THE long-serving prisoner formerly known as Charles Bronson has denied attacking a prison governor and threatening to bite his nose off.

Giving evidence, the 65-year-old, now called Charles Salvador, claimed the prison staff had over-reacted when he approached the governor in HMP Wakefield.

"I was going to grab him in a bear hug, a gentle one," he alleged in the witness box. "No intention of harming him and I was going to whisper in his ear 'where's my wife's photos?'".

The prosecution alleges Salvador bore a grudge against the prison governor for not allowing his wife to keep photos of their wedding in prison in November 2017 and had wanted to attack him for months.

Salvador, now at HMP Frankland, County Durham, and who has previously been in Full Sutton prison near York, denies a charge of attempted grievous bodily harm with intent.

He sang the witness's oath as he started giving evidence on day three of his trial at Leeds Crown Court.

He claimed he was "facing the biggest farce probably in prison history".

Salvador claimed: "When I went into the room I was not happy at all with the governor. I don't like him, make no bones about it.

"When I went into that room there was nothing in my mind whatsoever to attack the governor. Coming from me, the man of violence most of my life. I will put my hands up to that, I have been a very nasty man in my time.

"For once in my life I really am an innocent man."

He claimed the threat to bite the governor's nose, which was recorded on bodycam footage was "horrible" but "just words".

Salvador, who is representing himself, told the jury he had intended to call his wife, actress Paula Williamson and two other witnesses, but it would be "too cruel" to call her because she was in a rehab clinic after taking an overdose.

He also claimed that the couple were divorcing and that he had "lost a loving beautiful wife over all this nonsense".

The trial continues.