Britain's most notorious prisoner could be released from jail in Milton Keynes after 40 years behind bars

Charles Bronson, 69, told the Mirror newspaper he is “closer to getting out” now than he has been in 30 years.

He said: “It's looking good, it really is. I'm closer now to getting out than I have been in 30-odd years. Up to now there's not a date, but it's looking like June, July.

“I'm the first man in the British Isles to have a public parole hearing. All these decades I've done.”

The Cat A prisoner, who changed his name to Charles Salvador, has served a total of 43 years after he was first jailed in 1974 when he was given a seven year stretch for armed robbery. He was just 22 at the time.

More years were added for attacks with guards and fellow prisoners and he was finally released in 1987 . He promptly launched a career as a bare-knuckle boxer in London’s East End, only to be back in jail in 1988 for planning another robbery.

Since then, due to more attacks and protests in prison, he has spent most of his life in a prison cell and has been in solitary confinement for much of that time.

Despite this, he has proved popular with the ladies during his prison years. In 2001 he married Fatema Saira Rehman but the marriage ended three years later. In 2017 he wed former Coronation Street actress Paula Williamson, but the marriage only lasted for two years.

One of the highest-profile criminals in Britain, Bronson has been featured in books, interviews and studies in prison reform and treatment. He was the subject of the 2008 film Bronson starring Tom Hardy, a biopic based on his life.

He once famously said: "I'm a nice guy, but sometimes I lose all my senses and become nasty. That doesn't make me evil, just confused."

In 2010 Bronson assaulted 12 prison officers at Wakefield jail. Four years later, the avid Spurs fan “lost it” when Arsenal won the FA Cup and covered himself in butter to attack 12 more prison officers.

He has carried out nine rooftop protests and held a reported 11 people hostage in jails.

But now he insists his spell as the country’s most violent prisoner is over and he spend his time painting, drawing and writing poetry. His artwork sells for hundreds of pounds of eBay and he often donates his works to raise cash for charity.

Bronson is also super-fit and has a punishing regime of exercise at Woodhill.

He told the Mirror: “I still smash my press-ups out. I’m 70 years old and I can still do 95 press-ups in 30 seconds. I don’t walk on the yard, I run – sit-ups, press-ups, squats, I love it.

“When I go out on the yard that’s my hour of freedom. I’ve got a big smile, I’m happy. I’m walking out as fit as the day I came in. I’m coming home.”