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Britain’s most dangerous inmate covered himself in butter to attack 12 prison officers – because Arsenal won the FA Cup.

Spurs fan Charles Bronson admitted he “lost it” when Tottenham’s arch rivals defeated Hull at Wembley.

The incident at Full Sutton jail in York came just months after he is said to have attacked the governor of Woodhill prison for criticising his artwork.

In a letter dated May 19 to friend Kate Kray – the ex-wife of Ronnie Kray – Bronson said the “rumble” with officers in riot gear left him with broken ribs.

He said he smothered himself in Lurpak as he hoped the grease would make it harder for them to restrain him.

The attack was a carbon copy of an assault on 12 prison officers at Wakefield prison in 2010.

Bronson, 61, wrote: “Not good news. I’ve had another rumble. This time with a dozen riot mob on the yard!

“Obviously I had my reasons and I’d sooner swallow teeth than my pride. Sadly I came off worst – got smashed up ribs.

"Life goes on Kate! You won’t hear me moan!”

The hard man went on: “It was sunny! A scorcher! Arsenal was playing Hull. I so wanted Hull to win, coz I’m Spurs.

“I got Lurpak and spread it on thick. Then a small cloud appeared.

“I swear I see Ron’s face. It was eerie. Go on son, let ’em have it!”

Explaining the vision, he said: “I know the mind plays games in moments of mad events but it is still a comforting thought Ron’s still around. Made me feel happy. Safe! Double up for it!”

The letter goes on to refer to Derek Bentley who was hanged in 1953 – and posthumously pardoned – for the murder of a police officer during a burglary.

Bentley was said to have told the accomplice who shot the PC: “Let him have it.” But the interpretation of what he meant was disputed.

Bronson, who is due to go on trial on September 1 for the alleged attack on Woodhill Prison’s governor, claimed to have been offered a third off his sentence if he pleads guilty.

But he told Kate, 58: “F*** that!. “I’m ­innocent. That’s what Derek Bentley said. He hung!”

(Image: Les Wilson)

In recent phone calls to Kate, who lives in Kent, Bronson claimed the governor said his style of art was too aggressive. His pictures often depict prison officers in violent scenes.

Bronson has spent 36 of the past 40 years in solitary confinement and his move to Woodhill, Bucks, was to test if he could mix with other prisoners.

The convict, first jailed in 1974 when he got seven years for armed robbery, told Kate he was mortified by the incident with the prison boss because he had upset his mother Eira Peterson, 84.

Kate said: “Apparently he lost it and attacked the governor for saying his art was too explicit, too violent. He got put back in the cage and started drawing Easter bunnies instead of his usual disturbing pictures. But he is really upset that he’s upset his mum.

“I’d told him I was planning an auction of lots of Ron’s and Reggie’s stuff, so he said, ‘Can you put my drawings in auction to send my mum on holiday?’”

Kate is selling nine of Bronson’s pictures, as well as a poem called Asylum, a statement about his art and a copy of a formal complaint he made against the Prison Service in 2009 after his ­spectacles were allegedly stolen.

In one drawing, he promotes “Kate Kray for Prime Minister”.

In another, which depicts severed limbs, there is a note saying: “Remember me to Santa.”

Another shows Bronson on a sun-lounger on Blackpool beach with a bird and a speech bubble saying: “I’m sure that’s the Birdman of Broadmoor.”

One chilling picture has Bronson depicting himself in a Hannibal Lecter-style mask. A self-portrait from 2000 was drawn with pastels. He also gave Kate a picture of a cross, as a tribute to gangsters the Kray twins and their brother Charlie.

Bronson’s chilling work has featured in exhibitions around the world and he is also the author of several published books.

(Image: Les Wilson)

Kate added: “I got to know Charlie through being married to Ron and included him when I was working on TV documentaries and books about Britain’s hardest villains.

"Of all the people I have interviewed, including murderers and maniacs, if you were to ask me, ‘Would you let Charles Bronson stay at your house overnight?’ I would say yes. It is testosterone-led with Charlie.

“Charlie has only two things to occupy him in his cage. His fitness regime and his art. If you keep a man in a cage for 36 years, then rattle that cage, be prepared, he’ll bite.”

The Ministry of Justice declined to comment on the incident at Full Sutton.