Afternoon:
10°c
Great Train robbery dubbed crime of the Century
Ben Bailey7 Aug 2009
The Great Train Robbery was immediately dubbed the "crime of the century" when it hit the headlines in August 1963.
The plan was to hold up the night mail train from Glasgow to Euston as it passed through the Buckinghamshire countryside close to Cheddington.
The train was carrying huge numbers of used bank notes.
Career thief Bruce Reynolds, who masterminded the operation, assembled at least 15 hardened criminals for the job - including the now notorious Ronnie Biggs.
The train appeared shortly after 3am and stopped at a set of fake signals the gang had put up.
Its driver, Jack Mills, got out to see what was going on and was coshed over the head and knocked senseless.
The train was driven a mile-and-a-half to Bridego Bridge and the gang unloaded a total of £2,631,684 in used notes - which would be worth more than £40 million today.
The cash was taken by lorry 25 miles to Leatherslade Farm.
A crooked solicitor had been used to buy the farm and the gang planned to hole up there until the heat died down.
They had believed their farm would never come under suspicion.
But after handcuffing the train staff when they made their getaway they told them not to do anything for 30 minutes.
Detectives concluded they were probably hiding within a 30-mile radius of the robbery.
As the police closed in they divided the money and fled - but not before leaving fingerprints.
They had even played Monopoly with some of the loot and left fingerprints on the board.
A huge nationwide hunt was launched with the public urged to keep an eye out for people spending a lot of money.
The first arrests - those of Roger Cordrey and William Boal - were made in Bournemouth when Cordrey tried to rent a lock-up from a policeman's widow.
By December most of the robbers had been arrested. Twelve of them were jailed for a total of more than 300 years but more than one broke out of jail, including Ronnie Biggs who spent more than 30 years on the run.
He had been jailed for 30 years, but after serving just 15 months he scaled a wall at Wandsworth Prison in London and made his escape in a furniture van before fleeing the country.
Four of the robbers were believed to have got away.
It is said that much of the stolen money was never recovered.
The 1988 film Buster told the story of one of the thieves, Buster Edwards, who was played by Phil Collins.
Reader views (1)
I wonder when they are going to give R Biggs a new id to protect him from the wrath of the public? Yes he was a villian, yes i am being sarcastic about the ID.
- Mr Mead Junior, west midlands, 19/08/2009 16:13
Report abuse
