CHARLES BRONSON ASKED TO SPY
by
GIOVANNI di STEPHANO
20 July 2007

INTELLIGENCE chiefs tried to recruit one of the Britain's most notorious prisoners to spy on Islamic terror suspects held in a top security jail, it has been claimed.

Violent Charles Bronson says MI5 asked him to mingle with Muslim remand prisoners at Belmarsh maximum secure unit and become a secret informer.

In return for intelligence about international terror cells, Bronson, who is serving a life sentence for hostage taking and assaulting prison staff, was told he could be granted early release.

But the 54-year-old former circus strongman angrily rejected the deal-and claims his life has been made 'hell' ever since.

Bronson, who has spent 28 of his 32 years inside in solitary confinement, says the offer came in December 2001 - three months after the 9/11 terror attacks and six months after he converted to Islam when he married Muslim bride Saira Rehman.

The deal would also have coincided with the dramatic arrest of nine foreign Al Qaeda terror suspects who were detained at Belmarsh on December 19, 2001.

At the time, 'category A' crook Bronson was known as Ali Charles Ahmed and into the 27th year of life behind bars.

In a new telephone interview with his lawyer Giovanni di Stefano taped from his current Wakefield jail, he describes how two men were led to his cell in Durham prison six years ago.

"Two very official geezers in suits came to my cage door," he is heard saying.

"The screw opened the door and left them there and they were both stood behind. They were pretty friendly and they said: 'Listen, do you want to get out or don't you?'"

Bronson, who was first jailed for robbery in 1974 and has been moved prison more than 150 times, replied: "Of course I want to get out. Anyway who are you?

"They said 'Well it doesn't matter who we are, we've come to put a deal to you. Are you prepared to do us a favour? We want you to go to Belmarsh maximum secure unit.'"

Bronson, who renounced his Muslim faith after divorcing Saira Rehman last year, continues: "They wanted me to mingle with the Islamic remands there and get some information.

"But I said 'Listen, get away from my door.' I then spat at one of them and as they were walking away from the door one said: 'That's the worst thing you'll do in your life, Bronson. That's going to cost you a lot of years'."

He has never seen them again, he adds.

But when his lawyer asks about life inside since then, Bronson, who was expecting to be released in 2003, replies: "They're just not letting me move on and I honestly believe that incident has got something to do with it."

His lawyer, Mr di Stefano, said last night: "The Home Office and MI5 have tried to use Charles Bronson for the wrong purposes. He is not an informer which would be contrary to his principles and that has cost him."

Operational since 1991, Belmarsh prison, in Woolwich, can hold 915 inmates. Its maximum secure unit, which is used as a detention centre for Islamic terror suspects, has been branded Britain's 'Guantanamo Bay'.

Around the time of the alleged offer to Bronson, nine foreign nationals were just beginning three years of being detained without trial on suspicion of terror links.

Also there in December 2001 was Abu Doha, a member of an Algerian terror group and who is believed to have had links with Osama bin Laden. Known as 'The Doctor', he had been arrested at Heathrow in February 2001 trying to board a flight to Saudi Arabia with a false passport.

He has been fighting extradition to the US where he is accused of plotting to blow up Los Angeles airport in 2000 ever since.

Charles Bronson, meanwhile, lost his latest bid for freedom last month when the Home Office turned down a request to reduce his dangerous 'category A' prisoner status, which could have paved the way for his release.

Originally jailed for robbery as a19-year-old in 1974, he has tasted freedom only for a few months ever since. He was given a life term in 2000 following a series of violent assaults and hostage taking incidents on fellow inmates and prison staff.

They included a 47-hour rooftop protest at Broadmoor in 1983 which caused £750,000 damage.

In 1994, he demanded a helicopter, an inflatable doll and a cup of tea as ransom for the release of guard he was holding hostage at Woodhill Prison in Milton Keynes.

Later that year, Hull Prison deputy governor Adrian Wallace was forced to take a month off work recovering from injuries sustained by Bronson during a five-hour hostage ordeal.

But friends also say the intelligent dad-of-one, who longs to be free to see his son, has a softer, caring side.

He has also won prizes for his art and poetry and has written 10 books, including one about how to keep fit in confined spaces.

Born Michael Peterson in Aberystwyth in 1952, his parents were local Conservative Party stalwarts. He later moved to Merseyside and finally Luton, which he considers his home.

He was given the name Charles Bronson in honour of the Hollywood actor by his bare-knuckle fighting promoter in 1987.

He married Saira Rehman, then a 31-year-old Bangladeshi-born divorcee from Luton, in June 2001.

After seeing Bronson's picture in a newspaper, she claimed to have fallen in love and described him as 'her soulmate'.

Bronson has since poured scorn on her motives, accusing her of wanting to cash in on his infamy.

To listen to the phone conversation between Giovanni and Charlie CLICK HERE