Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs dies aged 84

[webfact]

Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs dies aged 84

LONDON: -- British criminal Ronnie Biggs, who took part in the 1963 Great Train Robbery, has died aged 84, his spokeswoman has confirmed.

Biggs was part of the gang which escaped with £2.6m from the Glasgow to London mail train on 8 August 1963.

He was given a 30-year sentence but escaped from Wandsworth prison in 1965.

In 2001, he returned to the UK seeking medical help but was sent to prison. He was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 after contracting pneumonia.

Biggs, who died early on Wednesday, was being cared for at the Carlton Court Care Home in East Barnet, north London.

He could not speak and had difficulty walking after a series of strokes.

He was last seen in public at the funeral of his fellow Great Train Robber, Bruce Reynolds, in March.

Christopher Pickard, ghost writer of Biggs's autobiography, said he should be remembered as "one of the great characters of the last 50 years".

Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25426914


-- BBC 2013-12-18

[noikrit]

Love him or Loath him..... he definetly was a character ........... I wonder if the Sex Pistols will right another song ????

[briboy]

I wonder how many on here will know him personally, best mates at school or drank with him or pants his ex, etc etc

[Chicog]

Ah yes, myself and the Kray twins used to drink with him and Charlie Richardson.

And of course Barbara Windsor couldn't keep her hands off me.

[Basil B]

I for one am not sorry that he will not see another Christmas.

He was not a Mr Big in the GTR gang, but he was a career criminal who made life miserable for many, he made a fool of law enforcement here in the UK and when he could not continue his criminal ways, he got the gutter press to finance his miserable existence.

[fishhooks]

Worked with him in Television Ch9, for quite some time whilst he was in Melbourne AU.

I was a technician and he a carpenter, obviously I had no idea of his past.

Just another of the crew, mainly on outside telecasts.

You just never know who you may share time with in this life!

[Chicog]

I for one am not sorry that he will not see another Christmas.

He was not a Mr Big in the GTR gang, but he was a career criminal who made life miserable for many, he made a fool of law enforcement here in the UK and when he could not continue his criminal ways, he got the gutter press to finance his miserable existence.

And then the taxpayer to fund the rest of it.

[Basil B]

I for one am not sorry that he will not see another Christmas.

He was not a Mr Big in the GTR gang, but he was a career criminal who made life miserable for many, he made a fool of law enforcement here in the UK and when he could not continue his criminal ways, he got the gutter press to finance his miserable existence.

And then the taxpayer to fund the rest of it.

I suppose the send off will be funded by Britain's criminal underworld so at least us tax payers will not have to fund that.

[Jay Sata]

I interviewed him in 1988 and found him a charming guy.The banknotes were going to London to be destroyed and the 'gang' were not aware there was so much money on the train. Someone hit the driver but the level of his injury would not get a young thug today more than a couple of months suspended sentence.

He told me there was never a Mr Big but there was a Mr Biggs. Many pointed the finger at Bruce Reynolds as organiser.

The prison sentences of 30 years were there because this was an affront to the state at the time.

However mass murder these days get's no where near that. Kill an old lady and you might get 10 years but out in five.

Watch the BBC two parter http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10524818/The-Great-Train-Robbery-BBC-One-preview.html

[jackr]

You just never know who you may share time with in this life!

Had an autograph off Chris Tarrant at an 'Autograss' meet in early 80s... what a <deleted> he was (and still is likely).

Biggsy got to live the high life, but yes, haven't much time for thieves.

[Somtamnication]

Screw him. Burn in hell. The train driver and his family never recovered from the physical and psychological damage done to him.

What's up with glorifying this idiot?

Such morbid fascination with this guy? You guys interviewed the modern day yobs, too? Same level!

[brianP]

A crook is a crook!

[biplanebluey]

A crook is a crook!

But this one will get a state funeral---- no?

[deecee10]

Who cares?

[krisb]

I wonder how many on here will know him personally, best mates at school or drank with him or pants his ex, etc etc

He used to drink in a pub not far from me. The Grange hotel in South Australia. For that matter AC/DC used to play in another bar up the road called the Largs Pier.

[Sirius1935]

He used to entertain visitors to an afternoon at his home in Rio-de-Janeiro. It would include a swim in the pool and a BBQ with a few beers. It was most popular amongst the crew. He charger $40 per person for the afternoon which was a bit steep but I went once because I wanted to know how he managed to get out of Australia. He told me that he had now switched from Train Robbery to Daylight Robbery which was not far off the mark. Quite a character! As to how he got out of Australia, well that's a story for a book one day.

[Frank James]

R.I.P. Ronnie.

[dunque]

R. I. H. Biggs

[Neeranam]

Love him or Loath him..... he definetly was a character ........... I wonder if the Sex Pistols will right another song ????

I remember buying the song - thought it was great when I was 13.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJf7K3RKRVU

[Basil B]

I interviewed him in 1988 and found him a charming guy.The banknotes were going to London to be destroyed and the 'gang' were not aware there was so much money on the train. Someone hit the driver but the level of his injury would not get a young thug today more than a couple of months suspended sentence.

He told me there was never a Mr Big but there was a Mr Biggs. Many pointed the finger at Bruce Reynolds as organiser.

The prison sentences of 30 years were there because this was an affront to the state at the time.

However mass murder these days get's no where near that. Kill an old lady and you might get 10 years but out in five.

Watch the BBC two parter http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10524818/The-Great-Train-Robbery-BBC-One-preview.html

I wounder how much you paid him for the interview?

As pointed out that guy was a career criminal that lived a much better life than many of us.

There is no doubt in my mind that the attack on the train driver Jack Mills (for which he received a punitive £250 compensation) contributed to his death a few years later.

