Ronnie Biggs was jailed in 1964 for his part in the infamous train robbery but not for long, The Great Train Robbers stole 2.6m from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London on August 8, 1963, In 1964, nine of the 15-strong gang, including Biggs, were jailed for the crime, Charmain Biggs and her sons rushed out to Australia to be with Ronnie, Charmain was later portrayed by Sheridan Smith in a TV drama Mrs Biggs, Ronnie admitted he found some of the Pistols' lyrics 'a little disgusting', Ronnie's son Michael became a go-between for his press interviews in later years, Defiant to the end, Ronnie attended the funeral of Great Train Robbery mastermind Bruce Reynolds in 2013. They'd have a barbecue and a drink, paying about $60 each, and spend three or four hours with my father, listening to his stories and taking his photograph." It was Christmas Eve. Having 28 years of his sentence left to serve, Biggs was aware that he would be detained upon arrival in Britain. "[43], On 30 July, it was claimed by representatives of Biggs that he had been given "permission" to challenge the decision to refuse him parole. Biggs should serve his punishment. Then, fearing that he was about to be caught, Biggs fled to Brazil, alone, with just $200. The team was headed by security consultant Patrick King. Five months later, he fled on a passenger liner from the Port of Melbourne, using the altered passport of a friend; his wife and sons remained in Australia. I said as a matter of fact I did, but I knew them from the pub! "But I couldn't live with myself if the man who gave me everything asked me for help and I said no. But surely it was a hell of a gamble? Great train robber Ronnie Biggs' former wife, Charmian Brent, has died in Melbourne. "The first Mrs Biggs: "I'd do it all again", Life and Crimes of Ronnie Biggs: from Brazil to Belmarsh, "The day crime gang stopped a train and shocked the world", "Dead Legends File Ronnie Biggs the Great Train Robbery Rogue, Checks Out at Last", "Kingpin Chess Magazine The Chess Player and the Train Robber", "From the archive, 25 March 1981: Kidnapping of Ronnie Biggs ends in farce", "Great Train Robber on the Lam in Brazil Finds British Lion on Trail", "Michael Biggs: The end of the line for a dutiful son? Biggs's son by de Castro, Michael Biggs, was seven years old when he became a member of the highly successful[22] Brazilian children's programme and music band Balo Mgico (19821986),[22][23] bringing relative financial security to his father. His wife Charmian and their sons followed him It turned out he had supported Charlton from being a small boy and had often seen me play at The Valley. In August 2010, it was claimed by the Sunday Mirror that Biggs would be attending a gala dinner where he would be collecting a lifetime achievement award for his services to crime. We toured with Ricky Martin and sold out the Maracana (Brazil's biggest stadium) four times.". [4] Choosing to support her husband, she had an illegal abortion in London and then travelled with their two sons to Paris to join Biggs. The doctors have just told me to rush there. [51] In July 2013, The Great Train Robbery 50th Anniversary: 19632013 was published, with input from Biggs and Reynolds. He had been treated four times at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, London, in less than six months. Three weeks later, he was arrested in South London, along with 11 other members of the gang. Now 72, Biggs has suffered a third stroke since returning to Britain, and has three stomach ulcers. On my birthday I got lots of Mummy cards.. Either way, he was instantly arrested and sent to Belmarsh Prison, in south-east London. The wife of Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs had an abortion after falling pregnant with another mans child while her husband was in prison. Portrayed by Daniel Mays in the British TV miniseries Mrs Biggs (2012). Biggs was even visited by former footballer Stanley Matthews, whom Biggs afterwards invited to his apartment after hearing that he was in Rio. Every second of my life," he says, tears rolling again. Biggs fled to Paris where he underwent plastic surgery to disguise his appearance. Many would find Michael's insistence that his father was "literally pushed over the wall" by the pressure of being closely guarded 24-hours-a-day laughable. Biggs arrived on 7 May 2001, whereupon he was immediately arrested and re-imprisoned. In 1974, Biggs was arrested by Scotland Yard's Chief Supt Jack Slipper.

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Personal Quotes (2) The parole board had said he was coming home, then Straw said: 'No, he's not. They asked my wife, 'How do you feel that your husband puts his father in front of you and your child? Now I was working on building sites carrying bags of rubble, doing any labouring job to give me the money to be able to live and visit my father. Something went wrong, please try again later. "From a very early age, I knew my dad had committed a crime, although I didn't know exactly what it was. Mills's own son, John, is adamant that Biggs's sentence should not be reduced.

