Remarkable Harrogate woman looks back on her encounters with evil Myra Hindley and Charles Bronson

Talking at a packed Women Winning event about her extraordinary life and her new book, Thirty-Five Years Inside as a Female Prison Officer, Veronica Bird OBE provided the audience with an astonishing snapshot of her experiences in some of Britain's toughest prisons with some of its most notorious prisoners.

The audience at the Police Treatment Centre on Harlow Moor Road in Harrogate were fascinated to hear how Veronica Bird, born in the 1940s and one of 12 children, overcame every challenge after she leaving the police force, training at Holloway Women’s Prison, then rising through the ranks in jails around the country before becoming Governor at Leeds Armley Men’s Prison.

In her action-packed journey, the remarkable Veronica learnt a lot about human nature, some of it positive but much of it as dark can be.

Among the many entertaining anecdotes about her encounters with prisoners, politicians and royalty, there were also troubling reminiscences of staring evil in the face.

The former prison governor, who is retired and lives in Harrogate, entered the Prison Service the same day as Myra Hindley.

Assessing her to be even more evil than Ian Brady, Veronica described how Hindley manipulated everyone she came across and never regretted her part in the Moors Murders.

Addicted to the limelight, Veronica Bird revealed that Hindley suggested in her final years that her ashes be scattered on Saddleworth Moor where her child victims lay.

As for Charles Bronson, one of the UK’s longest serving prisoners, she she said he was so dangerous at one point there had to be six prison officers in attendance just to unlock his cell door at HMP Hull.

The eccentric but violent inmate got married while in prison, though the marriage proved short after his wife honeymooned with another man, and has never been granted parole, partly because he has told the authorities, if released, he wants two pet dogs name Ronnie and Reggie named after his favourite people, the Kray Twins.

In what was a fascinating talk, proceedings were aided by hilarious theatrical flourishes by Paula Stott, one of the Harrogate Women Winning project’s lead co-ordinators.

Veronica's Bird: Thirty-Five Years Inside as a Female Prison Officer Paperback by Veronica Bird and Richard Newman is published by Clink Street Publishing.