Broadmoor on fire: Huge blaze breaks out at psychiatric hospital where some of Britain’s most dangerous criminals – including Ronnie Kray and The Yorkshire Ripper – have been caged
A massive fire has broken out at a psychiatric hospital holding some of Britain’s worst criminals.
Broadmoor Hospital in Crownthorne is currently on fire, sending plumes of thick black smoke into the air.
Broadmoor is a high-security psychiatric hospital with a history of holding some of the country’s most notorious criminals, including Ronnie Kray, Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, Charles Bronson and Robert Maudsley.
A spokesperson for Thames Valley Police said they are on scene and assisting with road closures. They said the fire is contained to the hospital premises.
They added: ‘At this stage there is no impact on the wider road network.’
A massive fire has broken out at a psychiatric hospital holding some of Britain’s worst criminals
Broadmoor Hospital in Crownthorne is currently ablaze, sending plumes of black smoke into the air
Huge clouds of thick, dark smoke billow from the building
Broadmoor is a high-security psychiatric hospital with a history of holding some of the country’s most notorious criminals, including Ronnie Kray, Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and Robert Maudsley
Today, Broadmoor is holding the man who tried to kidnap Princess Anne in 1974, Ian Ball, and one of Lee Rigby’s killers, Michael Adebowale.
Located in Crowthorne, Berkshire, the Broadmoor Hospital has housed dozens of sadistic murderers since it opened in 1863, including Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, gangster Ronnie Kray and rapist Robert Napper.
The Institute for the Criminally Insane was built after the introduction of the Criminal Lunatics Act 1860, also known as the Broadmoor Act.
Violent gangster Ronnie Kray, pictured, was a patient at Broadmoor until he died of a heart attack aged 61
Peter Sutcliffe, known as the Yorkshire Ripper, who killed thirteen women and injured many more in the 1970s, was a patient at Broadmoor
Robert Maudsley, one of Britain’s most dangerous killers, was held in the prison for the criminally insane
Charles Bronson, violent criminal and one of Britain’s longest serving prisoners spent almost 50 years behind bars, part of which was at Broadmoor
The Broadmoor criminal lunatic asylum opened in 1863 and housed 95 female patients, with a block for male patients added a year later.
The asylum was established for the ‘safe custody and treatment’ of seriously mentally ill criminals.
When it first opened its doors in the Victorian era, there were no medications or psychological treatments as we know them today. Instead, patients enjoyed a regimen of rest and occupational therapy.
A few years ago, Broadmoor employees revealed what it’s really like to work at the high-security psychiatric hospital that treats the criminally insane in the Channel 5 documentary Broadmoor: Serial Killers & High Security.
From a patient torturing and murdering another prisoner to stopping obsessive ‘fans’ who visit known murderers with their children. Mental health professionals talked about their harrowing experiences.
Professor Pamela Taylor, who worked as head of medical services at the institution, revealed how women could get lawyers to fight for their right to visit sex offenders with their own children in tow, sending so many love letters to Sutcliffe that he couldn’t . answer them all.
Another staff member who appears on the show Dr. Jackie Craissati MBE admitted that after reading about the crimes committed by the patients she treated, she was ‘overwhelmed’ and felt ‘waves of fear’.