BRIT HANNIBAL THE CANNIBAL'S 50TH XMAS BEHIND BARS

Murderer Mawdsley becomes longest serving prisoner

- JEREMY ARMSTRONG

SERIAL killer Robert Mawdsley has just spent his 50th consecutive Christmas behind bars.

The criminal, dubbed Hannibal the Cannibal, has become the longest-serving inmate in the UK penal system.

Mawdsley, 70, has also been in solitary confinement for 45 years, which is thought to be a world record.

Locked up for murder in 1974 when he was 21, Mawdsley was set apart in 1978 after killing three other inmates.

Special provision was made for him at Wakefield prison in West Yorkshire. His cell, including bulletproof windows and a concrete slab for a bed, has been called a glass cage in the cellar.