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- [00:01]
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- [00:56]
Documentary Narrator
it is 8 August 1963. A huge featureless freight train is cutting through the dark countryside of Buckinghamshire, an hour north of London. It's just about to hit 3 o' clock in the morning and the moon is bright in a pure black sky. The Royal Mail train is on the last leg of a nine hour journey from Edinburgh to London, having set off at just before 7pm the night before. Now it winds its way between the dark rolling hills of southeast England. Inside are over 70 post office workers sorting mail and counting bills through the night. 25 year old Dave Whitby sits alongside the senior driver, 58 year old Jack Mills. Between them they're in charge of 12 carriages. Whitby is tired but experienced. He's done this route with this train many times. But through the train's front window up ahead in the black, he sees something different, something unexpected. There is a red light glowing down the track. He knows this particular stretch, but he's never seen a red light here before, only Evergreen ushering him and his cargo ahead. But what's really odd is that he hasn't received word of any trouble on the line from anybody spotting it too. Mills does what any train driver would do and slows to a stop. They pull to a halt at the signal at a spot known as Sears Crossing. The light stays red, so Whitby climbs down from the cab and goes out to see what the hold up is. With the engine still rumbling behind him, Whitby picks his way alongside the track and approaches the signal. As he gets closer, he frowns. Just below the glare of the red light there is a faint glow of green as Whitby Peers at it, letting his eyes adjust. He realizes to his horror what the problem is. The green signal is on after all. Only it has been covered by by a thick glove. The word sabotage sounds in his head. He checks around the signal unit itself and confirms it. The back has been tampered with, the wires exposed, but more wires have been added, too. He follows them along and discovers that they're connected to a 6 volt battery. Someone, for some reason, has boosted the red light by an outside source. The unit has been hijacked. He scans the track in both directions, but he still sees no one. He needs to report this. So he runs the short distance along the gravel to the phone box and picks up the receiver. The line is dead. He checks the back of the box and his heart sinks. The cables have been cut. Turning, he runs back to the train and its front cab, panic rising. But before he gets there, he's pulled back. And not just by one person, but several. He struggles instinctively, but there's too many of them. And soon he's on the ground. As he tries to get up, he sees masked hooded men, maybe 10 or 12 of them, pouring out of the shadows, through the bushes and up onto the train itself. He shouts out to warn Mills, but it is already too late. Whitby watches in horror as the driver is hauled out of the cab and onto the gravel. When Mills tries to resist, one of the masked men swing a cosh or leather baton at his head and he drops to the ground like a coat from a hangar. But Whitby has his own battle to fight, giving one last heave to free himself from his assailants. He loses his footing. One of the men seizes his chance and pushes him hard away from the tracks and down the steep embankment. The ground drops away and Whitby tumbles. He's battered by impact after impact as he rolls down the incline too fast to stop himself. Until suddenly, he sees a rock coming towards him. And everything goes black. The Great train robbery of 1963 is a cor of British crime folklore. It saw a gang of career criminals and their associates stage a daring heist to steal the multi million pound cargo of a traveling Royal Mail train. Pulling it off took intricate planning, not to mention plenty of bravado and luck. The investigation that followed was one of the biggest police operations in British history, spanning many years and covering the globe. But how did the idea of the heist come about? What went into the planning? And who were the key players? And did any of them truly get away? I'm John Hopkins and this is a short history of the Great Train Robbery. The 1960s are a time of change for Great Britain as it finds its economic feet again after the devastation of the Second World War. The social landscape is changing too. Ray Rose is a documentary filmmaker and true crime researcher who specialises in British crime from the 1950s.
- [06:52]
Crime Historian / Expert
The early 60s are hard times, so the men, in particular the 30 year olds who were born pre war, have lived through tough times. In the 40s and 50s. After World War II, the dynamic of the country is starting to change. You know, you've got a situation where people are looking for different things to the norm, whether it be pop music, whether it be politics, whether it be the jobs that they do.