The wife of the Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs. For her performance, Smith won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and nominations for the National Television Award for Outstanding Female Dramatic Performance and the Royal Television Society for Best Actress. As he talks, his eyes fill up, the salty pools suddenly cascading down his cheeks. The chief of police then told my mum that if she was expecting a child to have it because it would keep Ronnie in the country.". Yet it was in Belmarsh that he contracted scabies, developed septic sores around the opening for his stomach tube, suffered several epileptic fits and had a further stroke. So she ended the affair and terminated the pregnancy before emigrating with her husband and their sons to Australia on false passports. ", Michael's football academy, EuroAcademy Brasil, has since brought a number of young Brazilian players over to the UK for trials with West Ham and Fulham, and has just placed Lucas Baggio with the Greek club Olympiakos. "He told my mother to get rid of me after he was arrested," says Michael. Michael was devastated. The Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, the most well-known member of a gang that made off with 2.6m from a Glasgow to London mail train, has died at the age of 84.

To support his family, Biggs managed to get a job building sets at Australias Channel 9 news which ironically was the network that broke the story that he was hiding out in Melbourne. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. After the police discovered his whereabouts in 1969, Biggs flew to Panama and then Brazil, finally settling in Rio de Janeiro in 1970 to live the "high life", famously drinking cocktails with bikini-clad Brazilian girls and forever boasting of his escape. [52][53] His death coincidentally occurred hours before the first broadcast of a two-part BBC television series, The Great Train Robbery, in which Biggs was portrayed by actor Jack Gordon. "The first three years I was here we lived apart, because the government was very vindictive towards my family. Travelling on forged documents, Biggs then flew to Sydney on 29 December 1965. Portrayed by Daniel Mays in the British TV miniseries Mrs Biggs (2012). [4] Charmian later undertook a degree and became an editor, publisher and journalist. He was working as a manager in a money-transfer bureau when a football agent came in to send money to Brazil. On 18 December 2013, aged 84, Biggs died at the Carlton Court Care Home in Barnet, North London, where he was being cared for. I went through 17 schools. It would be a fitting end to the sorry story that began in 1963, when Biggs was part of a gang that stole 2.6m from the Glasgow-to-London mail train. "Personally? The Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, the most well-known member of a gang that made off with 2.6m from a Glasgow to London mail train, has died at the age of 84. The sleeve showed a British actor dressed as Nazi leader Martin Bormann playing bass with the group. The five-part ITV series, called Mrs Biggs, follows the couple from their first meeting on a train in 1957 to the infamous 1963 robbery, their life on the run in Australia and Ronnies flight to Rio with the police closing in. In October 1969, a newspaper report by a Reuters correspondent revealed that Biggs was living in Melbourne and claimed that police were closing in on him. On New Year's Day in 1966, Biggs, who had escaped Wandsworth Prison and undergone plastic surgery to conceal his identity, flew to Australia under the name Terence Furminger. When we meet, Michael describes the time he has spent in London as "psychological hell". The Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, the most well-known member of a gang that made off with 2.6m from a Glasgow to London mail train, has died at the age of 84. At the start of the hearing on Friday, Michael told immigration officials that his visits to his father, currently at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, south-east London, were the highlight of the old man's day. "It meant I had to grow up very quickly. Michael, who has both a young family and a job as a musician back in Brazil, has been renting a small flat in London ever since. An honour guard of British Hells Angels escorted his hearse to the crematorium. Michael Biggs and I meet only a few hours after Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, It was then that the president of CBS records in Brazil saw me and thought I would do well as part of a boy band. He asked me if I thought I could help him place some players. He told me, 'Mate, you're going about life the wrong way. "He's very confident that the British justice system will realise that 55 years was far too excessive for an unarmed robbery.". He'd had two strokes, couldn't speak, could hardly move. A little over a year after Michael was born, his mother left for Europe and Ronnie Biggs was left to bring up his son alone. "My father will never be able to speak again, or have an unaided life again," Michael explains. Yesterday, speaking for the first time since 2001, Charmian said she had no regrets about going on the run with Ron, saying she would do it all over again. