Ronnie Biggs, Great Train Robber, dies at 84

The former Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs has died at the age of 84.

Born in London in 1929 Biggs grew up in Lambeth, but was evacuated to Cornwall during the war. He joined the RAF in 1947 but soon deserted, and whilst AWOL broke into a chemist’s shop. Soon after he was jailed in a civilian prison for car theft and within a month of his release was convicted again after a failed raid on a bookmakers.

In 1960 he married the 17 year old Charmain Powell, the daughter of a local Headmaster and ten years his junior. In an attempt to go straight and with a young family to support he trained as a carpenter and for a while things went well, but finding himself short of money in 1963 he approached former jailmate Bruce Reynolds in an attempt to arrange a loan only to be offered a part in what became one of the most infamous escapades in British criminal history.

In the early hours of August 8th 1963 an overnight mail train from Glasgow to London was stopped and robbed near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire after members of a 15-man gang tampered with line signals. In those days it was common practice for provincial banks to quietly send large quantities of used notes to their Head Offices in London on overnight mail trains with little or no security. With careful planning based on inside information from an individual known only as 'The Ulsterman', the robbers got away with over £2.6 million (the equivalent of £46 million today). The bulk of the stolen money was never recovered. Though the gang did not use any firearms, Jack Mills, the train driver, was beaten over the head with a metal bar. Mills' injuries were severe enough to end his career (contrary to what has often been suggested in the media, Mills’ death in 1970 was not due to his injuries, he died from leukemia).

After the robbery the gang hid at Leatherslade Farm. It was after the police found this hideout that incriminating evidence would lead to the eventual arrest and conviction of most of the gang and in early 1964 thirteen of them were brought to trial at Aylesbury Assizes (the gang member tasked with burning down the farmhouse to destroy any evidence had got drunk and fallen asleep and had to flee without carrying out the plan as the police closed in!).

The sentences handed down to 11 of them by Mr Justice Edmund Davis were regarded by many as draconian, ranging from 24 to 30 years (one was acquitted and one only convicted on a minor charge and sentenced to three years). The 11 men all felt aggrieved, particularly Bill Boal (who died in prison) and Lennie Field, who were later found innocent of the charges against them. The other men resented what they considered to be the excessive length of the sentences, which were longer than those given to many murderers or armed robbers at the time. There was no parole system in place in those days and prisoners served the full term of the sentence. Train robbers who were sentenced later, and by different judges, received shorter terms.

Biggs’ part in the train robbery had been minor, but his notoriety began after he escaped from Wandsworth prison in July 1965, and avoided British justice for the next 36 years, much to the chagrin of Met detectives Tommy Butler and Jack Slipper (Slipper spent the next 20 years chasing Biggs around the globe).

He fled first to Brussels and then Paris before flying to Sydney in 1967. After several months he relocated to Adelaide where he settled in under a false identity, and was even joined by his wife and children, until tipped off that Interpol were closing in on him prompting a move to Melbourne. Astonishingly, Biggs worked in Melbourne as a carpenter on the sets at the studios of Channel 9 television, and when in 1970 the police almost caught up with him again their former colleague was the lead story on the channel’s six o’clock news that night.

Having evaded the police in Melbourne by a matter of hours Biggs fled to Panama and then Brazil, which had no extradition treaty with the UK at that time. He became a minor celebrity and enjoyed the trappings the lifestyle brought. Having had to leave his family in Australia he began an affair with a local girl and it was her pregnancy leading to the birth of a son that guaranteed Biggs’s safety in Brazil, as although talk of an extradition treaty between the countries was in the offing he could not be deported whilst legally responsible for the upkeep of a Brazilian minor (as it was, the treaty didn’t come into force until 1997).

In April 1977 Biggs attended a cocktail party onboard the Royal Navy frigate Danae, which was in Rio for a courtesy visit, but he was not arrested as he was safe from extradition. Biggs' status as a known felon meant he could not work, visit bars or be away from home after 10 pm. To provide an income, Biggs' family hosted barbecues at his home in Rio, where tourists could meet Biggs and hear him recount his involvement in the robbery (which was minor). Biggs was even visited by former footballer Stanley Matthews, and one of the first things he asked was, 'How are Charlton Athletic doing?' It turned out he had supported Charlton from being a small boy and had often seen Matthews play at The Valley. Around this time, "Ronnie Biggs" mugs, coffee cups and T-shirts also appeared throughout Rio.