- [07:23]
Documentary Narrator
Despite this backdrop of metamorphosis, there are some aspects of the country's old infrastructure that remain unchanged. And one of those is the Royal Mail. Every night, a traveling post office, known as the Up Special, makes the 400 mile journey all the way down the United Kingdom from Glasgow to London. While Most of the 12 carriages are mobile sorting offices manned by dozens of Royal Mail staff, second behind the engine is the hvp, or High Value Packages coach. It is, in essence a traveling gold mine, moving nightly through the central rail artery of the country, adding more value to its cargo with every stop. It contains piles and piles of cash stacked in huge sacks. The rail companies and relevant authorities are seemingly unconcerned about security. By 1963, some HVP coaches have bars on the windows and alarms, but some still travel without them. And though the trains are full of Royal Mail staff, they're all civilians, often following the same shift patterns as well as the same routes night after night. Of course, it isn't common knowledge that the Royal Mail is transporting large amounts of cash up and down the country every night. But for someone familiar with the inner workings of the organization, especially someone with a relaxed attitude to law and order, it's not hard to see a life changing opportunity in 1963. It just so happens that such a man exists. Someone on the inside who recognizes the chance to make a fortune. His identity is one of the best kept secrets, unconfirmed to this day, but at the time he is known as the Ulsterman.
- [09:19]
Crime Historian / Expert
So the Ulsterman is another brilliant story that has been used to keep the myth of the Great Train Robbery going. He clearly existed, he was clearly a man who had inside information about the movement of money with inside the post office.
- [09:35]
Documentary Narrator
Whatever the identity of this initial inside source, it's early in the year that he starts to share the idea of stopping the train and robbing it. On an average trip, there are hundreds of thousands of pounds on board the overnight train. But with a potential score like that, on the other side of the coin is the significant risk. Though it's armed robbery that usually commands the harshest punishments, there's no doubt that a job like this would carry the danger of significant jail time, even without guns. The Ulsterman makes contact with certain members of London's underworld. Men with connections to experienced gangs, people with histories of criminality. One man emerges as someone who might be up to the job of leading the operation. Bruce Reynolds is in his early 30s and he's already got a track record in robbery. A year earlier, he and his gang robbed a security van at Heathrow Airport, netting £62,000. Nicknamed Napoleon, his attention to detail and devotion to planning just might make this work.
- [10:46]
Crime Historian / Expert
Bruce is clearly a clever criminal in the sense that he knew that it took good planning to pull a job off of this scale. And you can't have 15 chiefs.
- [11:03]
Documentary Narrator
Thanks to his contact with the Ulstermen, Reynolds has a target, a lucrative one at that. But now he needs a team. He goes on his own recruitment drive, sounding out trusted acquaintances with particular skill sets. Many of the men he brings in have ordinary day jobs. There's a decorator, a shop assistant, a carpenter and a bookmaker among their ranks. Some have been in the armed forces and there's even a solicitor's clerk. But Reynolds knows them for their other skills. They're people who can organize, who can provide muscle and who aren't afraid of breaking the law. He exploits contacts in a renowned London gang known as the South Coast Raiders, many of whom have experience of robbing trains. Soon, with the lure of the potential figures involved in his plan, the ranks of his team have swollen to 15 men.
- [12:01]
Crime Historian / Expert
So you've got 15 working class men, mostly criminal and all looking for the big payday. So they've probably all done a bit of jail time for minor crimes. Some have done some heavy duty crimes. They are then sold the principle that this train is carrying a lot of money. If you've got the right strength team and you can stop the train, there's a huge life changing score available on this train.
- [12:30]
Documentary Narrator
With the team assembled, what they need is a base. Pooling their resources, they set about buying a large remote agricultural property in rural Buckinghamshire. The gang's solicitor processes the paperwork and soon they've set up what will be their headquarters and safe house for the entire operation.
- [12:50]
Crime Historian / Expert
Leather Slade Farm is a huge farmhouse building with land and it was Quite remote, so it was perfect for what the gang wanted. The actual farm building was big enough to house 15 guys. It had some sheds that could cover the lorry and the Land Rovers. So it was a perfect place for preparation and the idea was that they would stay there for a couple of weeks and they had enough provisions, they had enough drink and food, and it was their intention to wait out the period after the robbery.
