Robert John Maudsley (born 26 June 1953) is an English serial killer. Maudsley first killed a man who showed him pictures of children he had sexually abused. After surrendering himself to police and saying he needed psychiatric care, Maudsley was sent to Broadmoor Hospital, where he killed a convicted child molester. He later killed two men on the same day: one imprisoned for murdering and sexually assaulting his wife and another imprisoned for attempting to strangle a four-year-old girl. Maudsley's killings have been described as vigilantism.
Initial reports falsely stated he ate part of the brain of one of the men he killed in prison, which earned him the nickname "Hannibal the Cannibal" from parts of the British press Maudsley is the longest-serving British prisoner in solitary confinement.
Early life
Robert Maudsley was the fourth of 12 children, born in Speke, Liverpool. He spent his early years in a Catholic orphanage in Crosby, with his three older siblings. At the age of eight, Maudsley and his three older siblings were retrieved by their parents. Robert was subjected to routine physical abuse from his father until he was removed from their care by social services.
Murders
In 1974, locked themselves in a cell with a third patient, David Francis, a convicted child molester. The attack was claimed to be in revenge for a "homosexual attack" on one of the friends of the two men. Maudsley invited Darwood to his cell, where he garroted and stabbed him before hiding his body under his bed. He then attempted to lure other prisoners into his cell, but they all refused. He hacked at Roberts' skull with a makeshift dagger and then struck his head against the wall multiple times. Maudsley calmly walked into the wing office, placed the dagger on the table and told the officer that the next roll call would be two short. and that those are the people to whom he is a threat.
Solitary confinement
In 1983, Maudsley was deemed too dangerous for a normal cell. Prison authorities built a two-cell unit in the basement of Wakefield Prison. Due to his history of violence, when outside his cell he is escorted by at least four prison officers.
In 2003, Maudsley was moved to Wakefield Prison's Close Supervision Centre, which was built to house Britain's most dangerous inmates.
In March 2025, Maudsley began a hunger strike after his luxury items, such as a video game console, books, and a music system, were confiscated by prison guards. In April 2025, it was reported that he had been moved from Wakefield Prison to a Category A facility in HMP Whitemoor.
See also
- List of serial killers in the United Kingdom
- List of serial killers by number of victims
- Pedro Rodrigues Filho - another vigilante serial killer of rapists and murderers