The UK's longest-serving prisoner, Robert Maudsley, has spent an agonising 17,000 consecutive days in solitary confinement and is set to endure more years behind bars to make it a world record.
Known as 'Hannibal the Cannibal', the quadruple murderer has been transferred to Whitemoor, Cambridgeshire, after decades at Wakefield jail, a prison notorious for housing numerous dangerous criminals and often referred to as "Monster Mansion".
Maudsley has now spent an astonishing 47 years in a single cell.
He recently surpassed the grim milestone of 17,000 consecutive days alone in his cell, believed to be a world record and certainly the longest served by any inmate in the UK penal system.
The current world record is held by French Australian man Charles Foussard, who served almost 71 years from 1903 to 1974. Maudsley has been incarcerated for 51 years, reports the Mirror.
Maudsley celebrated his 72nd birthday on June 26 this year amid increasing concerns about his health following a hunger strike. He wishes to return to Wakefield, but his request has so far been denied.
Following the death of Moors murderer Ian Brady, who served 51 years, in 2017, Maudsley became the UK's longest-serving prisoner. He was initially imprisoned for manslaughter at the age of 21 in 1974.
However, on July 28, 1978, while already serving a life sentence, he murdered two fellow prisoners in Wakefield jail.
This equates to over 17,000 days in solitary confinement. Prior to this, he had killed a fellow patient in Broadmoor secure hospital, also in 1974.
The victim was discovered with a plastic spoon blade lodged in his ear, earning Maudsley the nicknames 'Spoons' and later Hannibal the Cannibal, amid rumours that he had consumed his brain.
However, a post-mortem examination confirmed this was not the case, but the nickname persisted. Special arrangements were made for him at Wakefield, with his cell likened to that of the fictional character Dr Hannibal Lecter, portrayed by Anthony Hopkins in his Oscar-winning role in the 1991 film 'Silence of the Lambs'.
The Prison Service refrained from commenting on individual prisoners. They have previously emphasised that no prisoners are held in solitary confinement within the UK penal system.
Charles Foussard, a French Australian man, was confined in a mental asylum after committing murder.
He passed away while still incarcerated, having served nearly 71 years from 1903 to 1974. His death occurred in the J Ward mental asylum in Victoria, Australia, marking the longest prison sentence served with a definite end point.