PAULA Williamson was a little-known Corrie actress before she famously wed Britain’s most dangerous prisoner Charles Bronson in a jailhouse ceremony.
But with a notorious lag as a hubby, it’s not surprising her marriage was turbulent – eventually breaking down weeks before Paula was found dead from a suspected drug overdose on Monday.
The couple tied the knot in November 2017 after falling “madly in love” – despite Bronson serving more than four decades behind bars and Paula’s ambitions as a TV star.
But after a series of explosive and very public tiffs – including a row over a lad “motorboating” Paula, 38, on a wild night out in Tenerife – they called it a day last month and filed for an annulment.
Paula’s grieving mum Hazel said this week she never understood why her loving, intelligent daughter – whom she calls her “most beautiful butterfly” – chose to wed the infamous con.
But it’s not something even Paula herself ever expected to happen.
Wedding dreams and an Odeon cinema job
As a child, Paula dreamed of a big white wedding like many little girls. Yet she never thought the ceremony would be in a prison chapel and her groom would be a convicted armed robber.
In her teens, she worked in sales for Odeon Cinemas, later joining sandwich chain Subway, becoming a ‘mystery shopper’ and working as a children’s party organiser.
“She has always been a good daughter,” mum Hazel previously told MailOnline. “We were very proud of her.”
Eventually, in her 20s, Paula decided to try her hand at acting and embarked on a theatre degree.
She graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University School of Theatre with an acting BA in 2005, before winning a minor role on Coronation Street as an unnamed nurse.
Role in films about the Wests
She appeared in the popular soap three times between 2008 and 2012.
She also starred as a doctor in Hollyoaks, a stripper in Emmerdale, and a character called Kirsty Stephens in the film Appropriate Adult, which was about serial killers Fred and Rosemary West.
But while Paula was appearing on British TV screens, her future hubby Bronson – who now goes by the name Charles Salvador – had already been locked up for more than 30 years.
Although he’s never killed anyone, lifer Bronson has been dubbed the UK’s most dangerous inmate because of his violent attacks on fellow lags and guards behind bars.
He was first jailed for seven years in 1974 for robbing a post office with a sawn-off shotgun (a sentence that was extended after he assaulted another prisoner with a glass jug).
122 days free in four decades
Since then, he’s been out of prison only twice – for a total of 122 days.
But while many people would steer clear of a thug like Bronson, Paula decided to write to him after reading his book about time he’d spent inside notorious psychiatric hospital Broadmoor.
How Bronson became Britain's most dangerous lag
CHARLES Bronson has been dubbed Britain's most dangerous prisoner - despite the fact he's never actually killed anyone.
The convicted armed robber has spent more than 44 years behind bars after repeatedly having his sentence increased for attacking fellow lags and taking prison staff hostage.
Writing in his 2000 book, Bronson said: “I’m a nice guy, but sometimes I lose all my senses and become nasty. That doesn’t make me evil, just confused”.
The lag was first sentenced to seven years in jail over an armed robbery in 1974. That was extended by nine months after he attacked a fellow prisoner with a glass jug.
He was then given an extra year in jail for holding a three-day rooftop protest that cost £100,000 in damages.
After a brief stint of freedom, Bronson was found guilty of intent to robbery and sentenced to eight years in 1992.
However, his sentence was extended by eight years after he held a prison staff member hostage.
He again became involved in a hostage situation, which resulted in a sentence extension once more.
Bronson was finally given a life sentence after kidnapping a prison teacher in 1999.
But since then, he’s been investigated for a number of other disturbances, including allegedly throwing a bottle of human waste at a Muslim prisoner.
Last year, he was cleared of attacking a prison governor.
The lag has not been given an official release as he is being held indefinitely.
The actress, who herself had been battling mental health issues including depression, said the book made her both cry and laugh and “was told in such a way I connected with it.”
Paula sent Bronson her first letter in 2013 and the pair quickly became pen pals.