- [13:28]
Documentary Narrator
In the weeks leading up to the heist, they plan meticulously and little by little they iron out the details. The perfect location for the robbery is chosen on a stretch of the line between the towns of Luton and Aylesbury, roughly 30 miles northwest of London. It's somewhere they can easily get to by road, but remote enough that they've got the best chance of not being seen. Their electronics guy works out how to hijack the signal and they make a plan for communications. One of their team spends his time familiarizing himself with the layout of the trains. They buy Land Rovers, an Austin Lodestar flatbed truck, blue boiler suits and a VHF radio that will allow them to listen for police broadcasts. They procure weapons in the form of coches or leather covered truncheons. But knowing the stiff penalties for robberies involving firearms, they draw the line and guns. Perhaps most importantly, detailed plans are made for exactly who will do what after the night itself. Finally, the day is chosen, the weather is good, the intel is solid and everyone assembles. But then the Ulsterman, through an intermediary, makes contact again. If they put off the heist for one day, they can take advantage of a Scottish bank holiday and that means the train will be bursting at the seams with money.
- [15:01]
Crime Historian / Expert
So the Ulsterman had inside information to the best day to rob the train. The guy said, you can do it on that day, it'd be fine, no problem at all. But if you do it the next day, there's going to be maybe treble quadruple the amount.
- [15:17]
Documentary Narrator
On the 8th of August 1963, it's finally time. The gang head out from the farm and follow the plan. It goes almost like clockwork. The boosted red lights on the track cause the driver and first man to slow the train down. When Dave Whitby gets out to have a look. The thieves swarm up the embankment from their hiding place under the bridge near to Sears Crossing. Up on the track, a few men grab Whitby while others carry out the next part of the plan, that of subduing the driver, Jack Mills. But when the older man fights back, he's struck hard across the head and he goes down concussed. This was not how they wanted things to go. They were aiming for a victimless crime. Further down the tracks, things go more to plan.
- [16:06]
Crime Historian / Expert
So to get into the compartments they shouted out that they had guns, which they did not. But this then obviously scared the postal workers.
- [16:19]
Documentary Narrator
Led by the gang member who's been recruited because of his experience of working on the railways, they go about separating the high value packages coach from from the rest of the train. The plan is to move the valuable front of the train along about half a mile to Brydigo bridge where the west coast mainline track crosses over the top of a single track road. But there's a problem. Ronnie Biggs, who will later become perhaps the most famous of the robbers, has recruited a retired engine driver for the purpose of moving the train off the mainland. But as the older man gets into the cab, he realizes this is a newer model than the trains he used to drive and he can't figure out how to move it. So despite the black eye and head injuries, the original driver, Jack Mills is forced back into the cab to complete the task for his assailants. Marvel Television's Wonder Man. An eight episode series now streaming on Disney.
- [17:22]
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- [17:23]
Documentary Narrator
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- [17:26]
Crime Historian / Expert
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- [17:30]
Documentary Narrator
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- [17:46]
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- [18:17]
Crime Historian / Expert
Once they'd forced their way in, they subdued the guys. And then it was all about detaching the front of the train and the high value carriage which was right next to the front of the train. They then moved forward with the intention of unloading the high value packages
- [18:38]
Documentary Narrator
inside the high value coach. It becomes immediately clear that even the robbers wildest estimates were low. But first the team have to deal with the most pressing concern. That of the five Royal mail workers in this section, two of them, the assistant train manager and the man in charge of the HVP carriage itself make an attempt to bar the robbers from entering. But they're quickly overpowered and soon all five men are lying face down on the carriage floor. Jack Mills and Dave Whitby are brought in too, handcuffed together and made to lie down.
- [19:14]
Crime Historian / Expert
The fact is the driver is injured. To get into the high value carriage, they have attacked the door, pushed the men down. I think there was a couple of coches used to restrain the guys. So there is definitely physical violence to subdue the train workers.
- [19:34]
Documentary Narrator
Now with the train in position directly over Bredigo Bridge, where they needed to be, the gang gets to work. It's a truly bumper hall with huge sacks stuffed with cash crammed into the lockers. Thanks to that bank holiday, the unloading begins.