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. He always manages to cheer me up." But with the money from the band now long gone, he struggled to make ends meet while trying to maintain regular contact with his father in Belmarsh. Charmian Brent, not Charmaine, is the former wife of great train robber Ronnie Biggs. They all write me cards now. At the time, the South American country didnt have an extradition treaty with the UK, and after his new Brazilian girlfriend became pregnant with his child, the Great Train Robber was protected by Brazilian law. Ronnie Biggs managed to evade justice for 35 years, but declining health and a desire to "walk into a Margate pub as an Englishman and buy a pint of bitter" saw him return to face the music, Don't miss a thing! He gave me an Ella Fitzgerald album, a modern jazz album and an Incredible String Band album and it turned me towards the cooler way of living. Biggs fled to Paris where he underwent plastic surgery to disguise his appearance. The way Straw conducted himself in relation to my father was horrible. But Biggss desire to come home wasnt just that he needed NHS care, though, he said at the time. [11] Though in Brazil he was safe from extradition, Biggs's status as a known criminal meant he could not work, visit bars or be away from home after 10:00p.m.[15] To provide an income, Biggs's family hosted barbecues at his home in Rio, where tourists could meet Biggs and hear him recount his involvement in the robbery, which, in fact, was minor. In April 1977, Biggs attended an informal drinks party on board the Royal Navy frigate HMSDanae(F47), which was in Rio for a courtesy visit, but he was not arrested. During his incarceration in HM Prison Wandsworth, he met Bruce Reynolds. By this time Biggss wife Charmain, who had given up on him while he was behind bars and had become pregnant by another man, had secured an illegal abortion and travelled to Australia with their two sons to be by his side. [1] As a child during the Second World War, he was evacuated to Flitwick, Bedfordshire, and then Delabole, Cornwall.

"I have nothing but contempt for the man. If you're really going to go down this road if you want to have a drink and have a smoke and enjoy women don't do it while you're listening to punk rock.' Biggs had told her he was Mike Haynes, the name of a friend who had given him his passport in Australia so he could leave the country. We're sitting in the rear garden of Michael Biggs's modest home in Barnet, north London, just a couple of minutes' walk from the nursing home where his father has been settling in since arriving from Norfolk and Norwich hospital a week ago.

And that was how the press coverage started. For example, when Gilberto came over to Arsenal it took him a good year to get used to what was expected of him. ', "The second time my wife came, she was stopped at the airport and she and my daughter were locked in a room with no tables, no water. I might even surprise them all by lasting until Christmas, that would be fantastic."[46]. [13] English lawyer Nigel Sangster QC travelled to Brazil to advise Biggs. WebShe eventually became his second wife (then as Raimunda Rothen) in 2002. "Even if he's feeling tired or dizzy or sick he always tries to look his best for me," says Michael. Michael looks relaxed in T-shirt and shorts, his bright eyes smiling, until I ask him how is father is. Mrs Biggs will air on ITV1 in the autumn. Chief detective superintendent Jack Slipper brushes reporters aside at Gatwick Airport, having returned empty handed after failing to secure Biggs in Rio. While in prison, he learnt that under Brazilian law he could not be extradited because his then girlfriend, Raimunda Rothen, a stripper, was four weeks' pregnant with Michael. We were the country's first boy band.". It's still early days. Charmian, who was disowned by her father before she married Biggs aged 18, stood by her husband despite repeated betrayals. I took a lot of bullying and had to learn how to fight.

There is no honour to being known as a Great Train Robber. Two months later, the UK government made a formal request to the Brazilian government for Biggs's extradition. [48], On 12 January 2012, ITV Studios announced it had commissioned a five-part drama, Mrs Biggs, to be based around the life of Biggs's wife Charmian, played by Sheridan Smith and Biggs by Daniel Mays. [33] On 26 October 2005, Home Secretary Charles Clarke declined his appeal, stating that his illness was not terminal. And when you bring the young ones, sometimes they can't make it because it's too hard to adapt quickly.". Great train robber Ronnie Biggs' former wife, Charmian Brent, has died in Melbourne. I remember when we used to visit ships that came to Brazil, we'd get goodies from the sailors. Mills later died though "nobody ever mentions that it was seven years afterwards, and of lymphatic leukaemia and pneumonia", says Michael. Should he lose, he will appeal further. "We were broke, so my father had to start the Ronnie Biggs experience again, receiving tourists and portraying the image that he was having a good time. Still, whatever picture Michael paints of his father's tiresome life in Rio, it was certainly preferable to one spent in prison. Indeed, things are not looking good.

