Second-last Great Train Robber Tommy Wisbey dead at 86, leaving Bobby Welch as the gang’s sole survivor
Wisbey was part of a 15-man gang that stole £2.6million from a Royal Mail train in 1963
GREAT Train Robber Tommy Wisbey has died — leaving one surviving member of the gang behind one of the 20th century’s biggest crimes.
Wisbey, 86, never regained consciousness after suffering a major stroke.
He was part of a 15-man gang that stole £2.6million, equivalent to £50million now, from a Royal Mail train in August 1963.
South London hardman Wisbey was jailed for 30 years for his part — after refusing to pay a bent cop £30,000 to get rid of evidence.
He later said: “The only regret I have got is getting caught. I wanted to go on.”
He was released in 1976 after serving 12½ years.
His £150,000 share from the raid, around £2.8million today, was mostly intact having been hidden.
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In 1989, he got ten years for drug dealing. But he eventually went straight and ran a flower stall.
He was one of 12 train robbers to be caught, while three got away with it. Two of those are dead.
The third was never identified and it is not known if he is alive.
Wisbey’s death means Bobby Welch, 87, is the only known survivor of the gang.
Ronnie Biggs and Ronald “Buster” Edwards were among the best-known of the robbers.
Biggs died in 2013, aged 84. Edwards, whose story was turned into Phil Collins film Buster, died in 1994, aged 63.
Arsenal fan Wisbey suffered the stroke at his care home in Eltham, South-East London, two days before Christmas, and died on Friday.
Daughter Marilyn, 62, said: “He never opened his eyes again. It was like my dad had just had enough.”