A distraught Charles Bronson made an emotional call to his elderly mother after he was denied his freedom by a parole board, telling her: “I’m not coming out, mum.” According to the Mirror, Bronson’s ex-wife Irene Dunroe revealed that the notorious criminal’s first call upon receiving the bad news was to his mum, Eira.
70-year-old Irene, who refers to Bronson by his old name Mick Peterson, told the publication: “He was disappointed. He said he had to make the hardest phone call he has ever had to make to his mum saying: ‘I’m not coming out mum.’
“He said it’s the hardest thing he’s ever had to do. He didn’t want to speak to me at first as he knew I would be upset and I started getting upset on the call.
She said: “He’s so disappointed. He thought he was the nearest he’s ever been to freedom.”
Despite claiming to be a “retired prison activist”, having held 11 hostages in nine separate sieges behind bars, 70-year-old Bronson lost his eighth bid to be let out.
The moustachioed convict was told he still posed a danger to the public as he lacks the “skills to manage his risk of future violence”.
The parole board ruled: “The panel accepted that Mr Salvador genuinely wants to progress and that he is motivated to work towards his release.
“It thought that there was evidence of improved self-control and better emotional management.
“However, the panel was mindful of his history of persistent rule breaking and that Mr Salvador sees little wrong with this.
“He lives his life rigidly by his own rules and code of conduct and is quick to judge others by his own standards.
“His positive progress has to be assessed in the context of him being held in a highly restrictive environment.
“In the panel’s view, it is unknown exactly what is containing Mr Salvador’s risk.
“It is unclear whether the strong external controls of custody are mainly responsible or whether his attitudes have genuinely changed.”
Irene, who married Bronson, who now goes by Charles Salvador, said: “He’s so disappointed. He thought he was the nearest he’s ever been to freedom.
“He kept saying, ‘It’s only two or three years, I can do that, I’ve already done nearly 50, so I can do another two and a half’.
“He was telling me: “You don’t need to cry about it. Don’t cry. Don’t get upset. It is what it is. It just has to happen.
“He was courageous. He told me, ‘Please don’t get upset. Please don’t cry’.”
Bronson was first jailed for armed robbery in 1974 at the age of 22 and has spent almost 50 years behind bars in total.
In 1999 he was given a life sentence for kidnapping prison teacher Phil Danielson.
He earned notoriety for being a violent man as well as for staging eye-catching protests, including on nine on prison roofs, at a cost of £5m according to the Yorkshire Evening Post.
