Kray twins played role in Great Train Robbery and met with Glasgow gangsters in same year of notorious heist, says former top cop

: "The involvement of the Krays is very significant. It completes the picture. Many millions of people have wondered since 1963 how this most audacious crime could have been pulled off without very significant planning and discipline.

"The involvement of the Krays and [London gangster Billy] Hill solves that mystery. No one who knows about the robbery would conclude that any of the robbers arrested could have 'put the job together.'"

The involvement of the Krays is very significant. It completes the picture

Graham Satchwell

The robbery plan was hatched after a postal worker - nicknamed the Ulsterman - leaked details of a train journey carrying vast amounts of cash.

Underworld figures Gordon Goody and Buster Edwards based the heist on this information bringing in accomplices Bruce Reynolds, Ronnie Biggs, Charlie Wilson and Roy James.

The men later brought in members of the South Coast Raiders - a gang experienced in rigging train signals in order to stop engines.

QUEST FOR CULPRITS

In his book, Mr Satchwell wrote: "Did Tom Wisbey [one of the train robbers] ever admit the Krays were involved? Well, he certainly wasn't keen to. It was more that he acquiesced 'for the sake of the story'."

The twins were also close to who the detective says was the mastermind behind the robbery - Billy Hill.

He wrote: "There is good evidence to be found of collaboration between the Krays and Billy Hill for anyone who cares to do a little research.

"Regarding the Krays, it cannot be doubted that in 1963 they would have been delighted to be part of any major crime that their hero and associate, Hill, was planning.

"My final point is this: in 1963, no other firm of enforcers in London better fitted the job description that Hill was trying to fill."

The train came to a stop at a red signal outside Leighton Buzzard, Buckinghamshire, in the early hours of 8 August.

Soon realising there was a problem, Mills became embroiled in a tussle with one of the robbers, overpowering him before he was hit over the head with a cosh by another member of the gang.

Mills was then made to drive the train down the line to a designated spot where the sackfuls of money could be unloaded.

'MYSTERIOUS' CLUES

In total, 128 sacks - weighing 2.5 tonnes - were moved off the train and the gang had fled the scene within 30 minutes.

The gang then drove to a farmyard barn where they began to distribute the money between themselves.

Mr Satchwell also noted that the brothers were friends with Scottish gangster Arthur Thompson from at least 1963 - the year of the robbery.

He also mentioned that and Ronnie had "mysterious" flying visits to the city that year.

He wrote: "Importantly, Ronnie Kray flew to Glasgow several times in 1963 to meet with Glasgow gangsters."

It comes as a member of the Great Train Robbery gang who was never caught has finally been unmasked as a cabbie - 56 years later.

Danny Pembroke, a former soldier, fled to the US in the wake of the heist, but moved back to Kent where he died in 2015, aged 79.

In his lifetime, he never admitted to playing a part in the robbery, although he was a suspect.