BOSSES of Broadmoor Hospital have revealed major plans to develop its notorious former site amid rumours it could be turned into a hotel.
Patients and staff moved into the new £250 million Broadmoor Hospital on December 16, near to its former 150-year-old Victorian home.
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However, the old hospital remains a ghost town and to help fund the new high-security hospital, its owners, West London NHS Trust says it is open for commercial or residential bidding.
A West London NHS Trust spokesman said: "The marketing of the old hospital site has not yet begun.
"As per the Bracknell Forest Site Allocation Local Plan, a range of potential uses have been identified, including commercial and residential.
"Monies raised from the sale will contribute towards the cost of the new hospital.”
Just before Christmas, the hospital gave the 7,000 villagers living in Crowthorne a wake-up call after its alarm had a fault in the system.
As neighbours bolted to make sure their doors and windows were locked, the unnerving sound of the siren gave a stark reminder of the many dangerous patients living inside the facility.
Some of Britain's most notorious killers have been treated at Broadmoor Hospital.
The Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe (who was left almost blind after being stabbed twice in the eyes by fellow patients), Charles Bronson, the armed robber with a penchant for taking wardens and fellow inmates hostage, and gangster Ronnie Kray was sent to Broadmoor after being diagnosed as a schizophrenic.
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Broadmoor Hospital first opened in 1863 as a 'lunatic asylum for the criminally insane', its first residents were 95 women, most of whom had been convicted of killing their infant children.
Today many would have been diagnosed with post-natal depression, but back then they were dismissed as mad women.
What the old Victorian wing could be used as still remains a mystery, but bosses are open for it to be used for commercial business or as a residential site, namely a care home.
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