- [19:52]
Crime Historian / Expert
So the gang arrived with two Land Rovers at an Austin Lodestar truck. They brought that to the job with them and placed it at the bridge ready for the train stopping. So there is a chain of guys and at the bottom of the hill are two Land Rovers and the truck ready to take packages away.
- [20:14]
Documentary Narrator
With the drivers ready to stamp on the accelerator at the faintest hint of a siren, the gang start emptying the carriage, hauling sacks down the hill in a human chain. Reynolds has already specified a strict time frame. 30 minutes, no more. If they haven't got it all in by then, they'll leave it any more time and the risks outweigh the benefits.
- [20:36]
Crime Historian / Expert
When they stopped the train at Brydigo Bridge, they managed to take off about 120 of the packages. These are big sacks full of money and left, I believe, only five to eight packages behind. And part of that reasoning was down to Bruce Reynolds and organization, that they gave themselves a certain amount of time and they unloaded quickly. And most of the guys said it was the hardest work they'd ever done in their whole lives. Was carrying those sacks down the hill into the van quickly and they got 120 sacks.
- [21:16]
Documentary Narrator
After exactly 30 minutes, the men stop racing down the embankment to the waiting vehicles. But before they depart, they have one last instruction for the helpless captives on the floor of the carriage. They're to wait 30 minutes before they call the police, the robbers say, and someone's going to be watching them to make sure they comply. It's a lie, though, and soon all of the robbers are en route back to the safe house. As they flee into the night, the air of jubilation grows with the men still only speculating about just how much money they were able to take. It is only when they get back to the farm and drag the sacks inside that they can really comprehend what they've done. Even before they finished counting up the cash, their celebrations begin. It's abundantly clear that their previous hopes have been wildly surpassed.
- [22:11]
Crime Historian / Expert
The estimates of the job ranged from about a million up, so it ended up with, I think it was 128 bags, sacks full of money picked up. And this has ranged from 2.5 million to 2.6 million in 1963, which in today's money is over 50 million pounds.
- [22:34]
Documentary Narrator
As the true size of the hall sinks in and the drinks start flowing, Reynolds advises caution. He instructs the gang to stick rigidly to the plan, which is all about laying low until the inevitable reaction of the law blows over. With the help of the VHF radio and their solicitor at a safe distance, the men wake the next day to the news that a huge country wide manhunt is already underway. Local and national radio bulletins tell the story of their feats over and over again. But they also reveal a schism in the public perception of their crime. Half the country seem to applaud their acts, reveling in the sense of the common man getting one over on the establishment. Others though, are horrified by the assault suffered by the workers, especially mills, and want to see the robbers brought to justice for crimes against the monarchy.
- [23:32]
Crime Historian / Expert
The general public were divided. 50, 50. There were 50% of people who, ah, good on them. They got away with a job. Times are hard. It seems like they were well planned and they've had a great payday. And then there's 50% who see that it's the Queen's Royal mail train and they believe that this is an attack on the Queen, it's an attack on the country. Lock them up. So public perception was definitely mixed.
- [24:00]
Documentary Narrator
Buoyed by the idea that they are modern day Robin Hoods, they initially sit tight.
- [24:06]
Crime Historian / Expert
While it's quite famous what they were doing. They were playing Monopoly, they were playing games, they were reading books. But unfortunately for them, there are also objects that can attract fingerprints. So there's Monopoly sets, there's tins of beer, there's Items in bathrooms, etc.
- [24:28]
Documentary Narrator
And that's not their only mystic. Back on the night of the robbery itself, their instruction not to raise the alarm for half an hour was intended to give them a head start. What it actually does is give the police a search radius.
- [24:43]
Crime Historian / Expert
So as the robbers are leaving, they've pushed the driver and his assistant and said do not move for 30 minutes. And this was a key to the police then having a radius to search they then believed that if they were only 30 minutes, there must be this 30 mile radius.