However, the actress didn’t think of the lag romantically – particularly when he became engaged to another woman, Lorraine Etherington, 44, in 2015.
‘I fancied the pants off Bronson’
But that all changed when Bronson’s engagement ended and he invited Paula to visit him in jail in late 2016 – where she immediately “fancied the pants off him”.
The pair soon became an unlikely item, with Paula joining the unusual club of women across the world who fall in love with inmates – including Death Row killers.
She later defended her beau on ITV’s Lorraine, saying: “This man’s never killed anybody, he’s never raped anybody, he’s never hurt a child.
“He’s served his time and well over for the crimes that he’s committed.”
However, the couple’s relationship wasn’t without its challenges. As well as lacking physical intimacy with her beau, Paula found herself being accused of attention-seeking.
Pals claimed she’d previously been obsessed with Moors murderer Ian Brady, even exchanging a series of letters and gifts with the child killer while he was at Ashworth Hospital.
One said: “She seems to be working her way through a list of the most dangerous men in the country.”
But a defensive Paula told The Sun: “[Bronson and I] are so in love. I’ve had relationships with both men and women in the past but none of them come close to my love for Charlie.”
A Valentine’s Day serenade
On Valentine’s Day 2017, Paula was delighted when her “perfect match” Bronson popped the question to her via phone, while belting out a rendition of Frank Sinatra’s My Way.
She accepted the white gold and diamond ring and said Bronson had phoned her in advance to ask for her ring size.
However, her mum was just as bemused by her relationship as the rest of the UK.
Hazel, now 80, recalled: “I couldn’t understand what had possessed her. I had never heard of [Bronson], but when I knew I thought ‘for goodness sake’. It was unfathomable.”
Jailhouse ceremony at ‘Monster Mansion’
Neither Hazel nor her husband Clive, 81, were present when Paula tied the knot with Bronson nine months later at ‘Monster Mansion’, HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire.
While the bride wore the white dress she’d dreamed of since childhood, the groom donned a white jacket, braces, handlebar moustache-printed socks – and handcuffs.
The couple were allowed just two hours together, under supervision.
But Paula later said: “It was as lovely as we could possibly make it”.
After newlywed Bronson was led back to his cell, his wife partied in a nearby hotel with pals – including former gangland figure Dave Courtney and Katie Price’s ex Alex Reid.
She then headed to Malta for a solo honeymoon.
At first, Paula and Bronson’s marriage was rosy. Paula gushed about her love for her new hubby on TV, calling him “one of the most warm, genuine, compassionate souls I’ve ever come across”.
She revealed she fully believed he would be released one day and that they even hoped to have a baby – but the smooth sailing didn’t last long.
In April 2018, Paula admitted her marriage was rocky – with Bronson allegedly making bizarre demands about her appearance, including that she did 400 sit ups a day so she didn’t “get fat”.
Row over “motorboating” pictures
And three months later, Bronson flew into a jealous rage after The Sun revealed photos of Connor Boyes, 27, burying his head in Paula’s boobs – known as “motorboating” – on holiday.
The fuming con demanded a divorce and branded his new wife a “drunken tart” in a cell letter, adding: “Without booze I loved her. But she choose booze instead of me (sic).”
Paula’s tearful TV apology
A tearful Paula later apologised to her hubby on Loose Women, recalling: “I got a phone call off my manager saying, ‘you’ve been motorboating’, and I said, ‘well I’ve not been on a motorboat’…
“I didn’t know what it was.”
This week, Connor revealed he feared his antics may have been partly responsible for Paula’s death, telling Sun Online: “I fear what happened with us led to a downward spiral.”
He added: “Even if it wasn’t me directly, there could have been a domino effect after what happened in Tenerife. We thought it was just lads on holiday having a laugh but never thought of the consequences of it.”
Following the motorboating incident, Paula admitted she had a problem with alcohol and prescription drugs.
And in October 2018, she revealed she’d checked into a £300-a-night rehab facility in Wiltshire after hitting “rock bottom” and trying to take her own life.
