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From teenage crook to Britain’s best-known fugitive
25 Jun 2009Ronnie Biggs, who will celebrate his 80th birthday in August, was born in Lambeth in 1929 and became involved in crime while still a teenager.
His first conviction was at the age of 15 and before his involvement in the 1963 Great Train Robbery had been convicted of car crime, acquisitive offending and a robbery offence - with six other robberies taken into consideration at the same time.
He was jailed for 30 years in 1965 for his role in the mail train robbery after being found guilty of conspiracy to stop mail with intent to rob and robbery with aggravation, but fled the following year after scaling the walls of Wandsworth Prison with a home made rope ladder and making off in a waiting van.
He had plastic surgery and eventually moved to Australia, before fleeing to Rio de Janeiro where he was able to remain free from the risk of arrest because of the lack of an extradition treaty between Brazil and the UK.
While there Biggs, who already had two sons by a previous marriage, had a third child - his son Michael who now lives in north London and will care for him after his release - with a Brazilian girlfriend, Raimunda Rothen, as he enjoyed a celebrity lifestyle and the fame resulting from his notoriety as Britain's best known fugitive.
In 1977, he even attended a drinks party on a Royal Navy frigate and then four years later managed to escape after being kidnapped by some former British soldiers and smuggled to Barbados.
Other exploits included recording a track with the Sex Pistols, but in 2001, with his health deteriorating, he finally returned home voluntarily, saying that he wanted to spend his final years in Britain.
He was immediately returned to jail and is now in the hospital wing of Norwich Prison where he receives round the clock care after suffering a series of strokes which have left him unable to speak, move easily, or eat unaided.
Several earlier attempts to obtain compassionate release were refused by the Government, but with Biggs now having served the required third of his 30 year sentence, Justice Secretary Jack Straw is expected to confirm within days that he will now be freed on July 3.