- [25:05]
Documentary Narrator
For now, the gang sit tight at Leatherslade Farm. They eat canned food, play Monopoly and count the cash. But then the tone of the radio bulletins changes. It appears that a breakthrough of sorts has been made. The police are now talking about locations in the Buckinghamshire area, urging members of the public to come forward with anything they've seen out of place.
- [25:28]
Crime Historian / Expert
Then the gang panicked and decided that they wouldn't wait it out and that they would move themselves. So over the next couple of days it's decided to secure a couple of vehicles. They start to then evacuate the farm.
- [25:43]
Documentary Narrator
The farm is abandoned and the men follow the plan to scatter. But it is now that the third and arguably most significant of the mistakes is made. One that will ultimately lead to their downfall. This time, though, it's not the fault of the robbers themselves, but someone they're relying on for their fail safe.
- [26:07]
Crime Historian / Expert
There's a guy who's going to come down and burn down the farm and destroy any evidence of the guys being there. Unfortunately for the gang, this doesn't happen. The solicitor, Brian Field, and his contacts don't arrange for the farm to be burnt,
- [26:26]
Documentary Narrator
though this oversight will have huge consequences. For now, the robbers take their split of the proceeds, what they refer to as their drink, and disappear. Most head back to London to hide in plain sight. But as the police search narrows, the Buckinghamshire landscape falls under ever tightening scrutiny, with more and more officers joining the search. Soon it comes to light that a farmhand has been calling the police repeatedly to tell them that he has noticed some unusual activity at Leatherslade Farm.
- [27:01]
Crime Historian / Expert
There are a number of phone calls that were initially ignored about these strange guys hanging around at the farm, but eventually one herdsman gets through. He'd attempted police couple of times and said there's something very strange going on.
- [27:25]
Documentary Narrator
August 1963, a few days after the robbery. It is an overcast day, just before lunchtime and Constable Woolley of the Buckinghamshire Constabulary is parking his squad car on a narrow country lane. He gets out and heads up the farm track on foot. It's been a fairly wet August and while he scans the fields, he's keeping half an eye on the muddy path, anxious to keep his uniform clean. It is deadly quiet and to Wooly, that feels off. In their sprawling investigation, the police have received some 400 calls about the possible whereabouts of the robbers. They've ranged from the helpful to the hopeful to the downright bizarre. But the one that he's been sent to check out. Sounds important. The caller talked about seeing a lot of men at a remote farmhouse. Thing is, Leather Slade isn't a working farm. Hasn't been for some time. He crests the shallow rise and there's the farmhouse. It's a large two story building, more like a pair of separate stone dwellings pushed together. There's a cluster of outbuildings, but nobody about. There's only the breeze and the mud. Woolley walks up to the front door, noticing some paint cans sitting in a neat row beside it. He tries the handle but it's locked, so he moves to a window and cups his hand to the glass to peer inside. Plenty of room in there, but not a soul to be seen. Suspecting a wild goose chase, he crosses in front of the main farmhouse and over the track to the outbuildings. One of them is a barn, but it has a couple of low windows. There's no lights on inside, but he can see dust motes held in the weak sunlight. Though the floor has been swept. The ancient farming equipment that's dotted around is cobwebby and unused. None of it looks out of the ordinary. But then he sees something that is and it stands out like a sore thumb. It's a smart vehicle, one he recognizes instantly from its grill and badge. It's a Land Rover, late model, completely out of place. And not far from it is a second one. From what the caller said, the farm hasn't been used agriculturally since its previous occupants sold up. So why are there two nearly new four wheel drives in its barn? But as he peers closer at them, he sees something else. They're not just similar, these two vehicles, but identical right down to the registration plates. This is it, he realizes. He's found them. All thoughts about the cleanliness of his uniform forgotten, Woolley pounds back down the track, wrenching open the car door. He doesn't even wait to catch his breath before he grabs the radio and calls it in. It seems that only minutes pass before the rural stillness is ruptured by the sirens of his colleagues.
