The Crime Book

34 THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY

The plan started with a

tampered signal at Sears

Crossing. The train stopped and

two carriages were driven on to

Bridego Bridge.

mailbags along a human chain

down the embankment, the gang

quickly loaded the lorry. Warning

the handcuffed postal workers

in the HVP coach not to call the

police for 30 minutes, the gang

made their triumphant way back to

the hideout at Leatherslade Farm.

An inevitable slip-up

It was indeed a “great train

robbery”, and if it all sounds like

something from a film, that is

because in recent decades, such

elaborately organized heists have

been much more popular with

movie makers than with criminals.

Not only are crimes like this

risky, but they are enormously

labour-intensive. Up to 17 men

appear to have been involved in the

robbery, although to this day, a few

participants remain unidentified.

The gang members split the loot

evenly, so as not to cause division,

which would have added a

potential source of danger.

However, the high number of

people involved in the operation

carried risks, such as a gang

member being indiscreet with his

loot or talking about the robbery.

In the end, an acquaintance of the

ringleaders – in prison himself and

hopeful of a deal – passed on some

gossip that he had heard through

the grapevine, providing a vital

lead for the investigators to pursue.

The plan unravels

Meanwhile, in the robbers’

farmhouse, confidence had given

way to tension. The plan had been

to lie low for a week, but it was

soon apparent that the police –

systematically sweeping the

surrounding countryside – were

closing in. Detectives had noted

the robbers’ 30-minute warning

to the staff of the HVP coach,

which suggested a hideout within

half-an-hour’s drive. Police

searched Leatherslade Farm after

a neighbour reported unusual

activity at the farm. The robbers

had gone, but fingerprints were

Obviously you are a thief

because you like money, but

the second thing is the

excitement of it.

“Buster” Edwards

Mailbags

loaded into truck

by human chain

Train halted

by modified

signal light

Grand Union

Canal

Farm

track

Sears

Crossing

Bridego Bridge

To Mentmore

To London

B448 to Tring

To Leighton

Buzzard

First two

carriages moved

to Bridego

Bridge

Cargo taken

back to

Leatherslade

Farm

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35

Leatherslade Farm, later dubbed

“Robber’s Roost” by the press, was

searched by police after farmworker

John Maris tipped them off, convinced

that the robbers were hiding there.

Three men arrested in connection

with the robbery are led away by

police, holding blankets over their

heads. The intense media interest is

evident at the top left of the image.

BANDITS, ROBBERS, AND ARSONISTS

Compassionate release

On 6 August 2009, after falling

gravely ill with pneumonia,

80-year-old Ronnie Biggs was

released on “compassionate”

grounds – a rarity in the UK.

Under the Prison Service Order

6000, a prisoner can only apply

in the event of “tragic family

circumstances” or if he or she is

suffering from a terminal illness

with death likely to result within

a few months. Biggs survived

until December 2013, but this

caused little controversy. By

contrast, two weeks after Biggs

was released, Abdelbaset

al-Megrahi, convicted of the

1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight

103, was freed on compassionate

grounds by the Scottish Justice

Secretary, a decision condemned

by the British and US press.

Megrahi had been diagnosed

with terminal prostate cancer,

but his release from hospital

caused an outcry, as did the

arrival of Colonel Gaddafi’s

personal aircraft to repatriate

him, and the hero’s welcome he

received back home in Libya.

found on a Monopoly game they

had played – using real cash – as

well as on a ketchup bottle. The

conspiracy’s collapse was as abrupt

and chaotic as its planning had

been patient. Eleven of the robbers

were quickly caught together in

south London.

The majority of the 11 were

jailed for 30 years, a severe

sentence for a crime in which

nobody had been killed. However,

it helped generate sympathy for the

robbers. Two of them escaped

prison – in August 1964, friends of

gang member Charlie Wilson broke

into Birmingham’s Winson Green

Prison to snatch him; the next July,

Ronnie Biggs climbed over the wall

at Wandsworth Prison, London.

Mythical status

The robbery’s audacity could not be

denied, but the long-term trauma

inflicted upon the train crew was

easier to ignore. Mills suffered from

post-traumatic headaches for the

rest of his life and never fully

recovered from his injuries. Whitby

died a few years later, at the age of

34, from a heart attack. However,

these tragedies were overshadowed

by an increasing romanticization of

the crime, intensified by the fact

that only a fraction of the £2.6

million haul was recovered. The

robbery occurred at a time when

brazen irreverence towards

old-fashioned authority was in

vogue – and at a time in which

artist Andy Warhol claimed that

everyone would be famous for

15 minutes. Biggs recorded music

with the Sex Pistols and Edwards

became the subject of the film

Buster (1988) – his part played

by rock star Phil Collins. Just

three years after the crime, The

Great St Trinian’s Train Robbery

was released, playing on the

idea that serious crime could be

comic entertainment. ■

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