Notorious jailbird Charles Bronson has donated £100 to help pay for the headstone of a baby girl who died at just 10 days old.
The convicted robber, who is serving a life sentence at HMP Woodhill, Bucks., says he is ”privileged” and ”humbled” to help Sarah Gaffney and Luke Dayus, whose daughter Pheobe died last August.
They are trying to raise £2,500 for a new headstone after her grave at Astwood cemetery in Worcester was vandalised.
Family friend Mark Williams, who sells scupltures based on Bronson’s prison drawings, helped arrange the donation.
Bronson gives money to charity from the sculpture sales and asked Mark to donate £100 direct to Pheobe’s family.
He wrote in a letter: ”Yeh, tell that family of the little girl who died – my sincere sorrow. And the ton is my privilege to sort out. I feel very humbled to be able to do it. Your buddy, Chaz.”
Miss Gaffney, 20, of Warndon, Worcs., who has a two-year-old son, Cane, said: ”He may have done some bad things through his life but this has proven that he still has a heart of gold.
”People might think he is a nasty person but this shows he still cares. I am still in shock about the whole thing to be honest.”
Mr Dayus, 24, added: ”I didn’t believe it when Mark first told me. I didn’t think a person like that would think about us. You would think he had enough to worry about.”
Bronson, a former bare knuckle boxer now aged 57, was originally jailed for robbery in 1974 but this has been extended to a life sentence for a series of prison incidents.