One of his more bizarre exploits was to sing lead vocals on several tracks with the then notorious Sex Pistols. In the summer of 1978 “No One Is Innocent” was released as a single and despite being banned by the BBC it reached #7 in the charts (in 1991 Biggs reached the German Top 40 singing with German punk group Die Toten Hosen).

In 1981 Biggs was kidnapped by a group of mercenaries/bounty hunters but their boat developed engine trouble. They had to be rescued by the Barbados coastguard and it was Biggs’ good fortune that Barbados, despite being in the Commonwealth, also had no extradition treaty with the UK at that time and Biggs was allowed to return to Brazil.

After the 1997 treaty was signed the UK applied for Biggs’ extradition but the Brazilian Supreme Court threw it out, saying that justice would not be served by deporting somebody who had, for all his failings, led a spotless life in his 27 years in Brazil and granted him permanent residence for the rest of his days.

However, Biggs’ health was failing and the money had long run out. It was a supreme irony that the country that he had avoided for so long was the one place that could give him the (free) medical treatment he desperately needed so in 2001 he did a deal with the Sun newspaper and they flew him back to the UK on a private jet. Upon arrival he was immediately arrested and returned to prison, with 28 years of his sentence still to serve.

Over the next eight years four appeals for parole on compassionate grounds due to his failing health were refused, but in 2009 the Parole Board recommended his release on licence. The then Home Secretary Jack Straw opposed the recommendation (publicly at least) but Biggs was released two days before his 80th birthday.

He still made media headlines and in 2011 published an autobiography, but had further bouts of ill health leading to long stays in hospital following a stroke.

He saw out his days in a nursing home in Essex.

R.I.P. Not

End of the line, run out of steam etc...

There's a drama on BBC1 tonight at 8:00 about the robbery. Let's see if it gets pulled.

Well as this is news and not an RIP post, I can honestly say I couldn't give a shit that he's dead. He was not exactly what you would call a master criminal and by all accounts, was a piss poor one in between plying an honest trade as a carpenter. It took being part of a gang of criminals for him to rise to notoriety.

Even though he wasn't the one who cast the actual blow, he was part of a crew who ended driver Jack Mills' career as a result of the injuries he received. Theft is a low enough crime as it is, but to compound it with violence is the act of cowards. He then went on to give the judiciary a very public two fingers as he led a relatively short lived, but very public high life in exile. I'm aware that his fame only served him for so long, but profiting from crime and the beating of a man is disgusting.

So long as people like him were able to flaunt their escape and appear to glamorise criminality (with help from the media), it perpetuated the myth that crime does pay.

Fuck you Ronnie

Thank you very much for my nomination in
Best Cap or Cap Set Of The Year 2013
for Dannii Harwood Posts 781 & 782

(18-12-2013 13:27 )circles_o_o_o Wrote:  End of the line, run out of steam etc...

There's a drama on BBC1 tonight at 8:00 about the robbery. Let's see if it gets pulled.

I wondered about that myself, but as he wasn't exactly an upstanding citizen I'd imagine the BBC will still broadcast it. His death probably works in their favour in terms of ratings.

Thank you very much for my nomination in
Best Cap or Cap Set Of The Year 2013
for Dannii Harwood Posts 781 & 782

(18-12-2013 13:27 )circles_o_o_o Wrote:  There's a drama on BBC1 tonight at 8:00 about the robbery. Let's see if it gets pulled.

Why would it get pulled?

Why would anyone think it might get pulled?

Some say he was a Robin Hood figure... Stealing from rich and then keep all the money for themselves.

But their actions on the driver and fireman of the train probably lead to their premature deaths.

Well, according to the Mirror, they are still showing it :

Quote:The BBC have confirmed two films due to be screened tonight and tomorrow about the Great Train Robbery will still be airing.

The broadcaster said: "We would like to pass on our condolences to his family and friends at today's sad news, and confirm that the two part drama will still be shown as scheduled tonight and tomorrow at 8pm on BBC One."

To be fair to Biggs he had nothing to do with the violence. The blows struck were in direct disobedience to orders as the robbery was supposed to take place without any violence being used. Biggs had only a minor part in the robbery, despite the fact that he made the newspaper headlines so many times over so many years.

Good Riddance.