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Ronnie Biggs moving to 'his final home'
17 Aug 2009Ronnie Biggs will be moved from his hospital bed to a nursing home today, a spokesman said.
An ambulance will take the freed Great Train Robber from the Norfolk and Norwich hospital to the home in Barnet, north London.
Biggs, 80, was granted compassionate release from his prison sentence two weeks ago and is being moved so he can be near to his son, Michael.
His legal adviser, Giovanni Di Stefano, said it would be seriously ill Biggs' "final home".
He said: "He is being moved today to the nursing home, but he is still very very ill, make no mistake.
"He is just well enough to be moved and that will be his final home."
Mr di Stefano defended the taxpayer-funded care for his client, saying Biggs was getting "no more and no less" than anyone else.
"This is no more and no less than any other person with limited means would receive."
He confirmed Biggs is now able to claim his state pension of £95.25 a week, backdated from the date of his formal release on August 7.
Once he is in the home, Biggs - who has suffered three strokes and is unable to walk - will still require 24-hour care.
His move was delayed last week while he had surgery to replace the tube into his stomach through which he is fed.
Biggs, from Lambeth, South London, was a member of the gang which robbed the Glasgow to London mail train at Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, in 1963.
They stole £2.6 million in used banknotes but were caught and given sentences of up to 30 years.
After just 15 months inside Biggs escaped over a wall at Wandsworth Prison and lived as a fugitive in Australia and Brazil, avoiding repeated attempts to bring him home.
Then in 2001, after falling ill, he returned to the UK voluntarily and was sent back to prison.
At the start of July Justice Secretary Jack Straw refused his request for parole, accusing him of being "utterly unrepentant" about his crimes.
Only six weeks later Mr Straw accepted a plea for compassionate release, saying the criminal was unlikely to recover.
Reader views (7)
In Labour's society crime pays.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 19/08/2009 10:26
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I always assumed that to claim State Pension you had to pay something into the state?? As far as i can see he has given/produced/added absolutely nothing to this country. Once a sponge always a sponge
- David (Tax Payer), London, 18/08/2009 15:31
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His wife left him. His child died in Australia, he was a freak show in Brazil and he came back to leec of the health system here. He is a despicable chancer and looking at the last years and him now his crime didn't pay at least not in the way he thought it would and that gives me comfort as we foot the bill for his ongoing care. I do feel sorry for his 'duped' son who was conceived to secure his Brazilian residency and avoid extradition. He seems to have shown him care way beyond his worth as a human being. I see nothing glorious or clever in being Ronnie Biggs he is a lucky joke.
- Amazonmothe, hasting, 18/08/2009 10:50
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So now the poor British taxpayer will have to pay for the keep of this criminal in a nursing home - much more expensive than jail. Madness!
- Francis Glazer, Finestrat, Alicante, Spain, 18/08/2009 00:37
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LOL @ Keith !
Yes very strange... I bet you he will be fit enough in the next few days to start complaining about the state of his room and the food
- Josh, London, 17/08/2009 14:31
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Wouldn't it be more fitting for him to be taken by train?
- Keith, King's Cross, 17/08/2009 13:06
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I was under the impression that Jackboot Straw authorised the release of Biggs because he was "about to die".
VERY STRANGE HOW BIGGS HAS SUDDENLY RECOVERED SUFFICIENTLY TO BE MOVED TO A PUBLICLY FUNDED NURSING HOME.
- Reuben Camara, Principality of Morecambe, UK, 17/08/2009 12:52
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