- [30:45]
Crime Historian / Expert
One of the errors from the police is that they didn't take seriously some of those reports, but eventually the guy gets through to the right person and he's heard. And they eventually visited the farm and because it hasn't been burnt, they've left a Land Rover. There's a load of food, there's a load of evidence of burnt sacks and I think a little bit of Scottish money and stuff in pits that they dug and half heartedly left behind
- [31:16]
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- [31:47]
Documentary Narrator
The failure to burn down the farm is a calamitous mistake for the robbers. Though the gang themselves have now dispersed, the attention of the police and the nation's media descends upon Leather Slade Farm. With detectives combing the site, the evidence quickly begins to stack up. There are the bills and sacks from the train, proving that the gang of men who robbed the mail train were here. But there are also fingerprints everywhere.
- [32:15]
Crime Historian / Expert
It's a new science, and as people are getting arrested, they're now having to give over their fingerprints. So a lot of the trained robbers had been done for lesser crimes and had served smaller sentences, and their fingerprints are on record. And in particular, one is Ronnie Biggs, who's in the fingerprint database.
- [32:35]
Documentary Narrator
In the immediate aftermath of the robbery, the police turn to their extensive network of informants for information on suspected members of the gang. Exploiting these contacts with the criminal underworld gives them two lists of names, men who could have been involved in the train robbery.
- [32:52]
Crime Historian / Expert
The police in London and Buckinghamshire, through their contacts, were supplied a list of 20 names. So the names of some of the potential train robbers were on these two separate lists. The police knew 80% of the train robbers within a week of the robbery taking place. This is because in the criminal world, there is always a grass.
- [33:23]
Documentary Narrator
But even with the names, it's not a straightforward task to find the men on the lists. Though many are hiding out in London, others have gone further afield. The Metropolitan Police appoint a detective with a fearsome reputation to spearhead their pursuit.
- [33:40]
Crime Historian / Expert
Tommy Butler's the head of Blind Scott cid and he is known as a thief taker. He's got a very good reputation for working long hours in the pursuit of arresting guys. And he's probably absolutely the right guy to go after these train robbers. He has an assistant in Frank Williams. Williams specialty was that he was on the beat and grew up in South London, so he knew a lot of the types of guys who would be involved in the train robbery. So once the lists are in their hands, their investigation is made slightly easier because they can then go after guys that they know, so they know where to look. For them how to talk to their families, and they know how to pick at alibis.
- [34:32]
Documentary Narrator
Butler's task is a monumental one, with hundreds of people to interview and countless leads and loose ends to chase down. With the Postmaster general offering a 10,000 pound reward, the net tightens. On 14 August 1963, less than a week after the robbery itself, the first arrest is made. But even with the police at his door, the thief in question isn't ready to give up his cut of the money.
- [35:04]
Crime Historian / Expert
So the first person to be arrested is Roger Cordrey in Bournemouth. So Roger Cordrey is trying to hire a lockup garage and unfortunately, Ethel Clark is a former policewoman who is very suspicious of a man carrying large amounts of cash. And she just absolutely gets it right. So she reports Roger Cordry and Roger Cordry is arrested. There's a funny story that Roger Cordrey has stuffed the key to the lockup of his body and is now in pain whilst being interviewed and asks could he go to the toilet to retrieve the key.
- [35:46]
Documentary Narrator
Police surveillance identifies changes in the spending habits of other suspected robbers and soon the house of cards collapses.
- [35:54]
Crime Historian / Expert
The next set of guys to be arrested are all the ones whose fingerprints are at the farm. So Gordon Goody and Ronnie Biggs and Jimmy Hussey. And suddenly it's grown where you've got guys who are now arrested because they can't prove an alibi and they've got fingerprints on the system.
- [36:17]
Documentary Narrator
Others soon follow. For Butler and his team, it's like all their Christmases rolled into one. Because some of the criminals are already wanted or suspected for their roles in other major crimes. The newspapers have a field day splashing pictures of the robbers capture across the front pages of broadsheets and tabloids alike. Before long, the prosecutors are ready for what is shaping up to be one of the trials of the decade.
- [36:44]
Crime Historian / Expert
So the trial in 1964, 11 men are sentenced. The sentences are for a majority of the gang, but also for the solicitors and the other guys involved in the planning stage.
