Robert Maudsley admits that he may never see his ‘sweet girlfriend’ Loveinia MacKenney but says her love ‘can help him through everything’ as he opens up about his new romance
Britain’s longest serving prisoner has opened up about how love is getting him through his utter isolation in solitary confinement.
Nicknamed ‘Hannibal the Cannibal’ by fellow inmates, Robert Maudsley, 71, was once identified as the most dangerous inmate in the country. He admits that he will never get to see his ‘sweet girlfriend’ Loveinia MacKenney, a mum-of-one, who has been writing to him for around five years. In one loving missive from behind bars, he told her: “Stay strong, keep smiling. All of me is yours.” In another, he wrote: “The love you have shown can get me through anything.”
Maudsley has spent decades in solitary confinement after killing four people, including three fellow inmates, one in Broadmoor and another two in Wakefield jail. He spent many years in a ‘glass cage’ cell in the West Yorkshire high security jail dubbed ‘Monster Mansion’, where he was kept apart from the rest of the prison population.
But he has written a string of letters to pledge his undying love for Loveinia. The mum-of-one told how they had formed a special bond. Maudsley had spent 46 years in solitary confinement before his transfer to Whitemoor jail in Cambridgeshire on April 8.
He has also written to her from there, telling her: “My beautiful Loveinia, the more love we experience in our lives, the more the bad experiences tend to fade into the distance and we can live our lives to the full.”
Loveinia says: “They call him Hannibal the Cannibal. I know that he is far from that.” She has pledged to do all she can to try and improve his situation behind bars, though he told her in a recent missive that she may not be able to visit him.
Londoner Loveinia, who cares for her disabled adult son Thomas, 46, felt an instant connection with Maudsley. They have been writing to each other for several years.
She first saw him in the 2020 TV documentary ‘Killer in the family’. Maudsley became the UK’s longest serving prisoner after the death of Moors murderer Ian Brady, who served 51 years, in 2017.
He went on hunger strike earlier this year after removal of some of his privileges, but has since started eating and drinking again. His move to Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire came after a row over the removal of his privileges. It is understood they have since been reinstated, but the move makes it difficult for family members to visit him from his native Merseyside.