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Ronnie Biggs plays his 'get out of jail free' card with a half-hearted apology
Tom Hendry and Robert Mendick28 Aug 2009
Ronnie Biggs made an apology of sorts today for his part in the Great Train Robbery - while posing for the cameras playing Monopoly.
After almost half a century during which he failed to show any remorse, Biggs said: "I'm sorry for what happened there."
But there the apology ended and during the interview at a north London nursing home, he went on to speak of his need to visit the scene of the robbery before he dies. "I want to go back there one last time. I need to find my own peace," he said.
Biggs has never apologised for his part in a robbery in which the train driver Jack Mills was hit over the head with an iron bar - although not by Biggs. Mr Mills died seven years later but the long-term effect of the attack on him has been disputed.
Biggs posed with his son Michael for the first pictures taken at the care home he was moved to after being released from jail on compassionate grounds. He is suffering from chronic pneumonia. Unable to talk, he gave his interview by spelling out letters on a word board.
The 80-year-old's spirits have been lifted since he settled into the nursing home in Barnet. He has even started playing Monopoly - ironically, the board game his fingerprints were found on at the farmhouse hideaway, which led to his arrest in 1963. The Great Train Robbers held up the Glasgow-London mail train in Buckinghamshire, making off with £2million - worth £40million in today's money.
Biggs also compared his release with that of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, who was also freed on compassionate grounds.
Biggs broke out of Wandsworth jail after serving 15 months and eventually returned to London from Brazil in 2001, serving the rest of his sentence. The Libyan - convicted of killing 270 people - was freed after serving fewer than nine years. "Can you compare the two crimes?", Biggs asked.
Michael, 35, who visits him regularly in the nursing home, said: "There's no doubt Dad could die any minute. He's still very weak and not capable of swallowing. As he loses control, his saliva keeps going down his windpipe and his lungs are getting infected. But one thing he's got is his sense of humour and that is helping him stay positive."
During the interview a nurse entered to alter the speed of the liquid food Biggs was digesting through a tube. Biggs joked of his new home, funded by the taxpayer: "It's better than Belmarsh here."
Biggs sits surrounded by pictures of his family and past. One shows him on a lilo in a South American swimming pool while on the run from police.
Reader views (2)
He looks a lot perkier than he did whilst in prison, if I were a cynic I might think that all of the photos released to the press were faked. But then I'm sure that they were right when they were complaining on about him only having weeks to live 2 months ago.
- Bob, Cheam, 28/08/2009 15:51
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Enough, already! This crook and conman has gotten away with it. Tough luck on justice, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Can't we just ignore the guy and have him and his family fade into obscurity where they belong?
- Rogan, Irving, 28/08/2009 15:28
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