- [37:00]
Documentary Narrator
The trial focuses not just on the money and the conspiracy, but also on the harm done to Jack Mills, who has still not returned to work. But when the guilty verdicts come in, the weight of their sentences sends a shocking message. Many of the gang are handed down prison terms of between 20 and 30 years in prison, longer than many murderers and armed robbers have to serve. The handful of the thieves who are still on the run now know exactly what awaits them if they're found and double down on their escape plans. But the severity of the punishments has a knock on effect for future criminals too, especially concerning the question of whether or not to be armed.
- [37:44]
Crime Historian / Expert
The length of sentencing absolutely shocked the UK public and I think also created another problem. Those guys got 30 years and didn't have a gun on them, didn't kill anybody. And in speaking to criminals who were around at the time, it changed the thought process of criminals because it said if the train robbers are going to get 30 years, the maximum sentence for stealing money. If I'm going to steal money, I'm going to take a gun with me, I'm going to take a, you know, major weapon with me. So I don't believe that it did good service. In terms of the mythology and thought process of future criminals, the police don't
- [38:28]
Documentary Narrator
manage to get convictions for everyone. The defense for John Daly, for example, centers on why his fingerprints were found on the crucial piece of evidence that puts many of the other men behind bars.
- [38:40]
Crime Historian / Expert
The trial is unique because one member of the gang, John Daly, gets acquitted because his fingerprints were found on a Monopoly set. He is related through marriage to Bruce Reynolds and says, I played it many times at Bruce's house. I think that's amazing. I don't know why the others didn't use that as a defense. So John Daly and the pictures of when you see him can't believe that he's got off.
- [39:11]
Documentary Narrator
Still, several of the robbers remain on the run. These are the most elusive, most professional and wily of the group, changing names and locations repeatedly. Ronnie Biggs, only a few months into his 30 year sentence, escapes from Wandsworth prison using a rope ladder and dropping onto a waiting van. He flees, first to France, then to South America, where he'll stay until 2001 when he finally gives himself up and returns to the uk, where he is immediately arrested. Years pass and the number of men still at large dwindles. Though Tommy Butler makes good on his reputation as an elite thief taker, one man still eludes him. The chief villain of the whole operation, Bruce Reynolds. Though the capture of most of the gang may be a form of closure for some, it's not enough for Butler. Reynolds money has been running out, forcing him to take more risks. According to the famed Kray Twins enforcer Freddie Foreman, by 1968, Bruce Reynolds has started sounding out other gangland figures about going for a sequel to the Great Train Robbery. But even five years after the initial heist, Butler's determination to catch his man hasn't dulled. And when the information comes his way, he's ready to pounce. Ninth of November 1968, in the English seaside town of Torquay. It is just gone half past six in the morning and the sun has not yet risen in the harbor. At the bottom of the hill, fishermen are readying their boats for another day on the water. But higher into the town there is the sense of a calm before a storm. Outside a cream colored house called Villa Cap Martin stands a small crowd of police officers, including Tommy Butler of the Flying Squad. Butler has followed the trail around the world. Brussels, Acapulco, Montreal, Vancouver, the south of France. Sometimes he has been close, other times the trail has seemed to vanish completely. But with the help of local police, with their close eye on the criminal community, he's been led to this address on a sought after road with magnificent sea views. It's here that he hopes to find a criminal going by the name of Keith Hiller. At the front door, the officers line up for the dawn raid. Butler himself stands very close by. As a senior officer, he can't enter first, no matter how much he wants to. All he can do is watch as his colleague brings his fist up to the door and knocks. Butler holds his breath. The morning is so quiet and he is so close that he can hear a voice in the house saying, nick, can you get that? The door opens and a small boy stands there in his pajamas, rubbing his eyes. He stares up at the officers, confused. After a stunned split second, the uniformed men pour past him into the house. The boy flattens himself against the wall, largely ignored by the police. Until Butler comes in, the detective stays in the hall with a frightened child as his colleagues search the house, storming up the stairs to check every room. Butler doesn't have long to wait. Within moments, a man is escorted down the stairs and as he hoped, it's someone Butler recognizes instantly. Keith Hiller. Whose real name of course isn't Keith Hiller, but Bruce Reynolds, the mastermind behind the Great Train Robbery. It's just the latest in a long line of pseudonyms. Long time no see, Bruce, says Butler. But I've got you at last. Bruce Reynolds smiles back at Butler like they're a couple of gentlemen at the end of a card game. C' est la vie, Tom, he says. After a more muted trial than that of his fellow outlaws four years previously, Reynolds is sentenced to 25 years in prison. And though he will be out after only 10 in the 1980s, he'll be jailed again for drug offenses. After Reynolds capture, the police announce that they have finally caught all the train robbers. But this isn't strictly True, three men are still loose, but they remain unacknowledged and unnamed. It's a secret that will last 60 years.
