The Parole Board said a request for a public hearing of the 70-year-old’s case had been received and would be considered. It appears that the application was made on his behalf. No date has been set for his next parole review, although it is believed it could be later this year or early 2023. It is not known how long it will take for the parole board to decide whether the hearing can be held in public. Public outcry in 2018 over the parole board’s initial decision to release convicted serial offender John Worboys led to changes allowing for greater scrutiny of the process. The new reforms allow case reviews – which determine whether a prisoner should be released or remain behind bars – to be open to victims and the press. The prisoners in question, ministers and government officials are also among those who can request that the case be heard in public. Bronson was widely expected to publicly request his next parole hearing, having previously said he wanted to be the first. The inmate, who was born Michael Peterson but changed his name to Charles Bronson and later to Charles Salvador, was jailed in 1974 for armed mail robbery and sentenced to seven years in prison. Because of his violent behavior, he remained in prison almost constantly and spent much of his time in solitary confinement. He is believed to still be held at maximum security HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes. He has previously told how he was first sent to prison in 1968 and has held 11 hostages in nine different sieges with victims including prison administrators, doctors, staff and, in one case, his own lawyer. Bronson was sentenced in 2000 to a discretionary life sentence with a minimum of four years for holding a prison teacher hostage at HMP Hull for 44 hours. Since then, the Parole Board has repeatedly refused to direct his release. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Earlier this week, he sent a voicemail to Sky News from behind bars asking why he was still in prison. A Parole Board spokesman said: “The new Parole Board rules make it possible for a public hearing to be held for the first time in some cases where it is in the interests of justice to do so. “It is important to state that the normal position will be for parole hearings to remain private to ensure that witnesses are able to give their best evidence and that victims are not put in a position which could lead to re-injury’.
