Serial killer taunted by lags over Coronation Street habit while locked in glass cage

A murderer known as one of the UK's most dangerous men was routinely mocked over his obsession with Coronation Street while locked in a glass cage.

Robert Maudsley has been behind bars for 50 consecutive years, spending 45 in solitary confinement, for the murders of four people.

In a new book, Inside Wakefield Prison: Life Behind Bars in the Monster Mansion, authors Jonathan Levi and Emma French shed new light on the killer's life. They explained how Maudsley could clearly see prisoners in the cell next door, despite residing in a "strongbox" cell with Perspex walls.

The authors spoke to a prison insider named Pete, who said: "They used to share a television and would take it in turns to pick what to watch. It was only up to about 8pm, not like nowadays where they can watch TV 24/7 as they have TVs in their own cells.

"If Bob (Robert M) picked Monday, then he would pick Wednesday, Friday, Sunday etc. and would roll over every week. If he was in there by himself, he could choose every night. "

He added: "If he and his neighbour didn't get on, they might stop him from watching shows he liked during their days to choose. Even if they wanted to watch the same things, they might do it to annoy him.

"Robert Maudsley liked to watch Emmerdale and Coronation Street, and his neighbour would deliberately change the channel just as they were coming on just to annoy him."

Maudsley, 70, who was convicted of murder in 1974 has been kept separate from his fellow inmates for 45 years after killing three prisoners.

He was jailed for garrotting child molester John Farrell in Wood Green, London, after the paedophile showed Maudsley pictures of children he had sexually abused.

Maudsley, from Liverpool, quickly confessed to the police, but as he was deemed unfit to stand trial, he was sent to Broadmoor Hospital. In 1977, Maudsley and inmate David Cheeseman locked themselves in a cell with child molester David Francis.

They tortured him for nine hours and displayed Francis' body, and Maudsley was convicted of manslaughter and sent to HMP Wakefield. However, his killing spree would continue just a year later in 1978.

He strangled and stabbed Salney Darwood, 46, and then stabbed paedophile Bill Roberts, 56, before striking his skull with a dagger and smashing his head into a wall.

Maudsley then received life imprisonment and was later reportedly placed in a Perspex box in the basement, which measured 18ft by 14ft, for 23 hours a day.