Notorious prisoner Charles Bronson has been cleared of attempting to seriously harm a prison governor.

Bronson, 66, was said to have lunged at Mark Docherty as he entered a room for a welfare meeting at HMP Wakefield on January 25.

He landed on top of Mr Docherty and screamed “I will bite your f****** nose off and gouge your eyes out”, before prison officers intervened and restrained him.

Representing himself at Leeds Crown Court, Bronson claimed he had intended to give Mr Docherty a “gentle bear hug” and whisper in his ear, but tripped, or was tripped by someone, and fell.

Paula Williamson with a Charles Bronson lookalike
Paula Williamson with a Charles Bronson lookalike (Victoria Jones/PA)

The defendant admitted he partly blamed the governor at Wakefield’s segregation unit after he was told photographs of his prison wedding to actress Paula Williamson two months earlier would no longer be allowed to leave the jail until his release.

Bronson said he intended to whisper “where’s my wife’s photos?” in what he described as a “wake-up call” to the governor to not mess with his family.

Jurors found Bronson not guilty of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent, after deliberating for just short of three hours on Thursday.

The court had heard how Mr Docherty suffered swelling to the neck, scratches to the face and whiplash following the incident but Branson dismissed the injuries as “minor” and said he was “embarassed to even discuss them”.

Giving evidence this week from the dock at Leeds Crown Court flanked by prison officers, Bronson told jurors that for the first time in his life he was an “innocent man”, as he said he could have punched the governor if he wanted to and make his face look like a “smashed pumpkin”.

He said: “Since when is it a crime to hug your fellow man? There is not enough man hugs in this insane world today.

“I say from my heart and my soul, it’s a sure way of bonding and bringing peace on earth.

“It should not be a criminal offence to show a little humanity, especially inside our prisons and asylums.”

Bronson admitted he had been a “very nasty man” in the past, as he described to the jury how in his 44 years in prison he had held 11 hostages in nine different sieges – including governors, doctors, staff and, on one occasion, his solicitor.

He had caused damage to nine prison roofs at an estimated cost of £5 million, he said, but explained he had been making progress at the time of the flare-up at HMP Wakefield in the hope he may earn parole “somewhere down the line”.

He had even recently passed a violence reduction course on the prison’s segregation unit, he added.

The prosecution had outlined some of Bronson’s previous convictions to show he had a tendency to commit unprovoked acts of violence, including as recently as 2014 when he grabbed the governor of HMP Woodhill in a headlock and punched him after he stopped his mail.

But Bronson, who is serving a life sentence for robbery and kidnap, said that was all in the past.

Mr Docherty told the court that Bronson had indeed made progress, but he was adamant the inmate would have caused him serious harm if colleagues had not dragged him away.

Summing up the case earlier on Thursday, Judge Bayliss said to the jury that to find Bronson guilty they must be sure he deliberately intended to attack the governor and also wanted to really seriously hurt him.

He complimented Bronson for the way he cross-examined Mr Docherty from the dock.

The judge said: “He asked pretty pertinent questions. I stopped him when he went off the point but I didn’t stop him too much.”