Coronation Street actress Paula Williamson made headlines when she married notorious criminal Charles Bronson.
The wedding in HMP Wakefield saw Bronson saying ‘I do’ while handcuffed to a guard.
Bronson, 70 – who is dubbed one of Britain’s most violent offenders – has been in prison for much of the last 50 years.
He has held 11 hostages in nine different sieges, with victims including governors, doctors, staff and, on one occasion, his own solicitor.
A prison art teacher who had criticised his drawing was held hostage for 44 hours, during which Bronson tied a skipping rope around his neck and tugged him about at knifepoint.
But in parole hearings set for Monday and Wednesday next week, Bronson could be released.
So who was his wife, soap actress Paula Williamson, when did they marry and how did she die?
Here’s what you need to know.
Who did Paula Williamson play in Coronation Street?
Paula Williamson appeared in Coronation Street in three episodes, as an unnamed nurse in Weatherfield General hospital, between 2008 and 2012.
The 38-year-old also appeared twice in Emmerdale – one as a stripper, Holly, and once as a leader of an ante-natal class – and back in 2012 played a doctor in Hollyoaks.
When was she married to Charles Bronson?
Paula Williamson began writing to Bronson in prison around 2012 and after three years was granted visitation rights.
When they first met, Paula described how she ‘felt something’ and that the duo initially ‘fancied each other’ during prison visits.
He proposed by phone on Valentine’s Day 2017, singing My Way, and that November the pair married at Wakefield prison – with Bronson still handcuffed to a guard.
Paula told the Sunday People she ‘felt like Michael Jackson’ as she was photographed sneaking into jail under a blanket.
She also hired a professional Bronson lookalike to stand in at the reception.
But within six months, there were reports that the marriage was ‘already on the rocks’, after Bronson reportedly demanded that she do 400 sit ups a day and ‘don’t get fat’.
In 2018 Bronson decided to divorce Paula after seeing pictures of her with a man on holiday, and she claimed his controlling behaviour had driven her to the edge of taking her own life.
But the final straw in their rocky relationship came in March 2019 when Paula announced she was divorcing Bronson after he asked her to visit him dressed as a cat to impress other inmates.
He reportedly sent her a chunk of his moustache as a parting gift.
How did she die?
Paula was found dead aged 38 a year later, on July 29, 2019, at a house in Stoke-on-Trent by her new boyfriend. The couple had been together for just two weeks.
Hours earlier, The Sun had reported that Bronson planned to marry ‘a pensioner named Joan’.
Coroner Emma Serrano concluded that Paula’s death was drug-related, and said: ‘In the lead up to her passing away she wasn’t expressing any suicidal thoughts and there was no behaviour to suggest she wasn’t happy.’
She added: ‘Paula had been taking substances. She did not realise the consequence of those substances all working together would cause her to pass away.’
MORE : Charles Bronson says ‘I’m coming home’ after getting date for public parole hearing
MORE : Coronation Street star Rob Mallard warns evil Justin may tear Daniel and Daisy apart forever
MORE : Coronation Street’s Helen Flanagan shares sadness after ‘manic few days’ in her life
Follow Metro across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Share your views in the comments below
from News – Metro https://ift.tt/WpmY6KU
0 Comments