Richard Madeley has clashed with former Corrie actress Paula Williamson over her relationship with notoriously violent criminal, Charles Bronson.
64-year-old jailbird Charles has spent most of his adult life behind bars, having committed a string of grave offences including armed robbery, wounding with intent, false imprisonment and threatening to kill.
Twitter, as you can imagine, became the source for much discussion about Charles’ love-life:
The unlikely couple are engaged to be married, with Paula revealing her hopes to start a family.
As Charles is still serving time on his latest sentence and is denied conjugal visits, they would have to use IVF.
The 37-year-old former soap star appeared on Good Morning Britain to explain her controversial decision and received a thorough grilling from straight-talking Richard.
You can watch part of the heated altercation below:
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Richard wasted no time getting to the point, asking Paula:
What are you doing? What are you playing at?
Undeterred, Paula gave the following romantically inclined answer:
What I am doing is I’ve fallen in love with a man. I have. Why is that so hard to believe?
Despite Paula’s declarations of adoration for the man who once threatened to eat a fellow inmate, many viewers appear to share Richard’s incredulous attitude:
Richard continued to press Paula to discover her motivations for wanting such an unconventional, and potentially dangerous, relationship:
What attracted you to the serial criminal Charles Bronson?
Paula defended her man with the following answer:
He’s been a violent criminal and he’s the first one to hold his hands up to that, and I don’t want this to be a rewash of what I’ve said in the past lots of times.
He is an artist, he does a lot for charity, he’s a fitness fanatic, he’s a very, very loving person.
According to the Mirror, a recent prison letter shows Charles is genuinely excited at the thought of bringing a new life into the world, writing:
I want a little baby. I’ve always fancied a daughter and I’ll be the best dad in the world.
I’ve even got my girl’s name, Sophie, the angel of all angels. My life will be a dream come true.
Will starting a new family be the making of Charles, or is Paula better off taking Richard’s blunt advice and using a sperm bank instead?
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.