Charles Bronson’s parole bid has been successful and he is due to be released.
The Ministry of Justice says that as of Thursday 23 March there has been no announcement about the outcome of his parole hearing, though one is expected imminently.
Multiple Facebook posts claim that the armed robber Charles Bronson, who is now known as Charles Salvador, has been granted parole and a date has been announced for his release from prison.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson told Full Fact that as of Thursday 23 March, this is not true. Although a parole hearing has taken place for Bronson, no announcement of the outcome has been made at the time of publication, though one is expected imminently.
One post on a page called ‘Free Charles Bronson’, which has over 4,000 followers, claims that “he will be leaving prison just before Christmas” after the “Parole Board confirmed he was successful”. This post was first shared on 16 March.
Another post, which appeared on 13 March and has been shared 1,300 times and reposted several times, says that he is due to be released on 21 June 2023. Meanwhile another post, first shared on 17 March, claims his release date has been “pushed forward” to this Friday, 24 March.
Bronson was jailed for seven years in 1974 for armed robbery, but has remained in prison almost continuously ever since having committed further offences.
A public parole hearing for Bronson took place at the Royal Courts of Justice earlier this month.
A decision is expected to be made imminently as to whether he should be released, moved to an open prison or remain at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes.
Bronson has had several unsuccessful parole hearings in the past, which were held in private. This is his first public parole hearing since the rule changed to allow this in 2022.
We have previously covered false claims about Bronson on social media, including another post that claimed he was being released, and posts claiming he assaulted murderer Ian Huntley in prison and held Thomas Hughes, father of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, hostage in his prison cell.
Image courtesy of James Kerwin
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the Ministry of Justice says that as of Thursday 23 March there has been no announcement about the outcome of his parole hearing.
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