BENDING down to pick up a dropped milk lid, Ben Hatchett suddenly felt the stinging pain of red-hot water scalding his back, and seconds later, he was being repeatedly stabbed with a fork.
The unprovoked attack upon happened less than a month into his “hell on earth” existence inside the infamous psychiatric hospital Broadmoor alongside some of Britain’s .
Ben Hatchett was 21 when he was sent to Broadmoor Hospital after a string of violent offences Credit: supplied
He claims there was a blinding attempt upon the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, due to his hygiene habits Credit: Rex Features
He was in Broadmoor at the same time as Sutcliffe, the Stockwell Strangler and Robert Napper Credit: Alamy
He gained insight into those from the “scumbag ward”, which held serial killers like the and the Stockwell Strangler, and taunted a during his two years in the Berkshire hospital.
Ben, now a YouTuber and pro bareknuckle boxer, was sent to aged 21 after a string of inside and outside , including knife crime, brawls, drug dealing and a botched prison escape attempt.
It led to him being detained indefinitely at the psychiatric hospital – yet within two years, he became “the only person since to be kicked out” due to his actions during a riot on the wards.
Alongside another patient, Ben broke into an office and read through confidential files – including information on offences, daily reports and notes from medical professionals – and had to be transferred for his own safety.
He moved to , where he was the gym partner of and only turned his life around after a nine-month stint in solitary confinement following a foiled plot to take hostage.
Ben, now 36, who was released in 2020, has turned away from crime and denounces his past “crazy and erratic decisions” after spending nearly 14 years detained in some of the craziest places”.
He tells The Sun: “My time in was hell on earth. I wasn’t living, I was just existing while in there, and the doctors, who decided if you go on courses or not, are gods.
“You’re there with people who have chopped their mums’ heads off, murderers, rapists, serious sex offenders – the worst of the worst, there’s a lot of evil in that place.
“Being kicked out of Broadmoor after two years was the best thing that ever happened to me there. I was the first person removed since Charles Bronson, not bad, eh?
“I had to go because of the breach of confidentiality. I knew all of this private information and details about everyone, so I was at risk. It was for my own safety.
Cannibal killer Peter Bryan was mocked by lags who sang ‘Peckish Pete’ at him Credit: Paul Edwards – The Sun
Killer Robert Napper was considered ‘f***ing evil’ and chilling by Ben Credit: Handout
“But if I hadn’t been kicked out, I think I would still be in Broadmoor now and would have been an old man still in there. I don’t think they would have ever released me.”
Cannibal taunts and Ripper attack
Ben’s criminality followed “years of trauma and pain” at the hands of the foster care system, where he spent most of his life until he was 10 and was often attacked by other kids.
During his first incarceration, in a young offenders institute aged 15, he witnessed countless fights, which led to him becoming “indoctrinated into a world of violence” and he believes made him “determined to be even worse” than before.
Multiple more detentions and prison stints followed and eventually led to him being held under Section 37/41, an indefinite hospital order under the Mental Health Act, and sent to Broadmoor aged 21.
During his first month, he was scolded and stabbed in the back with a fork by his pal murderer Matthew Quesada, who knifed a stranger in a cafe, in an unprovoked attack.
He recalls life on the wards as “unpredictable” and admits he too engaged in reckless, “boisterous” behaviour, including taunting triple killer Peter Bryan.
Patients nicknamed him ‘Peckish Pete’ due to him cannibalising his second victim in 2004 and famously telling cops: “I ate his brains with butter. It was really nice”.
Ben said: “When he walked to the canteen, I’d yell, ‘What are you having? Brains on chips’ and sang ‘Peckish Pete’ at him.
He was never on hunger strike… he was getting jam sandwiches and biscuits from the staff
Ben Hatchett
“I used to antagonise him. Never face-to-face, he’d have killed me. I used to flash my d*** at him and do the helicopter. Wind up a cannibal wasn’t a wise move.”
Every Thursday, Ben came into contact with patients on “the scumbag ward” – real name Sandhurst – which held the , the Stockwell Strangler and Robert Napper.
“I was working in the cafe, flipping burgers,” he says. “I thought about stabbing Napper or the Ripper in the face with a spatula. I was chasing notoriety, thankfully I chose not to do it.”
There had already been multiple attempts on the life of Yorkshire Ripper – real name , who murdered 13 women, mainly sex workers, and attempted to kill many more.
