HE is best known as Britain’s most notorious prisoner, but to one woman Charles Bronson is simply ‘Mick’, a smooth-talking furniture remover she married in the snow before a reception of ham sandwiches.
Now, Irene Dunroe has revealed how her ex-husband – who has spent more than half a century behind bars – has brazenly proposed once more, as she lifts the lid on their bizarre plans for life after jail and why she’s convinced he’s a changed man.
Charles Bronson is one of the UK’s most notorious prisoners[/caption]
A young Bronson around the time he was married to Irene[/caption]
The 73-year-old says Bronson, who she knows by his birth name, Mick Peterson, called her from his cell in HMP Long Lartin while she was travelling home from her shop assistant job at Ann Summers earlier this summer.
He first proposed earlier this year, but has since asked her again.
She says: “He rang me on my mobile phone when I was travelling home from work’.
“Then he started singing: ‘Come On Eileen‘ but instead of ‘Eileen’ he replaced it with ‘Come on Irene’ to try to get me to say yes. What many people don’t know is Mick has an amazing voice, and he often sings to me.
“He kept saying: ‘I’m going to be free and we are going to be together again’.
“I had him on a loudspeaker, so half of the bus heard and some passengers joined in with him singing the song.
“He has also written to me saying we should get married and give things another chance. He said you never stop loving your first love, and he’s never stopped loving me.”
Irene, from the Wirral, first met Bronson in 1971, when he was working odd jobs as a labourer and furniture remover alongside getting into petty crime.
They married four months later when she was pregnant with their son, Michael Peterson, before divorcing in 1976.
While in jail, Bronson went on to marry women’s shelter worker Fatema Saira Rehman and ex-Corrie actress Paula Williamson, who tragically died aged 38 in 2019.
During that time, Irene also remarried, but now hints that flickers of their young romance still burn strong today.
“He first proposed to me in May, but I haven’t given him an answer,” she continues. “I told him I’ll give him my answer when he’s a free man. I won’t become his wife while he’s behind bars.
“He’s had two marriages in prison – but I was the only woman to have married him as a free man, and I intend to keep it that way.
Freedom at last?
Luton-born Bronson was first convicted of armed robbery in 1974, aged 21, and has practically lived out his days in jail ever since.
However, after being given more time inside for violence and hostage-taking, he insists he is a “changed man” and has repeatedly campaigned for his release.
It was expected that Bronson’s ninth parole hearing would take place on October 2 over two days.
But now sources have claimed he has put his parole back until 2026 “due to personal reasons”.
Irene claims that her former husband and his solicitor have asked for the hearing to be delayed.
She says: “Michael, his son, and I will not be happy until he is released. We will be waiting for him.”
“Mick and his solicitor decided to make this decision together several weeks ago. They have decided it’s in his best interests.
“Both Michael and myself are devastated. We are worried to death about him.
“We just want him out of prison and to spend some time with him while we are all still alive and well.”
“Celebrities including Ray Winstone have got behind him, saying it’s time he should be freed. He is a changed man.”
Sadly, we don’t have any photos of our wedding day as we had a bust up, and I started ripping them up and then Mick burned them
Irene Dunroe
Bronson was handed a discretionary life sentence with a minimum of four years in 2000 for taking prison art teacher Phil Danielson hostage at HMP Hull for 44 hours. Since then, the parole board has repeatedly refused to release him.
His last parole hearing – his eighth – was in 2023 after Bronson lobbied for an open hearing.
He has spent more than 50 years incarcerated – apart from two brief periods during which he reoffended with thefts – with violence offences including taking 11 hostages in nine different sieges.
During one notorious incident he smothered himself in butter before attacking 12 prison guards when Arsenal won the FA Cup, as they were arch rivals to Tottenham, who he supported.
Love before prison
Irene and Paula formed an unlikely friendship because they had both been married to Bronson[/caption]
Bronson also wed Fatema Saira Ahmed in 2001 and the marriage lasted four years[/caption]
While Irene didn’t talk to the lag – who changed his name to Charles Bronson as he pursued a career in bare-knuckle boxing – for decades after their separation, they have recently reconnected over their son.
She says: “I have never called Mick Charlie because while he turned into Charlie before we divorced, we were estranged for years.
“He got in touch with his son Michael again after 26 years, and since then he’s always sent a card to me when he has written to Mike.
“In the past few years I began to visit him again, and we have always had feelings, but they were put down for decades.”
In 2001, Bronson married Fatema, divorcing four years later.
He went on to marry actress Paula, who was 27 years his junior, in Wakefield prison in 2017, but again filed for divorce a year later.
Irene, who has written a book with Bronson called Inside And Out, says: “When he got married twice behind bars, it was all before we got in touch with one another again.
“But I did think both marriages were ultimately doomed because how can you have a marriage through writing letters to one another?
“The man I loved before he became Charles Bronson is the man he is now.
“We married at Chester Register Office in January 1971. It was snowing and Mick bought me a pair of soft, white, knee high leather boots and a matching white bible to carry.
“My wedding dress was a mini dress with long Medieval-style sleeves and a hood with white fur around it.
“Afterwards we went back to Mick’s house and had ham sandwiches, Victoria sponge and fruitcake for our wedding breakfast.
“Sadly, we don’t have any photos of our wedding day as we had a bust-up, and I started ripping them up and then Mick burned them.
“So if we did do it again, it would be nice to keep the photos this time round.”
Family reunion
Despite his violent crimes, Bronson has never killed anyone[/caption]
Irene says she won’t marry Bronson until he is released as she’s the only wife not to have wed him behind bars[/caption]
Irene says Bronson also longs to be a family again with his son, Michael, who was just two-and-a-half years old when he was locked up in the Seventies.
She explains: “Mick said while he can’t make up for lost time, he wants to try to be the best dad that he can.
“He also said he wants to make up to me for what we both suffered as I became a single mum, and it was really tough.”
She says Bronson was furious after it was revealed that the latest hearing would take place behind closed doors.
“As soon as Mick heard that it was not an open hearing, he lost hope of getting out,” she says.
“He told me: ‘My chances of getting out are as good as trying to have a cup of tea out of a chocolate teapot’.
“He’s angry and frustrated, but he’s still remained calm. He still dreams of getting out.”
Irene says that while Bronson has previously been described as “mad, bad and dangerous”, that’s not the man behind bars now.
She explains: “His mum Eira is in her nineties and as well as making a new life with me and Michael, he dreams of her seeing him as a free man too.
“He has also said we are going to run the London Marathon together as he’s a keen jogger in his hour of exercise and I am too. I’m going to dress up as a prison warden, and he’s going to dress up as a prisoner.
“Every time he can’t keep up with me when we are running, I will hit him with a whip from Ann Summers if he goes too slow.
“I’m also going to have handcuffs from work and handcuff him to me. That’s one of both our first dreams to do when he becomes a free man.
“He wants to raise a lot of money for children’s charities, which he supports.”
Bronson has made at least eight parole bids to be released from prison[/caption]
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