In following months, Paula and Bronson appeared to patch things up.
However, their stormy relationship took another turn for the worse earlier this year when Bronson sent Paula a seedy catsuit to wear on her next prison visit – to make fellow lags jealous.
At the time, the thug was locked up at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes – where he once took a librarian hostage and demanded an inflatable doll, a helicopter and a ‘cuppa’ from police.
Paula “stunned” by Bronson’s seedy request
But his “humiliating” outfit request left his wife reeling.
A source told the Daily Star: “Paula is madly in love with him. But she was stunned when he got a friend to send round a catsuit and told her he wanted her to wear it for a prison visit.
“He loves showing his wife off. He’d want the other prisoners to see her in it.”
An annulment and two new lovers
The strange demand was the final straw for Paula.
Last month, The Sun revealed the fed-up wife had filed to have her marriage annulled on the grounds that she and Bronson never had sex.
Paula told us: “I’ve sent my paperwork off and he’s sent his.
“We’re now waiting for it to be officially annulled. That process will take about two weeks.”
She even started dating a new boyfriend, 53-year-old Pete Jones.
Bronson also seemed happy to move on – announcing at the weekend that he wanted to marry a “stunning” pensioner called Joan’, who has “the same style and attitudes” as him.
“There’s not a 33-year-old bird out there who’s fit to clean her shoes,” he declared.
But just a day after Bronson’s marriage plans were revealed, Paula was found lying lifeless at her Stoke-on-Trent home by Pete, whom she’d started dating only a couple of weeks ago.
“I tried to gently wake her up with kisses”
The horrified truck driver told MailOnline: “I tried to gently wake her up by kissing her forehead, but she wasn’t responding… I could see she wasn’t breathing. I was desperate to wake her up.”
He tried to resuscitate Paula and dialled 999, but she sadly couldn’t be saved.
It is thought her annulment has yet to come through.
While Paula had been eager to escape her marriage, some have questioned whether she still harboured a secret love for the lag who captured her heart with his letters and looks.
Experts say women who fall in love with jailed men, like Paula, are often “damaged” and are drawn in by the possibility of exciting passion with someone who can’t physically hurt them.
Lag WAGs ‘have excitement, safety and control’
They feel in “control” in their relationships and can enjoy “mothering” their beaus.
Author Sheila Isenberg, who interviewed dozens of these women for her book Women Who Love Men Who Kill, says: “If you are in a relationship with a man behind bars for life or a man on Death Row, then you have a lot of control over the relationship.
“You can decide when to make the visit, when to accept the phone call, or if you will accept the call, and you are that man’s primary link with the outside world.
“So as you can clearly see it’s a very powerful position to be in.”
But experts warn such romances – which have soared in recent years thanks to pen pal websites – are often a testament to inmates’ manipulative ability, news.com.au reports.
Psychologist Dr Tony Clarke says: “Psychopaths in jail are expert at manipulating people and they specialise with people who have low self esteem.
“Psychopaths test [these people’s] vulnerability extremely quickly and then exploit them to get what they want … for sex, money or boredom.”
Top stories in news
But while Paula admitted she lost work and her family and friends by marrying Bronson, she always insisted she made the first move and that she wasn’t drawn in by his “unavailability”.
She also dismissed claims of using the thug’s infamy to get famous.
“If I wanted to raise my profile I wouldn’t go about it by marrying Britain’s most notorious prisoner,” she previously said. “That would destroy my career – and it has done.”
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/how-charles-bronsons-tragic-ex-paula-williamson-went-from-hardworking-cinema-girl-to-busty-corrie-star-obsessed-with-criminals-including-ian-brady/
News Photo How Charles Bronson’s tragic ex Paula Williamson went from hardworking cinema girl to busty Corrie star obsessed with criminals including Ian Brady
Advertising
You don’t have to pack away your dress just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!
Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/NINTCHDBPICT000509541653-e1564503049443.jpg?strip=all&w=618
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий