Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs was arrested by Scotland Yard officers Monday morning when a private plane carrying the escaped convict touched down in the UK. He was then taken to an undisclosed police location where he’ll be examined by a doctor before meeting with magistrates this afternoon.
Biggs’ future is largely unknown at this point. The 71-year-old, who escaped Wandsworth Prison in a furniture van after serving just 15 months of a 30-year sentence back in the Sixties, is barely able to speak after suffering a reported three strokes. Some believe his poor health should be taken into consideration when determining his fate. However, Shadow Home Secretary Ann Widdecombe prefers a “hard-headed” attitude and aims to see him spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Biggs has 28 years left of a 30-year sentence stemming from the Great Train Robbery of 1963 which saw £2.6 million stolen from a London-to-Glasgow mail train. After escaping, he underwent plastic surgery and eventually ended up in Brazil where he’s been living since 1966. He escaped the law yet again in 1974 when Britain failed to have him extradited him from Brazil: Biggs fathered a son by his Brazilian girlfriend and under the South American country’s rule, a father cannot be extradited while a mother and child are dependent on him.
UK tabloid The Sun orchestrated the outlaws’ return along with his son, Michael Biggs. Michael will reportedly receive upwards of £20,000 from the newspaper for assisting in his father’s return.
“The time is right for me to go home,” Biggs reportedly told a British expatriate in Brazil just before departing for the airport Sunday night. “I hope they show mercy on an old man with little time left.”
“I am a sick man. My last wish is to walk into a Margate pub as an Englishman and buy a pint of bitter,” Biggs later said in an interview. “I hope I live long enough to do that.” This statement prompted worries that the criminal is mentally unfit to return and does not know what awaits him.
“I know that he is authorised to travel and has a temporary passport issued by the British consulate, but I think Biggs has no idea that he will be arrested when he arrives in London,” his lawyer Wellington Mousinho said. “I fear he is simply a pawn in a big publicity campaign. He is not in good health and could possibly not realise what he is doing.”
Brazilian authorities insisted Biggs sign papers saying he was leaving of his own free will before granting the emergency passport.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