- [44:01]
Crime Historian / Expert
So the 60 year secret is quite interesting because it's the three guys who got away with the Great Train Robbery. They're on it, they're active members. And not one single member of the gang or any of their family named them or profited from naming them. Now the fascinating fact is for 50 years now, 60 years next year, nobody wrote a book, gave those guys up and all of these guys needed money various different times in their life. Bruce Reynolds wrote a book, didn't mention the guys. Ronnie Biggs wrote a series of books, didn't mention the guys. And I think part of the reason that the Great Train Robbery story is enduring and endearing is that there is still this mystique. Of the three who got away.
- [44:51]
Documentary Narrator
Though most if not all of the men involved do finally face justice. There is another man who suffers through no fault of his own, as well as the unsuspecting workers on the train that night. Bill bowl was an innocent man who got tangled up in a crime he neither wanted any part in or benefited from in any way. In what has been widely acknowledged as a terrible miscarriage of justice, 50 year old engineer Bole was arrested at the same time as train robber Roger Cordy. Cordray owed Bole a few hundred pounds and got in touch after the robbery to arrange repayment. But soon afterwards, Cordy also roped Bole into helping him rent a lock up, where unbeknownst to Bowell, he was going to stow his portion of the cash. Thanks to spurious evidence found at Leatherslate Farm. Bowell was then jailed for his role in a crime he'd had no hand in committing.
- [45:51]
Crime Historian / Expert
Bill bowl is the innocent party in this. He ends up dying in prison, but he was absolutely nothing to do with train robbery. He could have got a couple of years for handling the money, but it's a proper miscarriage of justice that the police have finally agreed is true. And what must be said is Bill Bol was fitted up with some yellow paint. Now, that yellow paint was on the farm, how did it get onto Bill Bol? It was planted because it's 100% agreed he was never at the farm. I think when you're looking at both sides of the story here, what the Great Train Robbers did is criminal and is wrong. But also the police do not come out of this as a shining example of how to conduct an investigation when there is a need to fit up evidence.
- [46:41]
Documentary Narrator
After allegedly suffering beatings at the hands of the police, Bill Bol was sentenced to 24 years in prison, but died behind bars after just six. As time passed, the enduring tale of the Great Train Robbery became to many a story of ordinary men getting one up on the establishment. People like Ronnie Biggs and Bruce Reynolds became almost folk heroes, their antics reported with a combination of mock outrage and glee. Though it shocked the nation at the time, the heist has gained a mythology of its own, and it remains one of the biggest robberies in history. The truth, though, is that the experiences of Jack Mills, Bill Boal and others show that this was far from a victimless crime. Next week on SHORT HISTORY of We'll bring you a short history of Albert Einstein.
- [47:46]
Short History Narrator
One time he was going to a conference in one of the great European cities and there are a lot of press photographers waiting for him. Where the first class train compartment was going to have his passengers come out. And they waited and waited. Everybody came out, but no Einstein. And they looked way down at the end of the platform and coming out from the third class compartment, there was Einstein with his violin case and a little suitcase and his pipe, just walking along. An ordinary person. You think of ivory towers and people with huge foreheads sitting and thinking stuff that ordinary people can't. The idea that somebody up there is genuinely on our side made him strongly beloved.
- [48:21]
Documentary Narrator
That's next time on SHORT historyof.
- [48:32]
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Documentary Narrator
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