[Basil B]

You just never know who you may share time with in this life!

Had an autograph off Chris Tarrant at an 'Autograss' meet in early 80s... what a <deleted> he was (and still is likely).

Biggsy got to live the high life, but yes, haven't much time for thieves.

Yes my mother meet Mr Tarrant on one occasion many years ago, yes he can be extremely rude, walked up to her in a cinema demanding to be shown to his seat with "Do you Know Who I Am?" my mother was not an usherette, she did not even work for the cinema, she was a volunteer for St Johns Ambulance, you would think they could have got some one with a higher IQ to host "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire".

[Mosha]

Worked with him in Television Ch9, for quite some time whilst he was in Melbourne AU.

I was a technician and he a carpenter, obviously I had no idea of his past.

Just another of the crew, mainly on outside telecasts.

You just never know who you may share time with in this life!

A guy who changed next to me at work got his kids to murder their mother.

[7by7]

A small time crook who played a very minor role in the robbery yet, because he managed to escape, became some sort of media celebrity.

He wanted in and so told the gang that he could find someone to drive the train; and he even failed at that as the person he produced couldn't do so!

Jack Mills, who later died from the injury he received during the robbery, is forgotten.

Biggs' wife sold her story to The Mirror in the sixties for £65,000; Biggs on his return from Brazil got £20,000 from The Sun for his son.

All Jack Mills got for the injury which led to his premature retirement and death was £250 compensation.

What a strange world we live in.

[superdome]

Bless Biggs...the train driver was ill bfore the GTR...his family made more out of it than it was worth,he just needed an excuse to get out on medical grounds [he had been refused twice before]..so perfect timing on his part...as for the rest of the "gang"...nice one...gave thew old bill the runaround...i was on Box Hill when they found a few £££££ in a telephone box...any one remember that...i doubt it

[mariner16]

From what I know of it as an eleven year old living in Leighton Buzzard at the time, (and there is a lot being released online in the last few years that was suppressed at the time), Biggsy was only there because he was doing some carpentry work for a retired British Rail shunter driver and Bruce Reynolds was looking for someone to drive the diesel. They lost the brake air pressure when disconnecting the passenger coaches from the mail coach and while the shunter driver was not very successfully attempting to restore it, Jack Mills was coshed by one of three members of the gang who for what ever reason were never arrested, to encourage him to get the train moving along the line to Bridego Bridge where the ex army trucks were waiting to be filled with mailbags. Jack Mills, who as a previous poster has said, was already ill, actually died in 1970 of chronic lymphatic leukaemia, with a further complication of bronchial pneumonia and the coroner at the time declined to hold an inquest as there was no connection between his death and the robbery.

The rest of the story just shows the UK establishment as the bunch of vindictive clowns they are - and the UK police as like the Keystone Cops

[7by7]

Try telling Mills' family that being hit over the head with a crowbar, not a cosh, had no effect on him.

I just hope that the two posters above and those who agree with them are never in the position where they or a member of their family is the victim of a violent criminal.

But if they ever are, then they might change their minds.

Yes, Biggs was just a very minor part of the gang; but the media glorification of him, or any other criminal, sickens me.

[7by7]

Crewe residents say train driver victim Jack Mills should be remembered from Great Train Robbery, not Ronnie Biggs

[Jay Sata]

From what I know of it as an eleven year old living in Leighton Buzzard at the time, (and there is a lot being released online in the last few years that was suppressed at the time), Biggsy was only there because he was doing some carpentry work for a retired British Rail shunter driver and Bruce Reynolds was looking for someone to drive the diesel. They lost the brake air pressure when disconnecting the passenger coaches from the mail coach and while the shunter driver was not very successfully attempting to restore it, Jack Mills was coshed by one of three members of the gang who for what ever reason were never arrested, to encourage him to get the train moving along the line to Bridego Bridge where the ex army trucks were waiting to be filled with mailbags. Jack Mills, who as a previous poster has said, was already ill, actually died in 1970 of chronic lymphatic leukaemia, with a further complication of bronchial pneumonia and the coroner at the time declined to hold an inquest as there was no connection between his death and the robbery.

The rest of the story just shows the UK establishment as the bunch of vindictive clowns they are - and the UK police as like the Keystone Cops

Well said Mariner. There has never been any evidence to link Biggs with Jack Mills injury. Biggs was not a violent person.

There are examples every day in the national and regional newspapers of violent foreign criminals who cannot be deported because of the 'Human Rights'brigade. It's the reason UKIP and their policies are gaining ground.

Here is an example of a such a guy.

Lee Corbin, 50, has 75 criminal convictions to his name and has been handed jail sentences totalling more than 16 years since he came to this country in 1978.

In one incident he held a knife to his victim's throat but he has been allowed to stay in Britain thanks to his right to a family life under human rights laws specifically, the "amazing relationship" he has with his seven children by three different women.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Violent-Bristol-criminal-deported-children/story-19452084-detail/story.html

At least Biggs had a right to be here.

As for my interview with Ronnie...it did not cost me a penny.

[7by7]

I wonder how many on here will know him personally, best mates at school or drank with him or pants his ex, etc etc

Didn't take long for the wannabes to crawl out of the woodwork, did it?

For those who have made posts about meeting him which are true; your attempt to bask in his reflected 'fame' is pathetic.

For those who have made it up; poor, sad, pitiful little you.

[folium]

Common little thief who milked the wannabes, the gutter press and the UK state. Released from prison on compassionate grounds as he was allegedly about to die, only to "miraculously" survive another 4 years at the taxpayers expense.

Shame he didn't stay in Brazil, but that would have meant he would have had to pay for his healthcare....