A former model who formed a close friendship with Charles Bronson after watching the 2008 Tom Hardy film about his life is campaigning for his release from prison.
Gemma Fernandez met up with the 69-year-old criminal, who is dubbed ‘Britain’s most violent prisoner’, last December after Covid restrictions eased at the high-security mens jail HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes.
The former model, who lives in London, struck up the unlikely friendship through letters and video calls, named ‘purple visits’ – she was even allowed a visit to meet him face-to-face.
Bronson, who has changed his name to Salvador, was first locked up for armed robbery in 1974, but during his time inside he has taken hostages in 10 prison sieges, attacked at least 20 prison officers and caused £500,000 in damage in rooftop protests.
He has been moved prisons more than 120 times during his 43-year spell behind bars – much of which has been in solitary confinement.
Former model Gemma Fernandez (pictured) met up with the 69-year-old criminal, who is dubbed ‘Britain’s most violent prisoner’, last December after Covid restrictions eased at the high-security jail HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes
Bronson (pictured), who has changed his name to Salvador, was first locked up for armed robbery in 1974, but during his time inside he has taken hostages in 10 prison sieges, attacked at least 20 prison officers and caused £500,000 in damage in rooftop protests
The former model, who claims she has appeared in FHM magazine, claimed she’s never been to a prison before visiting Bronson last year. It was after watching Tom Hardy play him in the 2008 movie Bronson (pictured) that she decided to get in contact with him.
A prison source told The Mirror: ‘They’re very close. She had her first visit in December. They posed for pictures and everything.’
Ms Fernandez, who is in her 30’s, previously opened up about her visit to see ‘gentleman’ Bronson on Steve Wraith’s true crime YouTube channel.
She said: ‘It was his first visit in two years, it was a big, big day. It was lovely to see him. I gave him a massive hug. He hasn’t had a hug in two years, so it was really, really nice. He was all excited, he took my jacket off, he’s a gentleman.
‘He was supposed to sit in a chair six feet away but apparently he walked into the room before I got there and said, “No way, I’m not having that” and dragged a chair from across the room. It was amazing. I thought it was quite a comfortable, cosy setting.’
The former model, who claims she has appeared in FHM magazine, claimed she’s never been to a prison before visiting Bronson last year.
Bronson, who has changed his name to Salvador, was first locked up for armed robbery in 1974. Pictured: On his way to a parole hearing at the Old Bailey in 2004
It was after watching Tom Hardy play him in the 2008 movie Bronson that she decided to get in contact with him.
She added: ‘Years ago I wanted to write to him after seeing the film and I never really did.
‘But with the lockdown happening and everyone suffering with their mental health I thought, “He’s been banged up for 46 years, I need to write”.
‘He’s a reformed character. He cares about people. He’s such a nice bloke.’
The former model also opened up about him saving her ‘two mince pies from the canteen’ alongside a flask of hot water and two teabags as he eagerly awaited her arrival.
Ms Fernandez said: ‘Charlie is in a different unit so I was separated from everyone else and I was escorted to another building.
‘I saw him, and I was relieved to see him. It was my first time visiting a prison and he said, “Gem, it’s like an airport except instead of a plane at the end, I’ll be there.” He was standing in the window with his moustache and glasses eagerly waiting so it was really good.
Charles Bronson was seen for the first time in more than a decade on 15 November 2018 when he left his trial for attacking a prison governor (pictured)
‘That was such energy in the room and we were both really excited – there was a big build-up to it. The door opened and I gave him a massive hug straight away. It was really nice. He had a low table and two chairs set out.
‘On the table, he had a flask of hot water with two teabags and the two mince pies he’d saved from the canteen. It was amazing seeing him – it was really surreal. We’d had video calls and had talked all the time, so it was surreal.’
‘We were really lucky to get that visit. He’s been overwhelmed by the support and the messages. Times precious, he’s got a life – he deserves to live life as a free man.
‘He genuinely just wants to have fish and chips on the beach. There’s a lot of people supporting Charlie and it shows.’
Ms Fernandez is now managing the petition website called Free Charlie Official and she said ‘every day she reads him emails’ that she gets in support of Bronson and those campaigning for his release.
