I served 43 years in Britain's toughest jails - Charles Bronson's tough guy persona is just an act... when I first met him he was a soppy kid

A man who served for more than 40 years in some of Britain's toughest jails has claimed Charles Bronson's hardman persona is all 'an act'.

John Massey, 76, served 43 years for the murder of pub doorman Charlie Higgins in Hackney, east London, in 1975 – making him the longest-serving prisoner in the UK at the time. 

But now Massey has alleged that Bronson's notoriously fierce character - having been convicted of wounding while inside prison in 1975, 1978 and 1985 - was put on in order to make him appear more fearsome to other inmates. 

In an interview with podcaster Dodge Woodall he also accused Bronson of being like 'a big soppy kid' when he was first banged up.

Massey said: 'As far as I'm concerned [Bronson] can have the f***ing title [of being the longest-serving prisoner in the United Kingdom, which Bronson is on track to surpass], because I don't want it.'

Massey was bullish in his belief that Bronson could gain freedom from prison if he chose to do so.

He continued: 'He could get out, he could still get his freedom now if he dropped all the b******s, started talking sensible and stopped telling f****** lies and putting all the act on.

'I don't wish the geezer any ill-will or anything but he's kind of made his own bed he's got to lie in it.'

Thinking back to their first meetings, Massey said: 'When he first came away I was in [HMP] Frankland , and he was just a big soppy kid then. We felt like he needed to tone it down a bit. 

'We kind of looked after him, but then he kind of got too comfortable and the bully in him started coming out.'

It was then, according to Massey, that Bronson's behaviour began to noticeably change, although John feels that such a shift was an act to appear tougher and dismissed his antics as being 'scripted and manufactured'. 

He concluded: 'He's built up this character and I think he's locked into the role now.'

The pair - who initially looked out for one another while serving time in prison - fell out after one of Bronson's fans sent Massey an unsolicited gift of £25 – something Bronson felt was unfair.

Following a complaint from Bronson, Massey returned £50 to the woman who originally sent him money while demanding her to never contact him again. 

A subsequent feud between the pair was worsened by Bronson's treatment of his former PA, who remains close to Massey to this day.

Bronson, who changed his named to Charles Salvador in 2014, was convicted of wounding while inside prison in 1975, 1978 and 1985.

He was released in 1987 but was back inside 69 days later after robbing a jewellers.

He was released again in 1992 but jailed again weeks later for intent to rob.

In 1994 he took prison deputy governor Aidan Wallace hostage, then three years later took two staff members and three inmates hostage in the same way.

In 1999 he took art teacher Phil Danielson hostage for two days then in 2014 assaulted a prison governor for allegedly withholding his letters.

But he told his Parole Board hearing last year that in the past decade he has become a peace-loving artist and described himself as a 'retired prison activist.'

Massey escaped prison multiple times, first doing so in 1994 during a home visit when he calmly walked out of a social club while his guards played pool and drank.

He fled to the Costa Del Sol and spent three years on the run before being caught and returned to Britain.

In 2007, he was released on parole but was told he must live in South London and could not stay with his family. 

But he broke the conditions by travelling to stay with his father, Jack, 82, who was dying at the Royal Free Hospital, in North London. 

Massey said at time time: 'My dad had travelled the length and breadth of this country a thousand times in 30 years in order to visit me in various god-forsaken and dingy prisons.

'I could not fail him or my mother. To do so would have buckled my shoulders with guilt of unspeakable things to come.'

In 2010, he absconded from Ford open prison in West Sussex after being refused permission to visit his terminally ill sister Carol, who was in the same hospital where his father died.

She died two weeks later but rather than hand himself in Massey went to live with his mother and was not caught for ten months. 

He also made a daring escape from Pentonville prison in north London in 2012, by using a makeshift rope to scale the walls on the Victorian-built jail.