Wormwood Scrubs prisoners list – from Ian Brady and Peter Sutcliffe to Pete Doherty and Keith Richards
THERE is a long list of notable people who have been held at HMP Wormwood Scrubs.
From actors and entertainers to dangerous criminals, the Category B prison has seen many famous names locked up inside.
Who are the prisoners at Wormwood Scrubs?
There are five wings to the prison, which can house up to 1,279 inmates, and it is located near an ancient park of the same name.
The nearly 150-year-old prison has housed many historical faces and is used to hold men sentenced or on remand from the local courts.
Fictional bandmember Murdoc from the Gorillaz apparently also spent time at Wormwood Scrubs during their phase 5 era in 2018.
Other less animated inmates include murderers, poets, and politicians.
Leslie Grantham
The EastEnders star served ten years in English jails after killing a taxi driver in Germany in 1966, during a robbery.
It is reported that Leslie was introduced to acting while in Wormwood Scrubs before he was transferred to Leyhill Prison where he acted in several plays.
He starred on and off as Dirty Den in the long-running soap until 2005 and went on to new projects before passing away in 2018 from lung cancer.
Pete Doherty
Doherty served just 29 days of a 14-week sentence at the West London prison in 2008, which he got for breaching his probation order.
The former Libertines frontman told reporters outside how jail life was "a lot of gangsters and Radio 4", adding: "Thank you Mrs Thatcher for putting me in the company of the most dangerous criminals in the country."
Pete had a turbulent and well-documented relationship with supermodel Kate Moss and the pair even got engaged but broke up in 2007, before he went to Wormwood.
During his time in the jail, he was moved to a private cell after concerns that other inmates were planning to attack him.
Mark Morrison
The Return Of The Mack singer faced various charges throughout his career but his journey to Wormwood Scrubs is a little unusual.
He was convicted of affray for his part in a brawl, which resulted in one fatality, and he was sentenced to community service.
Morrison paid a lookalike to do his dirty work while he was on tour but didn't get away with it and was arrested and jailed for a year.
While in prison, Morrison reportedly converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdul Rahman.
Charles Bronson
Britain's most violent prisoner spent just a fortnight at Wormwood Scrubs as he was transferred a total of eight times in 1986.
Originally convicted for an armed robbery in 1974, Bronson moved from prison to prison for his violent behaviour towards staff and inmates alike.
He is said to have strangled the governor of the prison during one particularly violent episode before he was moved on elsewhere.
Charles Salvador, as he is now called, is incarcerated at Woodhill Prison as of 2023 and is serving life imprisonment.
Ian Brady
The Moors murderer said the Scrubs was his favourite prison and was transferred there in 1974.
Brady worked as a barber cutting hair for inmates and staff in the 1970s, as well as a cleaner.
Home Office files revealed that during his stay in the prison hospital he was able to mix with young boys from Borstal despite staff arguing that he should be moved off the Mental Observation Landing, according to the
He claimed to have played chess in Wormwood Scrubs with former cabinet minister John Stonehouse, who is remembered for faking his own death.
Brady died in 2017 in Merseyside.
George Blake
The British spy was jailed for betraying MI6 agents to the KGB after being discovered in 1961.
Blake was given a 42-year sentence - the longest non-life sentence handed out by the British courts but only served five as he escaped in 1966 with three men he met in jail and fled to the Soviet Union.
Incredibly, a rope ladder with 20 knitting needles as rungs enabled his successful escape.
He lived until 2020, dying at the age of 98 on Boxing Day in Russia - he was buried with military honours.
Peter Sutcliffe
The Yorkshire Ripper was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven others, during the late 1970s.
Sutcliffe was briefly in Wormwood Scrubs at the same time as Ian Brady - and disliked him because of his attitude to chess.
In 2017, reported that Sutcliffe had told a friend: “I played chess with him and I beat him, so he’s not that bright.
“He was upset about that. He takes everything seriously and thinks he’s the bee's knees, but he’s just an idiot."
Sutcliffe was moved to HM Prison Frankland in Durham to serve the remainder of his life imprisonment and died in 2020 at the age of 74.
John Stonehouse
The former Labour minister was convicted of fraud after faking his own death.
Riddled with debt, Stonehouse decided his best option was to flee and he left a pile of clothes behind on a beach in Miami in 1974.
He was presumed dead but police caught up with him in Australia later that year.
Continuing to serve as an MP, he defended all 21 charges against him but was sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud.
Stonehouse was later revealed as a spy for the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic military intelligence.
He died in April 1988 aged 62 after suffering a heart attack.
Koci Selamaj
Sabina Nessa's killer was remanded in custody at Wormwood Scrubs in September 2021.
During the trial, Selamaj appeared via video link from the prison in the recognisable green and yellow prison jumpsuit.
Selamaj, 36, admitted to killing the teacher and pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey on February 25, 2022.
He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 36 years for the brutal murder.
Keith Richards
Rolling Stones legend Keith Richards spent 24 hours in Wormwood Scrubs while his bandmate Mick Jagger was taken to Brixton Prison.
The pair were sentenced to prison in June 1967, Richards faced one year in prison for allowing cannabis to be smoked on his property.
Both were released on bail the next day, with Richards' charge being overturned by an appeals court a month later for lack of evidence.
Jagger was given a conditional discharge.
Rolling Stone magazine named Richards the fourth greatest guitarist in their top 100 list in 2011.
Dennis Nilsen
Serial killer Dennis Nilsen began his sentence at Wormwood Scrubs in 1983, having been moved there immediately after his conviction.
Despite the prison itself is a category B jail, there are cells for category A - the most dangerous - inmates to stay too, such as Nilsen.
Nilsen was charged with six counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison, serving 34 years before his death.
His youngest victim was 14-year-old Stephen Dean Holmes but the majority of his victims were between 20 and 30 years old.
He died in May 2018 after suffering a pulmonary embolism.