[3][4], In 1963, Biggs, who needed money to fund a deposit on the purchase of a house for his family,[1] happened to be working on the house of a train driver who was about to retire. 1974: Ronnie reunited with wife Charmain in his cell in Brasilia, awaiting word as to whether Britains request for his extradition will be granted. But we never thought they would keep him in for ever. In 2001, Biggs returned to the United Kingdom and spent several years in prison, where his health rapidly declined. He is now on his fourth stay in hospital, and last week underwent an operation to insert a feeding tube into his stomach. The robbery money was long gone. That's what he's supposed to do.". [6], His son Michael said in a press release that, contrary to some press reports, Biggs did not return to the UK simply to receive health care which was not available in Brazil, and he had friends who would have contributed to such expenses,[27] but that it was his desire to "walk into a Margate pub as an Englishman and buy a pint of bitter". Ronnie Biggs said his share of the haul had been 147,000 British criminal Ronnie Biggs, who took part in the 1963 Great Train Robbery, has died aged 84, his spokeswoman has confirmed. On 10 August 2005, it was reported that Biggs had contracted MRSA. The train driver's real name is unknown, since he was never caught. Michael, who visits his father daily, doesn't even know whether Ronnie will make it to Christmas. He had been admitted to the same hospital a month earlier, with a chest infection and a fractured hip, but returned to prison on 17 July. I was living with a depressed old man and no matter what I said, he was adamant he just wanted to come home to England. "Not for one single moment," Michael replies. Nevertheless, funeral arrangements have already been discussed. You've got to make a living.". We knew he would have to go to prison when he came back, to make an example of him, so it was a gamble. [40] News of his condition prompted fresh calls from his son Michael for his release on compassionate grounds. His behaviour apparently still rankled when, in July, justice secretary Jack Straw blocked Biggs's parole application on the grounds that Biggs was "wholly unrepentant" and had "outrageously courted the media" during his life on the run. He escaped in 1965, however, having only served 15 months. "I didn't have a childhood," he explains.

Great Train robber Ronnie Biggs, the best-known member of a gang that stole 2.6 million from a Glasgow-to-London mail train in 1963, has died at the age of 84. Biggs introduced the driver to the train robbery plot, which involved Reynolds. Biggs's share was 147,000. [54] Biggs's body was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 3 January 2014. It is eight and a half years since the private jet carrying an ailing Ronnie Biggs back from Brazil touched down at Northolt airfield. He then slipped into Australia with his wife Charmian and their two sons, Nicky and Christopher. Michael Biggs was born in Rio in 1974. But equally, Michael himself fails to mention that Mills died a broken man, having never fully recovered from the attack. How much did Michael know about his father's past? Michael Biggs and I meet only a few hours after Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, [6] By the time Biggs and his family arrived in 1966, they had spent all but 7,000 (equivalent to 138,700 in 2023) of his 147,000 share of the train robbery proceeds: 40,000 (equivalent to 792,700 in 2023) on plastic surgery in Paris; 55,000 (equivalent to 1,090,000 in 2023) paid as a package deal to get him out of the UK to Australia; and the rest on legal fees and expenses. Brent was just 17 when she met and fell in love with Biggs, a petty criminal who had spent time in prison. The truth is he came back in the end because he was depressed and he missed England." Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in. Charmian Brent, not Charmaine, is the former wife of great train robber Ronnie Biggs. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. WebRonald Arthur Biggs (8 August 1929 18 December 2013) was an English criminal who helped plan and carry out the Great Train Robbery of 1963. On 29 May 2010, Biggs was again admitted to hospital in London after complaining of chest pain. Australia has a unique connection to the infamous British train robber Ronnie Biggs, who has died aged 84. The first wife of Great Train robber Ronnie Biggs has died aged 75, just a year after the criminal husband with whom she went into hiding in Australia also passed away. In 1981 Biggs was kidnapped by "a bunch of British commandos", according to Michael, and taken to Barbados where he was held for 40 days. He really was very ill after his strokes; he couldn't talk. As Barbados had no extradition treaty with the UK, Biggs was allowed to return to Brazil. He subsequently became notorious for his escape from prison in 1965, living as a fugitive for 36 years, and for his various publicity stunts while in exile. '", But was Straw right? Michael's face becomes serious again. In those days, the minimum wage in Brazil was about seven dollars a month. "He's very frail, though