Irene Dunroe, the 73-year-old ex-wife of Charles Bronson, has been banned from visiting Britain's most notorious prisoner at HMP Wakefield after officials deemed her a risk to security and safety. Dunroe, who married Bronson as a teenager in 1971 and divorced him in 1975, has continued to visit him regularly throughout his decades behind bars and says she forms part of his crucial support network ahead of an upcoming parole hearing, making the timing of the ban particularly significant to her.

Dunroe, who works in an Ann Summers shop, received a letter from HMP Wakefield informing her she could no longer see or call Bronson, a decision she has dismissed as "completely stupid," questioning what threat a pensioner using a bus pass could pose. Bronson, also 73 and legally known as Charles Salvador, has spent 52 years in prison, around 37 of them in solitary confinement, for offences including armed robbery, grievous bodily harm and hostage-taking; Dunroe says she plans to challenge the ban and will keep writing to him, though she fears her letters may not reach him.