The gang’s hideout had been blown but they had just made their escape, and Bruce was now well away from the scene of the crime plotting his next move. For the rest of the gang trust wore thin. The farm that crawled with police was meant to be destroyed. The solicitor charged an acquaintance with setting the farm alight taking with it every shred of evidence. But despite being paid thousands of pounds he never did the job. So the secret hideout had become a treasure trove of clues for the officers. ibid.
Bruce had literally been caught with his pants down. And that was too close for comfort. ibid.
And the next thing I knew was a masked man was ploughing up the steps. I grappled with him. I almost forced him off the footplate. But I was struck from behind by another. Jack Mills, televised interview August 1963
30 Years: All Britain Argues Is This Too Harsh? Daily Sketch headline 17th August 1964
He committed the crime of the century and became the world’s most wanted man. Ronnie Biggs was in the gang that pulled off the Great Train Robbery. In today’s money they stole £45,000,000. Within weeks most of the gang were arrested and jailed. But Biggs escaped. For ten years police hunted the world for Biggs but it was an unknown journalist who tracked him down. The Great Train Robbers’ Secret Tapes, 2011
The first thing Colin discovered was how Biggs nearly wasn’t part of the Great Train Robbery. ibid.
When the bank refused him a loan he turned to his old friend Bruce Reynolds. ibid.
On August 7th 1963 the gang was holed up at a farm in Buckinghamshire. They were waiting to hear when a Royal Mail Train left Glasgow Station. It was a Scottish Bank Holiday and overloaded with extra cash. ibid.
Within twenty-five minutes the gang had unloaded a hundred and twenty mail bags. ibid.
The Great Train Robbers received an equal share of £120,000; in today’s money each man walked away with £2,000,000. The gang fled the farm. ibid.
A week later the untouched farm provided a bumper harvest for forensics. ibid.
Fifteen months into his sentence Ronnie Biggs escaped. ibid.
On New Year’s Eve 1965 Biggs landed in Sydney Australia. ibid.
In 2001 after suffering a series of strokes Biggs returned to the UK to give himself up. ibid.
He committed the crime of the century and became the world’s most wanted man. Ronnie Biggs was in the gang that pulled off the Great Train Robbery. Ronnie Biggs: Secret Tapes
Biggs escaped. For ten years police hunted the world for Biggs but it was an unknown journalist who tracked him down. ibid.
One of the great newspaper scoops that never was. ibid.
The two became good friends. ibid.
Biggs nearly wasn’t part of the Great Train Robbery. ibid.
When his bank refused him a loan he turned to his old friend Bruce Reynolds. Reynolds is widely regarded as the brains behind the Great Train Robbery. ibid.
120 mail bags. ibid.
An equal share: £120,000 (today £2,000,000). ibid.
The untouched farm provided a bumper harvest for forensics. ibid.
The length of the sentence: 30 years. ibid.
July 1965: Fifteen months into his sentence Ronnie Biggs escaped ... A rope ladder thrown over a thirty foot wall, then lowered themselves into a waiting furniture van. ibid.
Rio 1974: Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs gave an interview to a Fleet Street journalist that has never been heard until now. ibid.
The cost of Biggs’ package deal for a new home and place – the equivalent today of half a million pounds. ibid.
Next morning Biggs turned up at room 909 at the Trocadero hotel to continue the interview. ibid.
British police were lying in wait. ibid.
The world’s media scrambled to Rio. ibid.
The rabbit Biggs pulled out of a hat was a love child by a Brazilian girlfriend. ibid.
He put the Biggs’ tapes into storage. ibid.
In 2001 after suffering a series of strokes, Biggs returned to the UK to give himself up. After 36 years on the run Biggs was finally back behind bars. He served a further eight years before being released in 2009 on compassionate grounds. ibid.
Stealing today’s equivalent of £45,000,000. ibid.
Everybody went in there to see what a million pounds looked like. And it got bigger and bigger and one guy said, There’s more than two million here. Ronnie Biggs
It’s just my kind of luck that I get to wind up in Wandsworth, which is a dirty stinking place. Ronnie Biggs
Over here the gringos go down pretty well – they like the blue eyes. Ronnie Biggs
The weather is glorious, the opportunities are marvellous and the natives are friendly. Ronnie Biggs
But I do not believe that the money brought us any happiness at all. It has destroyed our lives. Ronnie Biggs
I am Ronnie Biggs. Ronnie Biggs to Constantine, journalist
Biggs Arrested: Daily Express follows the trail to his hideout in Rio. Daily Express front page Saturday 2nd February 1974
End of the Run Ron! The Sun headline, return of Ronnie Knight, former husband of Barbara Windsor, to Britain
Long time no see, Ronnie. Slipper from Scotland Yard
It didn’t take long for the gang to make a mistake. Two of its members tried to pay three months’ rent in used notes to a police widow and soon they were arrested. The police discovered the farmhouse the gang had used to stash the loot. And most of the gang were rounded up. Crimes that Shook Britain
8th August 1963 midnight: a train rolls steadily through the English countryside just outside Warrington. Its cargo is one hundred and twenty-eight mail sacks and banknotes worth an estimated five million pounds. Days that Shook the World s2e4: Grand Heist, BBC 2004
This is the TPO or travelling post office. ibid.
The high value packets on board are sent weekly by banks from all over the country. ibid.
Bruce Reynolds and his team are waiting for the train. ibid.
Jack Mills is coshed repeatedly. ibid.
A human chain begins to pass the mailbags down to the vehicles under the bridge. They have unloaded a hundred and twenty of the hundred and twenty-eight bags. ibid.
Reynolds orders a complete clean-up of the farm. ibid.
The gang’s clean-up man failed to do his job properly. ibid.
Within four months ten members of the gang would be caught. ibid.
Within eighteen months Charlie Wilson escaped from Winson Green prison. ibid.
Only £336,518 of the stolen money was ever found. ibid.
Who masterminded the raid and helped the robbers plan the crime? Bruce Reynolds, Ronnie Biggs and Buster Edwards became icons as they were tracked down with the rest of the gang. But no insider was ever brought to justice. Who masterminded the raid and helped the robbers plan the crime? The Great Train Robbery’s Secret Mastermind? Channel 4 2013
An insider could have betrayed the Queen’s mail. ibid.
The secret Post Office inquiry began in the shadows. ibid.
Having tipped off [Gordon] Goody about the train, the Ulstermen continued to feed the gang with vital information right up to the day of the heist. ibid.
The farm had not been cleaned up and was just as the robbers left it. ibid.
The Post Office investigators were never to have such closure. ibid.
The [Great Train] robbery was brilliantly planned and very skilfully executed, and so simple. In the dead of night one of them climbs the gantry and wires up a cheap battery to the red signal. Train comes to a halt; they bust into the cab. Reg Abbiss, BBC News 1961-1973