“Great” Train Robber

Ronnie Biggs has been refused parole, and with no release date given for the foreseeable future could end up dying behind bars, I don’t have any sympathy for him. Biggs was part of a gang that robbed a train back in 1963, during the course of the robbery they clubbed the train driver Jack Mills over the head, he never recovered properly from that attack and suffered violent trauma headaches for the next 7 years before dying of leukaemia in 1970, it was said bought on as a result of the attack. the gang were arrested fairly quickly and jailed, Biggs received 30 years, but in 1965 he escaped to Paris where with the aid of some plastic surgery and fake papers, evaded capture, his wife and kids moved out there a year later to join him. In 1967 after a tip of that British police knew where he was and were coming for him Biggs ran again, this time after a roundabout route that took in Panama the failed train robber ended up in Brazil. And that’s where he stayed for the next 34 years remarrying and fathering a child, Ronnie jnr. For some unexplainable reason Biggs became a celebrity courting publicity and becoming fairly wealthy of his notoriety. I have seen Biggs over the years in various documentary’s and I have not liked him, he has a cold kind of arrogance about him, and referred to the death of Jack Mills as “one of those things” Biggs has performed on 2 songs over the years with assorted groups and has had some chart success boasting about his part in the robbery, even though his actual position in the 15 strong gang was low level. Visitors to Brazil would seek Biggs out to buy him drinks and for a small fee have their picture taken with him. After putting 2 fingers up at the British authorities for the best part of 35 years Biggs  decided to give himself up, not because of any remorse of his crime or for Mills death, but because he became ill and needed specialist care that he could not afford in Brazil. he was arrested on his return in 2001 at which time his family informed us that  he only had a couple of months to live,  they have been singing from that same hymn sheet ever since, every few months we hear he is on his last legs, having the last rites read etc. Biggs is still going strong, this week Jack Straw refused him parole on the grounds that he has shown no remorse over the robbery or the death of the driver, I applaud Straw’s decision.