Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital Opens Its Doors For The First Time In 150 Years

The top-security psychiatric hospital which houses Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and ‘London Nail Bomber’ David Copeland has opened its doors to the public for the first time in 150 years.

Broadmoor Hospital is the subject of a two-part documentary on ITV starting on Wednesday.

The show will feature patients who have committed murder, rape, torture and arson, as they work with psychiatrists and attend workshops to address their rehabilitation.

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Broadmoor Hospital is opening its doors to the media for the first time ever

The hospital was also the home of Charles Bronson, who is often referred to as “the most violent prisoner in Britain”, as well as housing Ronnie Kray and Kenneth Erskine.

The late Jimmy Savile was a regular visitor to the hospital, where he worked as a volunteer and frequently met with Sutcliffe, who is serving 20 life sentences for the murders of 13 women and the attempted murders of seven others.

The Berkshire hospital is the home of Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe

Allegations had surfaced in the wake of a previous ITV documentary that Savile sexually abused inmates at the hospital, but a former worker said it would have been impossible as Savile would never have been left alone with patients.

Online literature states the hospital, which is managed by the West London Mental Health Trust, houses around 240 patients with an average stay of five to six years.

The average stay at the hospital is between five and six years

Dr Amlan Basu, clinical director at Broadmoor, told ITV: “Patients that come here, they will have perpetrated often horrendous crimes but they are also victims and it’s very easy to see somebody as either the perpetrator or the victim.

"It’s much more difficult to understand that somebody might be both.”

The first episode of Broadmoor will be shown on ITV on Wednesday at 9pm.