Paul Knight spent a decade in Broadmoor psychiatric hospital sharing visits, TV time and cups of tea with some of Britain’s most notorious killers.
But while most would find sitting next to the Yorkshire Ripper a terrifying and chilling experience, Knight said it was anything but. In fact, he found it boring.
This is because the former inmate claims there are so many dangerous people in the Berkshire institution that it becomes completely 'normal' to be 'friends' with double murderers.
From the Ripper Peter Sutcliffe to cannibal Peter Ryan and a string of Al-Qaeda jihadis, Knight rubbed shoulders with scores of dangerous men.
He told the Daily Mail: 'You're friends with double murderers, it just becomes normal.
'You don't get starstruck by any of the faces in there.
'When I was sitting next to the Yorkshire Ripper, I didn't think to myself, "Oh wow."'
Knight's journey to Broadmoor began after attacking a doctor while in Bristol prison's healthcare wing.
He recalls: 'Well, that was it - about 12 staff came running over. They said: "Right, now we're taking you," and they started bending me up, using a lot of force.'
A riot team came and took him to court where he was charged with grievous bodily harm.
Knight was eventually moved to a secure hospital in York where he was told he was due to be assessed by two nurses from Broadmoor.
He recalls: 'When I heard those words, I thought: "That's for people who are unhinged serial killers - not me."
'They came to get me in a secure vehicle, injected me so I was drugged up to the eyeballs and took me through the admission.
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'I thought within about two weeks I'll sort myself out and they'll let me out after the three-month assessment period.'
But due to a violent reputation he had towards inmates, patients and staff in prison and psychiatric units, Knight was kept inside Broadmoor for an entire decade, often being injected with 'the cosh' - a very strong sedative.
He said the monotony of living in the institution was a daily battle.
Every day he was awoken at 8am and forced to spend time with other patients in the day room, with just one hour outside.
Knight said: 'I just became anaesthetised to the whole situation. I became numb. I was so bored that it physically hurt.'
In the day room Knight mingled with infamous criminals, including serial killer Danny Gonzalez and cannibal Peter Bryan.
He said: 'At least one of the men would be going to court every week, and it would be their story on the news on the TV we would all watch.
'So whoever it was, when their picture came up on the telly, they'd sit there smiling and point at the screen and go, "There I am! That's me."'
Peter Sutcliffe is one of Britain's most notorious serial killers, murdering 13 women across Yorkshire and North-West England during 1975 to 1980.
However, Knight claims he was inundated with visits from female admirers at Broadmoor.
He said: 'We used to sit next to each other during visits because I had a certain seat I liked and so did he.
'He always had a load of glamorous women, just like you'd seen on Page 3 back in the day, visiting him all the time.
'He'd be sat there looking all scruffy, with his beard and crumpled clothes.
'They'd be going: "Oh Pete, tell me more. What are you going to do next year?" and he'd just sort of sit there unbothered.
'I used to think: "You need to get a grip, he isn't going anywhere, the only place he's going is in the hole [solitary confinement]."
'I never understood all the women that would come and visit him, given what he had done.'
Knight also spent time alongside cannibal Bryan who had previously killed a man in Broadmoor in 2004 and then told a nurse he 'wanted to eat him'.
Describing Bryan, he said: 'A dangerous man, a killer. But he was alright when he was medicated.
'Obviously I wouldn't discuss [with other inmates] what they'd done, it was a taboo thing, you don't discuss someone's crimes with them, but you might talk to others in there about it.'
Of all the inmates Knight met in Broadmoor, he said there is one that 'stands out'.
Haroon Rashid Aswat, an Islamist terrorist disciple of Abu Hamza, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, was sent to the secure hospital in 2008.
Knight recalls: 'They [the authorities] were throwing a load of terrorists in there.
'He [Aswat] was a lunatic. He stands out because he was always crazy, running around, getting bent up by the screws in there.
'It was nice when he was taken off for a bit as we'd get some peace and quiet when he was in seclusion.'
Among Broadmoor's current notable inmates is Jonty Bravery, 23, who was given a life sentence for throwing a six-year-old boy from the tenth floor of the Tate Modern gallery in 2024.
Bravery reportedly sleeps in a room with only a mattress on the floor and is supervised by three members of staff at all times of the day and night.
In September 2024, he launched a violent attack on two female members of staff - kicking one in the groin and clawing the other's face.
He was found guilty of assault despite refusing to attend his hearing.
Knight had his own clashes with staff at the facility and said Bravery was unlikely to face retribution from angry staff members.
He said: 'Attacks on nurses are not common but when they do happen, they're bad enough that they need hospital treatment.
'After what Jonty did, he would be brought back to Broadmoor until he's well enough to serve the jail sentence.
'He might get a bit of animosity from staff, they might give him a dodgy look and the cold shoulder for a couple of weeks, but that's it really.
'Broadmoor is like the final place, there's nowhere else they can send you and nothing more they can do, so people who lash out in there know the punishment can't get much worse.'
Conditions in Broadmoor are a far cry from what the public would expect killers, rapists and terrorists to live in, according to Knight.
Patients enjoyed fish and chips on Fridays and were bought a whole cake to share on their birthdays.
He recalled: 'The hospital bought those with the ward fund they get allocated to spend of different things like Christmas decorations and stuff like that.'
Along with the TV, there was also a Nintendo Wii console, books and a snooker table - which he said was 'the only enjoyment' he had.
Knight said: 'A lot of things were banned, especially anything related to Broadmoor or anyone whose been in there. Charles Bronson's book were banned and any books about the Krays.'
However, at one point Knight was the only patient who was allowed former Broadmoor patient Charles Bronson's book because he had struck up a friendship with him whilst inside.
He said: 'I became friends with one of his mates and I wrote him a letter telling him about that and my story and had it sent to him.
'I got a postcard back from him a few weeks later and we kept in touch that way. I went to visit him when I got out.
'I do think my friend Charlie should be out, there is a case for that, but I don't think he would survive.
'It'd be too much of a shock for him. I don't think he'd manage out here, it is a different world to him now.
'He'd probably do something stupid to be put back in there and then it'll look bad on the Government for letting him out. He wants to be out though.'
Knight was finally freed in 2012 but after 10 years of being institutionalised, he struggled with simple things like crossing the road.
'Coming out of Broadmoor was a culture shock for me, it really hits your system,' he said.
'As an example, I couldn't even gauge traffic, I went to walk out in the road and two nurses who were with me had to grab me.'
But the former inmate claims he has managed to get his life back on track, marrying his wife in 2015 and becoming a step-father to her two children, with a granddaughter and a grandson on the way.
He lives in east London, and while he is currently unemployed, Knight has built up a social media following and written a book about his unique story - High Security High Risk: Memoirs Of An Ex Broadmoor Patient.
