What is The Great Train Robbery of 1963, who was in the gang with Ronnie Biggs and how much did they steal?
THE Great Train Robbery remains one of Britain’s most notorious crimes 54 years later.
A 15-strong gang of thieves attacked a Royal Mail train on its way from Glasgow to London.
During the assault the train’s driver, Jack Mills, was badly hurt after being battered around the head with a bat.
What happened during the Great Train Robbery?
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.
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.
In total, 128 sacks – weighing 2.5 tones – 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.
When were the Great Train Robbers caught?
The first robber captured was Roger Cordrey – just six days later.
Police steadily made a number of arrests throughout 1963, making their last one – Bruce Reynolds – in 1968.
The Ulsterman was one of two plotters never captured by police.
Ronnie Biggs would go on to become the most famous of the criminals after he escaped prison in 1965.
The crook went on the run for more than 35 years, first travelling to Australia and then building a life and raising a family in Brazil.
He eventually returned to the UK in 2001 and served a further eight years in prison before being released on compassionate grounds in 2009.
Eight of the robbers were sentenced to 30 years behind bars with another three given 25 years.
The identity of the man who hit Jack Mills was not established and the train driver never recovered fully from his injuries, dying in 1970.
The sole survivor of the raid is Bobby Welch.
How much did the gang steal?
The Great Train Robbers are estimated to have stolen more than £2.6million – around £46million today.
Most of the money was never recovered.
Their loot is believed to have been split into £150,000 shares, with smaller amounts for associates who played a lesser role in the heist.
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