General Chat

latest news: Ronnie Biggs applies for parole

DAVID BALE
19 April 2009 09:32



Great Train robber Ronnie Biggs is applying for parole next week in the hope he can be released before his 80th birthday, his son has said.

Biggs, from Lambeth, London, is currently being held at Norwich Prison but a Parole Board meeting on Thursday will consider his release.

He was a member of the 15-strong gang which attacked a mail train at Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, on 8 August 1963.

The heist became known as the Great Train Robbery.

They made off with £2.6m - a record haul at the time - but were captured shortly afterwards.

After being given a 30-year sentence, Biggs escaped from Wandsworth Prison, south London, in a furniture van after spending 15 months in jail.

He was on the run for more than 30 years, living in Spain, Australia and Brazil, before returning to the UK voluntarily in 2001.

His son, Michael, 34, said he was "hopeful" that his father would be freed on July 3 - in time to celebrate his 80th birthday on August 8, exactly 46 years on from robbery.

"The meeting is being held next Thursday," said Michael.

"We are hopeful that he will be freed but we're trying not to count on the egg before it leaves the chicken.

"I think it's the obvious thing to do. If other people are entitled to get parole, why shouldn't my father? He represents no threat to society."

Michael said the planned release date would be July 3- if his bid was accepted by the Parole Board at the St George's Day meeting.

In February, Biggs was taken to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital suffering from pneumonia.

It was the latest in a series of health problems he has suffered.

n

The first duty of our society is justice. Retrospective justice does not work - anyone who was executed would gladly tell you that, if they could.

I put this on another thread on chat that is quite similar:

Lets not forget that they were criminals, not loveable rogues. (I've seen several people refer to him in this term or something similar) Tell that to the family of the injured train driver who got hurt for purely doing his job. . Fortunately he didn't die....he could have easily done though. Unfortunately he had to live with the consequences and couldn't return to work.

So it may not have been Ronnie who injured him, but did he tell the police who was responsible? In fact I'm sure there were a number of people who knew of these criminals but didn't tell.

It's dishonest people like Ronnie who necessitate us needing more police, it is these 'loveable rogues' who drive up our insurance policies (we are paying for crime every day whether it be to recoup the money that was stolen or pay for security to guard it). Most of us have to pay our hard earned cash to pay for their crimes. Some people pay with their lives,

I just had to say something. I hope I haven't offended anyone by my opinion. However, rather than putting ourselves in the shoes of the criminal and his family, I felt we needed to see things from the victim's point of view.

The debate whether he should be released yet or not is a separate issue. I don't think I know enough about the law or similar cases to make an informed opinion. I don't know either whether he feels sorry/guilty or not. It may be that he has served sufficient time under the law to be released now from his sentence.

OK. So, let him out of jail. What then?

He is old & feeble. Where would he go - a nursing home perhaps at Government cost no doubt. No financial savings using that idea then.

Still, there is always the possibility of him appearing on the new Jonathan Ross programme instead of Russell Brand. I'm sure Ron would regail the viewers with numerous tales of his mis-spent youth. Jonathan & the BBC would surely put a fee his way.

Got there that time Tony, wasn't exactly a low profile job he was doing, working in a tv studio?


Looked further down, loved the cartoon of the dog and the fox lol

Lizx

Hi Liz. Strange!!!...it works for me.

Try a "Google"

Melbourne observer+Ronald Biggs+Blackburn ( No spacing )


Cheers. Tony...:>))

Gaille, I think I can understand that, sometimes I think someone like him should be handed to the local people after a crime instead of being kept for life in a comfy cell with all advantages. I am sure he would have told of the location if he had been faced with a room full of angry parents.

Lizx

Not sure why Tony, but every time I copy and paste that link and then click on it is whips back to this thread!

Hi Liz. Yes, it did take me back about 40+ odd years ago.

I can still recall sitting up in the back seat next to him in the Taxi.
He did speak to me as its a 20min drive from Box Hil to Blackburn.
I had just fnished work and waiting at the Taxi stand to go home, when he tapped me on the shoulder, and said. Hi young fella....you live in the same street as me......we should share a Taxi together.
If i had known whom he was...i would of asked him to pay the $$$ for the ride home...lol

From memory....it was one of his neighbours that had came suspicious, as he only had a resonable paying job....but his outlay exceeded his income........That was the story i had been told back then.

4th Article down. ( Top left )

http://www.melbourneobserver.com.au/observer35.pdf

Tony ( Melbourne )

Hi Tony, glad I stirred up some old memories for you, what an interesting time you had then lol

In no way am I decrying the injuries suffered by Mr Mills but I feel after this length of time and because of the state of his health, Biggs is no threat to anyone and as others say, is just costing the taxpayer money, altho he probably still will when he gets out depending on his son's circumstances. I am not sure if he is in this country so that he can visit his father or where he is living now.
If you look at any crimes these days, the amount of time even for 'lifers' is laughable, look at those boys who killed Jamie Bulger for just one example,and many recent cases where killers of people of all ages are not likely to spend more than ten to fifteen years in prison. Holding on to Biggs serves no useful purpose and he might as well be set free.

Lizx

Quite interesting to read about Ron BIggs.

In Melbourne Victoria Aus.( Blackburn ) he lived 5 doors away from me in c.1966. We lived in Hibiscus Rd ( Blackburn ) and also the BIggs family. I was around 18 years of age at the time, and they were just up the road.
When all hell broke loose the "Interpol" sat poised in a car at the top of our street watching the Biggs house. His wife Charmaine would take off in her brown Holden Monaro ( back then ) and they would unplug there electric razors and coffee water jugs from a power lead coming out of someones house and take off after her, probably trying to see if she was in contact with Ron....i assume....but he was long gone?

I did however share a Taxi with him back in 1966-7 coming from Box Hill railway station, to Blackburn ( naturally as he lived just up the road ) but at the time i had no idea he was Great train robber until it was in our our local papers.
The same taxi driver i met up with again a few weeks later remembered myself and Ronald Biggs sharing his Taxi ride home.

Its a small world.

Tony...:>))

I bet poor little Shannon Matthews mother wont go to prison for half that time or baby Ps mother, Which I think Life should MEAN life, thats why we are the laughing stock of the world. Yes the train Robbery was a big thing back in 1963 but has I said before Ronnie Biggs should have been let out a long time ago.

Totally agree with you, Joan.
I also think he was given a harsh sentence as an 'example' - well that time has passed.
It's no good police now saying 'We'll be hard on robbers - just look at Biggs' the thieves of today don't know who he is.

Lynda Ronnie Biggs and his wife lived in Forest Gate where i was born and grew up for a short while before he left her and went to Australia. Annie

It is always the 'injured' individual who is expected to pardon the offender. The offender never pardons.

When did Ronnie ever say 'sorry'?

About time he was released, if that robbery had happened today, even with the train driver being injuryed like that he would have got about 15 years and he would not have served that.

i totally agree there in a different legue altogether
peados and child murderers should never be released but they are!

Probably not. But why pity for one rascal over another?

Strange thread this! A villain receiving sympathy.

Who's next on the release list - Ian Brady perhaps?