A British serial killer has spent his 50th Christmas behind bars after spending more time in solitary confinement than any other criminal in the world.
Notorious murderer Robert Mawdsley, 70, has now spent 50 years in a prison cell, including 45 years in solitude, which is considered a world record, according to The Mirror.
The criminal, nicknamed “Hannibal the Cannibal” for allegedly eating a victim's brains, was just 21 when he was jailed for the murder of 30-year-old John Farrell in 1974.
Just four years later, he was placed in solitary confinement after killing three people in a prison.
Today he spends his days in an 18-by-15-foot cell, custom-built for him in 1983 and protected by bulletproof glass.
Robert Mawdsley, 70, has now spent a record 50 years behind bars, including 45 years in solitude
The 'Hannibal' killer was locked up at HMP Wakefield, where he killed three of his victims behind bars
Mawdsley was declared unfit to stand trial after murdering Farrell, who was reportedly a child sex offender.
He was taken to Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire in 1977, where he took a fellow inmate hostage and stabbed him to death with a plastic spoon.
Rumors spread that Mawdsley had eaten some of his brains after the victim was found with the spoon in his ear.
Mawdsley was subsequently sent to Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire, where he murdered two other inmates, landing him in solitary confinement in 1978.
In the Channel 5 documentary HMP Wakefield: Evil Behind Bars, Maudsley's nephew Gavin, from Liverpool, revealed how his soft-spoken, “well-read” uncle is content to be shut out from the rest of the world.
He added: '[If you] Take him to rapists and pedophiles, I know this because he told us he will kill as many pedophiles as he can. I don't condone what he did, but… the people he killed were really bad people.'
Mawdsley previously said he was “happy and content in solitary confinement” but also once described spending most of his day in his small room as if it was “like being buried alive in a coffin.”
He was repeatedly denied requests to spend time with other people and spent his days in a specially constructed cell.
Mawdsley (pictured) was declared unfit to stand trial after murdering Farrell, who was allegedly a child sex offender
He has been rated Britain's most dangerous murderer and spends his days at HMP Wakefield (pictured).
In 2021, he lost an appeal to spend Christmas with other people and was told he would be locked in his “glass box” until his death. He also has a table and chair made of compressed cardboard.
During the first days of his imprisonment, the murderer wrote to newspapers calling for better treatment.
In 2000, Maudsley filed a legal petition with the courts asking to be allowed to die.
He wrote a letter asking, “What is the point of keeping me locked up 23 hours a day?” Why even bother feeding me and giving me an hour of exercise a day? Who am I actually a risk to?'
He further asked why he couldn't have a budgie as a pet, promising to love it and “not eat it.”
Mawdsley is believed to be Britain's longest-serving prisoner, after bog murderer Ian Brady, who served 51 years in prison. He died in 2017.
US inmate Albert Woodfox, who died last year, held the world record for solitary confinement at the age of 43 before his release in 2016.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson told The Mirror that there is “no such thing as solitary confinement in our prison system”.
They added: “Some offenders are excluded if they pose a danger to others. “They have daily outdoor time, visits, phone calls and access to legal advice and medical care like everyone else.”