Great Train Robbery (1963)
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The Great Train Robbery was the name given to a £2.3 million train robbery committed on 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, England.
The Royal Mail's Glasgow to London travelling post office (TPO) train was stopped by tampered signals. A 15-member gang, led by Bruce Reynolds and including Ronnie Biggs, Charlie Wilson, Jimmy Hussey, John Wheater, Brian Field, Jimmy White, Tommy Wisbey, Gordon Goody and Buster Edwards, stole £2.3 million in used £1, £5 and £10 notes — the equivalent of £40 million (US $74 million) adjusted for 2006 inflation.
Although no guns were used in the robbery, the train driver, Jack Mills, was hit on the head with an iron bar, causing a black eye and facial bruising. The assailant was one of three members of the gang never to be arrested or identified. Frank Williams (at the time a Detective Inspector) claims to have traced the man, but he could not be charged because of lack of evidence. Mills recovered fully from the attack and died in 1970 from leukemia.
Thirteen of the gang members were caught after police discovered their fingerprints at their hideout at Leatherslade Farm, near Oakley, Buckinghamshire. The robbers were tried, sentenced on 16 April 1964 and imprisoned. Ronnie Biggs escaped from prison 15 months into his sentence, settling in Melbourne Australia, and later moving to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when police found out his Melbourne address. Biggs could not be extradited from Brazil because he had fathered a Brazilian child. As a result he lived openly in Rio for many years, completely untouchable by the British authorities. Charlie Wilson escaped and was living outside Montreal, Canada on Rigaud Mountain. In the upper-middle-class neighbourhood where the large, secluded properties are surrounded by trees, Wilson was just another resident who enjoyed his privacy. Only when his wife made the mistake of telephoning his parents in England was Scotland Yard able to track him down.
Despite the attack on Jack Mills, many hold fond memories of the story of the robbery and the escape, and Ronnie Biggs is treated affectionately by some of the British tabloid press. Others regard them with contempt, even though Biggs' role in the robbery was minor, he still received a 30-year prison sentence as did the others.
In May 2001 Ronnie Biggs, aged 71, unable to meet mounting medical costs in Brazil after suffering three strokes, voluntarily returned to England. Biggs was fully aware that he would be arrested and jailed upon arrival. After detention and a short court hearing he was promptly sent back to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence.
The story of Ronald "Buster" Edwards, who fled to Mexico but later surrendered to authorities, was dramatised in the 1988 film, Buster, which starred Phil Collins in the title role. Edwards became a flower seller outside Waterloo Station on his release from prison. He committed suicide in 1994.
One of the post office carriages involved is now preserved at Nene Valley Railway and being restored to operational condition. The train locomotive was no: D326 (later no: 40126). It became somewhat of a celebrity engine though for all the wrong reasons as, apart from the robbery itself, it was involved in a number of serious operating incidents throughout its operational life. [citation needed]
The robbery was investigated by Detective Chief Superintendent Jack Slipper of the Metropolitan Police (widely known in the press as "Slipper of the Yard"), who became so involved with its aftermath that he continued to hunt down many of the escaped robbers in retirement. He was one of those who believed Biggs should not be released after returning to the UK in 2001 and he often appeared in the media to comment on any news item connected to the robbery. Slipper died aged 81 on August 24, 2005.
As a direct result of this robbery, the British Railways Rule Book was amended. When stopped by a red signal, train drivers were normally required to contact the signaller by telephone (a procedure that requires leaving the driving cab). Drivers of mail trains were not to leave the cab at signals and were also required to keep the doors locked. These rules remained until the last Travelling Post Office ran on British railways on 9 January 2004.
The bulk of the stolen money was not recovered.
[edit] The Great Train Robbery in fiction
The book The Robbers' Tale by Peta Fordham tells the story. Published by Hodder & Stoughton, London 1965.
The robbery was mentioned in the 1965 film adaptation of Ian Fleming's Thunderball.
A comedy version of events was staged in the film The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery
The 1967 film Robbery starring Stanley Baker portrayed events similar to the Great Train Robbery.
In the 1968 film, Inspector Clouseau, the bumbling detective helps Scotland Yard try to solve the crime of the century.
In 1988 Buster Edwards experiences were made into the comedy-drama Buster, starring Phil Collins.
In 2005, on the Australian Soap Opera Neighbours, Karl Kennedy compares Paul Robinson to Ronnie Biggs.
