The mum-of-three spent two hours with Bronson on August 29 and is hoping to see him again before Christmas.
Bronson has spent most of his life behind bars. He was first jailed in 1974, aged 22, when he was given seven years for armed robbery. But bad behaviour inside gave him a reputation as a dangerous inmate, and he wasn't release until 1987. He then spent just 69 days as a free man before being rearrested and jailed again after robbing a jewellery shop. He was sentenced to another seven years and, bar another brief spell of freedom in 1992, has been in prison since. He was last denied parole in March 2023.
Irene, from Wirral, Merseyside, said: "I think he probably does want more than friendship. I wasn't really thinking about that as there's too much going on in my head at the moment. I just want him out. He said I haven't changed at all and he was looking into my eyes and saying you've still got the same gorgeous eyes.
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Irene Dunroe, 71, claims Bronson wants them to get back together (Tom Maddick SWNS)"He was full of compliments. He's always saying that he wants to try the relationship, and that he's always loved me - that I'm his first love. We don't know what's in the future but he says he wants to get a ring for me for Christmas so he is thinking things like that. But I'm not sure on all of that yet."
Irene and Bronson met when they were teenagers and married soon after. She said she was taken by his dapper dress sense - and Cockney accent. Then known as Michael Peterson, Irene still affectionately calls him Mick. They married in 1971 and have a son, also Michael, now aged 51.
But the pair divorced just five years later while Bronson was serving time for armed robbery. Both remarried, Bronson twice and Irene once. She also had two other children with her second husband.
Bronson was first jailed in 1974, aged 22 (REX/Shutterstock)
He spent just 69 days as a free man before being rearrested and jailed again (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)But both are now single again - and she visited him to talk in person for the first time in almost five decades after exchanging phone calls and letters. Irene, who visited Bronson at the Milton Keynes jail with her daughter, said: "I ran up to him as soon as I walked in. He picked me up and spun me around as I hugged him.
"He showed me some of his tattoos and he took one of his socks off which had moustache all over them and the tattoo had my name on it, which I didn't know about. He was talking about when he gets out he said he's going to take me on holiday. We got Mick some things from the shop there and we gave him some chocolate bars and he was made up - he was so pleased with all that.
"We're going to see him again before Christmas and hopefully we'll be able to get him a proper Magnum ice cream, which he loves. It was so lovely to see him and he was laughing with the guards and they all said he was a nice bloke and does no harm to anybody. He was telling us about the different times in prison and the song that was at number one when we first got divorced.
Irene with her son Mike (Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Bronson's ex-wife arriving at HMP Woodhill to visit him on August 29 (Tom Maddick SWNS)"What upset me though was the fact that his skin was as white as a sheet, it was like white snow and his eyes have gone so pale. He used to have jet black eyes and had naturally tanned skin like me and that's what really upset me. It shows you what he's been through - kept in the dark in solitary confinement for years and years.
"But he's so positive and he's behaved well for eight years now, he's not violent now. He said that he thinks if he hadn't been in prison all this time he probably never would have brought his art out. He showed us this exercise that he's invented call the Bronson Crocodile - which is when you go in a long line of press ups one way and then the other and it was amazing. He was singing his head off to us and he's got an amazing voice."
Irene visited him to talk in person for the first time in almost five decades (ITV)Irene, who now works in Ann Summers, says she hopes Bronson gets out soon - so he can live out some of his dreams. She said: "When he's released he wants to open a studio called the Salvador Studio and he wants to buy 12 old prison cell doors and create artwork over the doors and sell them as a set.
"He's also been offered to do a one-off bare-knuckle fight and Mick was telling us about that. The whole visit was just amazing, he's so cheerful and he makes you laugh, you certainly don't feel threatened by him. We actually want to go and run the London marathon when he comes out.
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"I'm going to go as a prison warden and he's going to go as a convict - that's what we really want to do together. He talked about taking me out for a lovely meal and asks what I want and about walking on the sand of a beach and going swimming. He just lifts me up, he's so positive you wouldn't believe it."
Bronson was last denied parole in March 2023 (PA)Irene said she and Bronson kept in touch via letter before they started speaking over the phone. She said: "We've become more and more friendly over the years. When he rings me we always talk about the old days. It seems like yesterday. He also talks to my daughter and granddaughter on the phone and he makes them laugh. He's very generous and he sends me a hamper every Christmas.
"When I was with him, he was just Michael Peterson when we were married. Every letter he used to write to me from prison I didn't know if it was a good letter or bad letter at the time. I just know a lot of the things that went on in prison and I know the real reasons in a lot of cases why he did what he did, and that hasn't been disclosed."
Although she's not sure on their future yet, Irene says she "might consider" getting re-married. She said: "I might consider it, but I don't know. I'm not sure about all that yet, but we'll see. We're always going to be very good friends, and we did think a lot of each other. You don't know how things are going to pan out, I never thought 50 years ago that he'd still be in prison. We have a lot of respect for each other."
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