I will not rest til my Charlie is finally free

Bronson's first wife on reuniting with famous con

- BY JESSICA BOULTON

Most bus passengers get annoyed when a fellow traveller starts having a conversation over their phone's speaker. But the ones sat near Irene Richardson were charmed rather than irritated - as the voice on the other end of the line was romantically serenading her with Stevie Wonder's I Just Called To Say I Love You.

They might not have been so charmed, however, if they knew the man singing to Irene, 73, was one of Britain's most notorious prisoners, Charles Bronson.

Irene was married to Bronson at the time of his incarceration for armed robbery in 1974. They divorced and both married other people but have now reconnected - and Irene says it is high time Bronson, inside almost continually for 51 years, was released.

After telling the bus anecdote, she says of the Bronson, born Michael Peterson but also known as Charles Ali Ahmed and, since 2014, Charles Salvador: "I just want Mick to be happy. I don't want him in prison.

"I want him out. I can't rest until he is. It breaks my heart. I feel like time has been suspended...but when he's out I can relax."

When Bronson was jailed, Irene was left living in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, the single parent of their two-year-old son Mike.

Bronson was given a seven-year sentence but a string of offending since then - including attacking other prisoners, punching guards and destroying a workshop - has kept him inside. He has had only two brief periods outside prison since 1974, but he reoffended during both.

Hostages he has taken over the years include prison staff, lags, governors, doctors, his own solicitor and art teacher Phil Danielson, who made the mistake of criticising his drawings.

For the 44-hour ordeal he inflicted on Mr Danielson, Bronson was in 2000 given a discretionary life sentence with a minimum four years.

In all there have been 11 hostages taken across nine different sieges inside.