On The Case podcast revisits the gruesome killings of 'Hannibal the Cannibal' and reveals how, after 48 years in solitary, Robert Maudsley has become 'the prison system's darkest secret'

On the latest episode of The Crime Desk's On The Case podcast, host Alex Matthews sits down with reporter Graeme Culliford to discuss his exclusive story on Britain's 'most dangerous prisoner', Robert Maudsley.For the first time in decades, the killer's voice will be heard through never-before-released audio clips given to The Crime Desk in which he details his life behind bars.Culliford described Maudsley's living conditions, his daily routine, battle against guards and addressed the rumours that he was allegedly caged in a 'glass' cell, which he likened to the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs.He said: 'He was held for an incredibly long period in what's been described as a perspex box.'It was basically a cell within a cell. So you had to go through a big steel door. Once you got past that, you would see this small cage inside, where he was held.'Apparently, that was purpose built for him in 1983… he would be locked in that glass cell for at least 23, sometimes 24 hours a day.' On the latest On The Case, Alex Matthews sits down with reporter Graeme Culliford to discuss his investigation into what 48 years of solitary has done to Robert Maudsley, aboveMaudsley, 73, was born in Speke, Liverpool, as one of 12 siblings. He spent his first eight years in a Catholic orphanage before his parents took him home to Toxteth, where he says his father George beat him up to six times a day.It was at the age of 21, while working as a male sex worker in London – where he had fled as a teen to escape his abusive family – that he committed the first of his horrific murders.Labourer John Farrell had picked Maudsley up for sex and allegedly began showing him photographs of children he had abused.Maudsley flew into a rage and garroted Farrell in his flat in Wood Green, north London, before handing himself in and making a full confession.But the murder of Farrell was just the beginning. Behind bars Maudsley would go on to kill three more men, and earned the nickname 'Hannibal the Cannibal' after rumours spread that one victim was found with a spoon sticking out of his skull.All of his victims were paedophiles and sex offenders.Deemed too dangerous to be housed alongside other prisoners, Maudsley was allegedly placed in a purpose-built perspex cell – often inaccurately referred to as a glass cage – in the basement of HMP Wakefield, where he was held for more than 40 years.While he was transferred to HMP Whitemoor last year after staging protests over the confiscation of his PlayStation, the serial killer remains in solitary confinement – and is thought to have done the longest stint in isolation of any British prisoner.Earlier this year on his 73rd birthday, Maudsley made a phone call to his nephew Gavin, which he gave permission to be recorded and passed onto Culliford. Maudsley was born in deprived Speke, Liverpool, in 1953, the fourth child of a local lorry driver After the murder of John Farrell, Maudsley would go on to kill three more men behind bars and earned the nickname 'Hannibal the Cannibal' Gavin revealed to Culliford that Maudsley never wants to be released from prison, believing he is better off away from a world he sees as full of bad people.His family, who call the murderer 'uncle Bob', have campaigned for years for Maudsley's release from solitary.Also speaking on the podcast is Daily Mail news reporter Lettice Bromovsky, who recalls her hours-long sit-down interview with prison psychiatrist Dr Bob Johnson, who treated Maudsley at HMP Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight.She told On The Case: 'From Dr Bob's perspective he [Maudsley] was a highly intelligent, cultured, articulate man.'And Dr Bob stands by the view that if he hadn't gone through the childhood trauma that he did go through, he would be out in the world in a very high profession, probably in a six-figure salary job.'There were risks to them [Dr Johnson and Maudsley] having their conversations.'One thing that Dr Bob told me about when they had their first meetings was that he said to Maudsley "if you frighten me, I will not be able to help you."'That was because the prison would just pull the plug. Everyone was so afraid of Maudsley up to this point.'There were a few instances that Dr Bob told me about, where they would be discussing things that would become triggering for Maudsley and he would begin to say "my palms are starting to sweat" and "you're making me angry," and Dr Bob would have to take the initiative to calm him down instead of bolt through the door.'To hear Maudsley speak about his life behind bars, and to hear from the psychiatrist who treated him, subscribe to The Crime Desk today. New subscribers gain access to On The Case, The Trial+ and much more.