Great Train Robbery (1963)
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The Great Train Robbery was the name given to a famous train robbery that was 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 — this is estimated to be worth approximately £40 million (US $74 million) in 2006. Although no guns were used in the robbery, the train driver, Jack Mills, was struck on the head with an iron bar and received 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 despite urban myths claiming otherwise that were propagated by the authorities to give a more negative image of the robbery, rather then a heroic view that was apparent in much of the criminal underworld and working class communities. Mills later died in 1970 from a totally unrelated medical condition 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 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. 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 minor injury suffered by 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 very minor, he still received a 30 year prison sentence as did the others.
In May 2001 Ronnie Biggs, aged 71, returned to England due to his mounting medical costs in Brazil and lack of funds to meet them. He has suffered three strokes and had indicated his desire to return to England even if it meant being re-imprisoned for his crimes, which promptly occurred when he returned.
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 apparently committed suicide in 1994.
One of the TPO 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.
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 Ronnie 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 after a long illness.
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 which 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 the 9th of January 2004.
The bulk of the stolen money was not recovered.
The Great Train Robbery in fiction
The robbery was mentioned in the 1965 film adaptation of Ian Fleming's Thunderball.
The 1967 film Robbery starring Stanley Baker portrayed events very similar to the Great Train Robbery and was obviously inspired by the real events.
In the 1968 film, Inspector Clouseau, the entire story centers around the afterplot of the train robbery and Clouseau's help with Scotland Yard in England trying to solve the crime of the century.
In 1988 Buster Edwards experiences were made into the comedy-drama Buster, a film starring Phil Collins.
External links
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