Charles Bronson was caught up in a fight with a murderer who tried to attack the notorious inmate.
Bronson, 71, hit Robert Donaldson with two hooks and two uppercuts when he tried to attack him at Category A HMP Woodhill on Monday, MailOnline reports.
Donaldson, 82, was jailed in 2005 for murdering Paul Bourke, gagging a 100-year-old deaf woman and beating up a 76-year-old man while they slept.
In 2014 he slashed a fellow inmates neck at HMP Grendon Underwood, severing the jugular vein.
A source from the prison said Donaldson suddenly charged at Bronson with his fists raised as he walked down the landing.
They said: ‘Charlie knows this man’s history. Donaldson has attacked older people in the same age bracket as Charlie and has also slashed the throat of another inmate using a concealed weapon.
‘Charlie obviously feared the worst and could not know if this nasty piece of work was holding a weapon so, to defend himself, he hit Donaldson.
‘It was two hooks and two uppercuts. Charlie has been in this position many times before; he knows how to handle himself of course, but it is such a shame because he has been on his best behaviour for six years so now worries this will undo all his work.’
Bronson, who spent more than 50 years behind bars, lost his parole board hearing in March, and his next opportunity to won’t be until early next year.
It is understood Bronson has been deprived of his enhanced prisoner status – which means no television while the internal investigation is underway.
He was convicted of armed robbery in 1974 and now spends 23 hours a day in his cell.
The source added Donaldson has not been punished.
They said: ‘Donaldson is now going around with a load of bandages on his head acting like the victim.
‘The prison authorities will be going through the CCTV and statements from the officers.’
Bronson is worried he will be found guilty of assaulting Donaldson and ‘all his hard work will be undone and his bid for freedom will be scuppered’.
He was convicted of wounding in prison in 1975, 1978 and 1985.
He was released in 1987 but was locked up again just 69 days later after robbing a jewellers.
Bronson, who changed his name to Charles Salvador in 2014, was released again in 1992 but jailed weeks later for intent to rob.
In 1994 he took prison deputy governor Aidan Wallace hostage.
Three years later he took two staff members and three other inmates hostage in the same way.
In 2014 he attacked a prison governor for supposedly withholding his letters from the outside world.
However, Bronson claims that over the last ten years, he has changed his ways, becoming instead an artist whose works have sold to raise thousands for charities including the Born for Art Foundation.
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