Post date: Dec 18, 2013 12:18:51 PM
Ronnie Biggs, the British criminal known for his role in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, died on Wednesday at the age of 84, his spokeswoman said.
NEAR AYLESBURY, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - 1963) (REUTERS) - Ronnie Biggs, the British criminal known for his role in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, died on Wednesday at the age of 84, his spokeswoman said.
Biggs gained notoriety 50 years ago as one of a gang that stopped a Royal Mail night train and made off with 2.6 million pounds ($4.2 million), equivalent to about 40 million pounds today.He became the most famous of the gang after escaping from London's Wandsworth Prison, where he was serving a 30-year prison sentence, by scaling a wall with a rope ladder.
He spent 36 years on the run, mostly living in Brazil.
Biggs finally surrendered to British police in 2001 and returned to prison but was freed in 2009 on health grounds.
Biggs always said he never regretted his role in the robbery although the crime involved a violent attack on the train driver as it gave him fame.
His spokeswoman said he died in the early hours of Wednesday morning. He had been living in a care home in north London in recent years.
Most of the gang were caught and given prison sentences totalling more than 300 years after the robbery of the train travelling from Glasgow to London.
But the criminals struck a chord with the public, gaining a Robin Hood-style celebrity, although their fame divided opinion due to the attack on the train driver.
Jack Mills was struck over the head during the robbery. He died seven years later and many people believed the injuries he sustained during the heist contributed to his death.