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UK Releases 'Great Train Robber' Biggs to Die

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 7, 2009 1:23 PM CDT

(Newser) – Ronnie Biggs, part of a crew that stole millions from a British mail train in 1963 in the notorious Great Train Robbery, has been issued a “compassionate release” from prison to undergo medical treatment in his final days, the Guardian reports. Biggs, 80, has pneumonia, and doctors say there is “not much hope for him.”

Biggs was jailed after the robbery for just 15 months when he escaped and spent 30 years on the lam. He was rearrested in 2001 when he returned to England to seek medical treatment. “He is being released effectively to die and that cannot be considered a victory,” his lawyer says. “He is not going to any pub,” he adds, referring to Biggs’ oft-stated wish to once again “walk into a Margate pub as an Englishman and buy a pint of bitter.”

Ronnie Biggs leaves Chiswick Police station on his way to court in west London in this Monday, May 7, 2001 file photo.
Ronnie Biggs leaves Chiswick Police station on his way to court in west London in this Monday, May 7, 2001 file photo.   (AP Photo)
Police mug shots of Ronnie Biggs in the 1960s.
Police mug shots of Ronnie Biggs in the 1960s.   (Getty Images)
Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs is seen in Rio De Janiero, Brazil, in 1997.
"Great Train Robber" Ronnie Biggs is seen in Rio De Janiero, Brazil, in 1997.   (AP Photo)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 5 comments
cochiserocks
Aug 8, 2009 10:06 AM CDT
The guy is throw back to an old school criminal who doesn't exist anymore. He's a bit of an icon and whether you like him or not, he's at the end of his life having spent most of it looking over his shoulder. He's not the young man he was when he committed the murder and robbery. So I reckon just let him be..
Shannonals
Aug 8, 2009 4:16 AM CDT
Loved the movie
Nwambe
Aug 7, 2009 6:39 AM CDT
Also, whether right or left of centre, you are what the kids nowadays call 'a raging hemorrhoid of a douchebag'. Gotta love kids, huh?

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