In the end, it was Ronnie Biggs and not the British police who decided when he would return to Britain.
The Great Train Robber returned to Britain yesterday from exile in Rio de Janeiro, hailed by the Sun newspaper as simply an old man wishing to end his days as a free man. The fact that he was convicted of taking part in the Great Train Robbery in 1963, had escaped from prison and had lived a life of luxury for many years in South America wasn't allowed to get in the way of a good story for the tabloid.
While public opinion is divided over whether Biggs should spend the rest of his life in prison or be released on compassionate grounds, the Press Complaints Commission said yesterday it would be conducting an investigation into the Sun's handling of his return to
Britain. In particular, will be the question of whether the newspaper has broken the code of practice relating to payments to convicted criminals.
In a statement the PCC said: "The code makes clear that payments to convicted criminals are only permissible where there is a public interest and the material could only be obtained by means of such payment."
The Sun is believed to have paid £60,000 (sterling) for the hire of the private jet, which flew to Rio de Janeiro to collect Biggs and bring him back to Britain.
The Great Train Robbery was one of the most ambitious crimes of its time, but was characterised by a lack of planning by Biggs, Mr Reynolds and their gang. It has long be held that the gang did not plan to harm any of the British Rail staff on board the Glasgow to London mail train, but during the heist the gang struggled with the train driver and coshed him with an iron bar. The driver died several years later, but his family said he had never recovered from the trauma suffered after the robbery.
Despite the problems in carrying out the robbery, the gang took more than £2 million from the train. The gang escaped but they were not able to enjoy the fruits of the robbery for long and, following an operation involving several police forces across England, Biggs was arrested and sentenced to 30 years in prison for his part in the robbery. He served 15 months of the sentence before escaping to South America.
British police tracked Biggs' movements over several years, but never successfully apprehended him. Eventually he became as notorious as the surviving members of the Kray gang from London, living in luxury in South America beyond the reach of British police. He posed with tourists outside his home in Rio de Janeiro where he often held parties for Reynolds and other members of the Great Train Robbery gang and although he expressed his desire to return to Britain on several occasions during the past 10 years, it seemed that he preferred the lifestyle in South America to Britain.
Earlier, the shadow home secretary, Ms Ann Widdecombe, called on the authorities to adopt a "hard-headed" attitude towards Biggs and said he should spend the rest of his life in prison.
As expected, Biggs's solicitor, Ms Jane Wearing, said yesterday that he would be seeking to appeal his sentence. "Mr Biggs has returned to the United Kingdom voluntarily," she said. "He is aware of the immediate consequences of his return and will remain in custody. All he seeks is a fair and balanced hearing at which all relevant issues can be addressed.
"Mr Biggs would like to thank the United Kingdom authorities for assisting in the expeditious processing of his passport application which has allowed him to return to England in order to resolve his future."
Twenty-eight minutes was all it took for what many to this day consider the robbery of the 20th century: the 1963 raid on the Glasgow-London mail train.
The driver of the train saw an unusual red light near a bridge and stopped the convoy. The mechanic then headed off down the tracks to telephone a nearby station for an explanation.
Two men, their faces hidden by stockings, threw themselves on the mechanic, overpowered him and led him back to the train where the driver Jack Mills had been coshed with an iron bar. He never fully recovered from the attack.
Mills was the only person injured in the hold-up, during which no shot was fired. He never really recovered from the attack, did not return to work, and died of cancer in 1970.
Handcuffed to each other, the driver and mechanic watched powerless as 17 sacks full of mainly used banknotes were methodically loaded into a waiting truck parked next to the tracks.
The gang included an assortment of characters as varied as a racing driver, a lawyer, an antiques dealer and a florist. Their only mistake was to leave their fingerprints in the nearby farm where they met to share out the booty. With this and other clues, 12 of the 15 robbers were caught. Only £350,000 pounds was recovered.
Biggs, a carpenter by trade and thief by experience, escaped prison in July 1965 and eventually fled to Brazil. The mastermind behind the heist was antiques dealer Mr Reynolds. He fled abroad afterwards, was caught in 1968 and served 10 years of a 25-year sentence in prison.