CHARLES BRONSON lost his appeal against a life sentence yesterday but was offered a glimmer of hope that he could one day be freed because he had found the love of a good woman.

Three Court of Appeal judges said that the advancing age of the man dubbed Britain’s most dangerous prisoner, along with his increasing maturity and recent marriage, meant that the Parole Board might consider looking more favourably on his case. They were also complimentary about his artistic ability.

The muscle-bound Bronson, 51, was jailed for life for holding Phil Danielson, a prison art lecturer, hostage at Hull prison in 1999. Mr Danielson had criticised some of Bronson’s sketches. Bronson later burst in on a tutorial, tied a rope around Mr Danielson’s neck and dragged him around for 44 hours, wielding a knife.

Three years ago the armed robber, born Michael Peterson, married Saira Ali Ahmed, a Bangladeshi Muslim who fell in love with him after reading about him in a newspaper. They met only three times before getting married at Woodhill prison in Milton Keynes. Bronson has since taken her name and converted to Islam.

Surrounded by six prison guards at the Old Bailey, London, Bronson told the court that his wife and her daughter, Sami, 13, were helping to rehabilitate him and he “simply wanted to go home”.

Lord Justice Rose praised the former bare-knuckle boxer for his calm demeanour during the two-day hearing but ruled that his sentence for false imprisonment would not be quashed and the life term would not be reduced.

Wearing sunglasses and sporting a lengthy, greying beard and handlebar moustache, Bronson showed no emotion as they delivered their ruling. The judge said that Bronson might well have been, as he had claimed, a different man to the one who was jailed at Luton Crown Court in 2000. Referring to character references and psychiatric reports, he said: “All of them spoke favourably of the appellant as an intelligent, honourable and in many ways remarkable man. In particular, he is a talented artist who by his skills exercised in prison has contributed to raising thousands of pounds for charitable causes.”

Bronson’s passion for art began when a former guard at Wakefield prison gave him a present of colouring pens and pencils. During 30 years in jail — 26 in solitary confinement — he has spent much of his time painting and has developed a unique style, often depicting himself as a cartoon character in disturbing poses.

Many of his paintings and ink drawings are posted on his personal internet website, www.bronsonmania.com.

Some of his work has been shown in a bar in Hampstead, London. In February he allowed one of his pictures to be raffled in aid of the Zöe’s Baby Hospice in Liverpool. He has designed Christmas and Valentine’s Day cards, has written two books and won a Koestler award, a competition for prison literature and drawings.

After the hearing, Bronson, wearing a striped rugby shirt, gave the thumbs-up to a public gallery packed with supporters and said: “Thanks for coming. Life goes on. No problem.”

He turned to his wife, who throughout proceedings had sat at the back of the court wearing a “Free Bronson” badge, and said: “I will see you in the cells.”

Mrs Ahmed told Sky News that she was “really disappointed” by the decision. She claimed that he was a different man now: “People can change and he is a changed man. He has got something to come out for now and he didn’t have that before. He has not been an angel but he has actually changed and he should be given a chance.”

After the hearing, Richard Mallett, his solicitor, said that they would consider taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights. It remained unclear when Bronson was due to start his life sentence because he was serving a backlog of jail terms.

When he does, he will be eligible for parole three years into that sentence. His legal team had argued that the judge in the 2000 case should have allowed the jury to consider whether he had a defence of being “under duress” when he took Mr Danielson hostage.

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