One of the ‘silent twins’ that eerily didn’t speak to anyone for almost 30 years has revealed what life was at in Broadmoor hospital after the pair were admitted there as teenagers.
Born to Barbadian parents Gloria and Aubrey Gibbons on 11 April 1963, twins June and Jennifer Gibbons were part of a family that were part of the ‘Windrush generation’, moving to Great Britain during the 1960s.
Those around the girls realised that they weren’t speaking normally, to the point where they were even making up their own language to communicate with one another.
The language was believed to be a sped-up version of Bajan Creole, a dialect from their homeland that combines African and British influences that is spoken by many in the Caribbean nation.
However, their version was so quick that nobody could understand at all.
June revealed on a BBC podcast June: Voice of a Silent Twin in 2023: “We had a speech impediment. Our parents couldn’t understand a word that we were saying, nobody understood – so we stopped talking.”
After they continued communicating solely with each other, a child psychologist tried to separate them and send them to different schools, though they refused to eat or speak in this team, forcing them to bring them back together.
June and Jennifer started getting into trouble after meeting some boys from their area, experimenting with drugs and alcohol when they were 18.
June began communicating normally after her sister’s death. (Alamy/PA)
They then started carrying out a series of crimes, which June admitted to the BBC: “The two of us were out of our minds. We were out of our depth, beyond help.
“We started destroying the town… vandalising places. We were sort of saying ‘we’ll ring the police and see if they can catch us’.”
The 19-year-olds were assessed by a psychiatrist after being arrested and allegedly labelled as ‘psychopaths’, who suggested that they moved to the infamous Broadmoor Hospital under the Mental Health Act.
June and Jennifer were sentenced to an ‘indefinite period’ based on reports, as they were sent to the high-security psychiatric hospital.
There, they met some of the country’s most dangerous criminals, with June revealing: “My first boyfriend was there for armed robbery.
“Jennifer’s boyfriend killed two women.
“I saw the Yorkshire Ripper having a hamburger across the field and he looked like he’s looking at me. I thought he could pounce so I didn’t really look at him.”
However, the biggest name drop was none other than Ronnie Kray.
Ronnie Kray sent June Christmas cards (William Lovelace/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
June recalled: “Ronnie Kray came over to my table, he took my hand and kissed it and says ‘hello June, I’ve been hearing about you’. We used to get Christmas and birthday cards from Ronnie.”
Tragically, as the twins were finally moved to a lower security hospital after 11 years, Jennifer died suddenly of acute myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle.
June admitted her time at Broadmoor has left scars, further explaining to the BBC: “Every other morning I think I’m in Broadmoor, I wake up in the morning, hear the jangling of the keys, it’s still with me even to this day.”
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