Ben described Sutcliffe, who died from Covid-19 and pneumonia in 2020, as a “fat, trampy old man” who was despised for his crimes and poor hygiene habits.
He says: “In the communal area, there was a toilet. Sutcliffe would use it, but never washed his hands. Everyone knew, and he’d come out smirking to wind people up.
“People didn’t like that, and that was one of the reasons someone tried to stab him in his good eye.”
The lag that chilled Ben to the core, however, was killer Robert Napper, who viciously stabbed a woman 49 times and later killed a mum and her four-year-old child.
Moors murderer Ian Brady faked hunger strikes, according to Ben Credit: PA:Press Association
He also alleged cop killer Dale Cregan faked hunger strikes too Credit: PA:Press Association
“He was the worst,” he says. “There was something so f***ing evil about him. You could feel the evil aura coming from him.”
The final big name from the ‘scumbag ward’ was the Stockwell Strangler, Kenneth Erskine, who killed seven pensioners. Ben described him as “mad”.
He says: “He couldn’t even talk properly. He had overgrown hair, a big beard and was always staring at the floor.”
Brady ‘hostage plot’
Two years into his Broadmoor stint, he was “kicked out” and transferred to Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside, and became a gym training partner for serial killer Dale Cregan.
The one-eyed thug murdered two female police officers in a gun and grenade ambush, which was described as a “despicable act of pure evil” by then Prime Minister David Cameron, and slayed two others during a gangland feud.
Ben says: “He used to pretend to go on hunger strike to get to Ashworth because it was better than prison for someone who was never getting out of jail.
“We trained together four or five times a week. What he did was disgusting; he shot two innocent women. But he came across as a normal lad.”
He also met “remorseless” hit-and-run monster Matthew Tvrdon, who in 2012 ran over 18 people with his van in Cardiff in a so-called “journey of mayhem”.
Tvrdon, then 32 and a paranoid schizophrenic, killed a mum and injured the others, including police officers and seven children, one of whom was under two.
Imagine, you’ve got this old, frail, f***ing horrible geezer and four men… He wouldn’t have survived
Ben Hatchett
“He was a piece of s*** with no remorse for anything he did,” Ben recalls. “He was more worried about having to take medication and go to meetings than about those he hurt.
“It made me feel sick because he didn’t even care about the woman he killed and the children he injured with his van.”
The most notorious fiend Ben met was “nasty psychopath” Ian Brady, known for the Moors Murders alongside – killing five young people, aged 10 to 17.
Ben recalls Brady being “very confrontational” and always carrying a pen, which he suspects was “for safety in case someone went for him”.
Unlike other lags in the high security psychiatric hospital, his cell door wasn’t locked at night, according to Ben, meaning he could get hot drinks whenever he wanted.
“It was a f***ing p*** take, everyone was angry about it,” he says. “How could you give a monster like that special treatment? I think it was his high profile.”
Ben also claims the famous ‘hunger strikes’ of Brady, who died aged 79 in 2017, were a “total sham”.
“He was a liar,” Ben says. “He was never on hunger strike. Brady was refusing main meals, but he was getting jam sandwiches and biscuits from the staff.”
The anger towards Brady led Ben and three others to plot to nick a guard’s keys and take him hostage until one of the gang “grassed us up”.
“I’m glad he did that because I would have been facing a murder charge,” he says.
Matthew Tvrdon killed a mum and injured 17 others with his van in 2012 Credit: PA:Press Association
Ben described Tvrdon, whose victims included a child under two, as ‘remorseless’ Credit: South Wales Police
Ben returned to Broadmoor after his release Credit: supplied
“Imagine, you’ve got this old, frail, horrible geezer and four men, who don’t have a release date, coming into his cell. He wouldn’t have survived.”
The foiled plot led to Ben spending nine months in segregation, which he describes as being “transformative” because he read the self-help book The Key to Living the Law of Attraction.
“It made me realise I could really do something with my life,” he says. “I started plotting goals and working on myself. I found empathy, compassion, love and a role model from the book.”
Since his 2020 release, Ben has become a bareknuckle and gloved boxer and encourages others to turn their lives around through inspiring content on social media.
He says: “My hatred for Broadmoor and Ashworth played a big part in motivating me to become something and prove everyone wrong who laughed and took the mick out of me.
“I always say, I’m nothing special, but I am a struggler, and I keep fighting back. I keep fighting for my son, Oakely, to give him a normal childhood and love and time I never had.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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