A major fire has broken out at a psychiatric hospital where some of Britain’s worst criminals are being held.
Broadmoor Hospital in Crownthorne is currently on fire, sending plumes of thick black smoke into the sky.
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 Thames Valley Police spokesperson said they are attending the scene and assisting with road closures. They said the fire is limited to the hospital site.
They added: “At this stage there is no impact on the wider road network.”
A major fire has broken out at a psychiatric hospital where some of Britain’s worst criminals are being held.
Broadmoor Hospital in Crownthorne is currently engulfed in flames that are sending plumes of black smoke into the sky.
Huge clouds of thick, dark smoke can be seen coming 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 holds 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, Broadmoor Hospital has housed dozens of sadistic murderers since it opened its doors in 1863, including Yorkshire ripper Peter Sutcliffe, gangster Ronnie Kray and rapist Robert Napper.
The institution for the criminally insane was built after the creation of the Criminally Insane Act of 1860, also called 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 13 women and injured many more in the 1970s, was a patient at Broadmoor.
Robert Maudsley, one of Britain’s most dangerous murderers, was imprisoned inside the prison for the criminally insane.
Charles Bronson, violent criminal and one of the longest-serving prisoners in the UK, has spent almost 50 years behind bars, some of those years spent 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 created for the “safe custody and treatment” of seriously mentally ill offenders.
When it first opened its doors in Victorian times, there were no medications or psychological treatments like those we know today. Instead, patients enjoyed a regimen of rest and occupational therapy.
A few years ago, Broadmoor staff revealed what it’s really like to work at the high-security psychiatric hospital treating the criminally insane in the Channel 5 documentary Broadmoor: Serial Killers & High Security.
From a patient who tortured and killed another inmate to stopping obsessive ‘fans’ from visiting high-profile murderers with their children, mental health professionals spoke out about their harrowing experiences.
Professor Pamela Taylor, who worked as head of medical services at the institution, revealed how women got lawyers to fight for their right to visit sex offenders with their own children in tow, and sent so many love letters to Sutcliffe that He could not answer them all.
Another member of staff who appeared on the programme, Dr Jackie Craissati MBE, admitted that reading about the crimes committed by the patients she treated left her “overwhelmed” and feeling “waves of fear”.