his mind is working 100 per cent. They went through all of my daughter's possessions, through her powdered milk, treated them really nastily. He never even set foot on that train. That's the irony of the whole thing, he ended up with nothing." In the film, Biggs was played by Paul Freeman. His only income came from barbecues at his home, where curious tourists and fans would pay to hear tales of his criminal past. On 13 February that year, it was reported that Biggs had been taken to hospital from his cell at Norwich Prison, suffering from pneumonia. Assuming that it sticks to this decision, Michael's team of lawyers will submit an appeal. But good luck to him, he is a politician. "From the age of seven when I joined the band I was working, grafting sometimes seven days a week. WE ARE TRYING TO' Easter travel misery for Brits amid HUGE queues at Dover and on motorways and MORE planes cancelled over French strikes - as trains grind to halt for 'essential maintenance' over holiday, BREAKING: Fire breaks out at Jaguar car dealership as nine engines and drones battle blaze, Mum hails miracle baby son born after she lost her ovaries to a rare cancer, World's loneliest houses: Five of the most isolated homes in unusual locations, Coolio cause of death revealed as family plan to honour his legacy, Emmerdale star Lewis Cope dodged boxing career by taking up dancing, Exact date and time UK-wide 'Armageddon' alert text message will be sent to your phone revealed, Subscribe to Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror newspapers. WebSheridan Smith as Charmian Biggs. "I do believe that when Jack Straw made the decision [last month] not to let my father out on parole, the decision to let him out on compassionate grounds had already been made," Biggs says. OK, but is he sorry for what he did? Her sonswho later visited Biggs a few times in Brazillive anonymously. That's when another prisoner told him that if he had a Brazilian child he could stay. I'd do school in the morning from seven till noon, then record the show in the afternoon. He underwent tests at Barnet Hospital. He wanted to come back to Britain, he wanted to go down fighting. "Within a year and a half we had sold 200,000 albums. Michael was six when he joined the Magic Balloon Gang. The kidnappers hoped to collect a reward from the British police; however, like Brazil, Barbados was found to have had no valid extradition treaty with the United Kingdom (a fact which chess player David Levy claimed to have paid lawyers to unearth)[17] and Biggs was sent back to Brazil. Michael explains he is not a football agent but a consultant; he also has a number of other business interests that he feels he can concentrate on now that his father is free. "I don't like to think about it," he says meekly, slowly breaking the rim of the bottle top into tiny pieces. What turned the caper into something far darker was that, during the raid, the train driver, Jack Mills, was hit with an iron bar by a gang member. Biggs fled to Paris where he underwent plastic surgery to disguise his appearance. Scotland Yard detective Jack Slipper arrived soon afterwards, but Biggs could not be extradited because his girlfriend, nightclub dancer Raimunda de Castro, was pregnant. Biggs had a number of jobs in Melbourne before undertaking set construction work at the GTV Channel 9 Television City studios. "We were rather drunk by the time we came to make the recording, which explains why it may have appeared a little out of tune.". But Barbados turned down Britain's extradition request and Biggs was returned to Rio. The 72-year old was aware that he would have to serve out the remaining 28 years of his sentence when he got home. The accident, in Australia, happened after Biggs had shifted to Rio in order to avoid capture be the police, leaving his family behind. Members of the gang, including Biggs, were sentenced to up to 30 years apiece. ", Michael Biggs on his life as the son of the train robber and why he thinks Ronnie's release was linked to the Lockerbie bomber judgment, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Ronnie Biggs in Brazil in 2000 with his son Michael and his wife Veronica, and grandchild Ingrid. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. The wife of Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs had an abortion after falling pregnant with another mans child while her husband was in prison. His eldest son, Nicholas died in a car crash in Melbourne (Australia) on January 5, 1971. Are you going to think about honour and respect for the government that sentenced you to 30 years?" He committed a crime and he must pay for it. He was joined by his wife and sons, and the family settled in Adelaide. WebShe eventually became his second wife (then as Raimunda Rothen) in 2002. Daniel Mays as Ronnie Biggs. If you've got a hungry child in the house, what are you going to do? [8], Having unloaded 120 of the 128 mailbags from the train within Reynolds' allotted timetable, and returned to their hideout at Leatherslade Farm, various sources show that the robbery yielded the participants 2.6 million (equivalent to about 57.9million or US$73 million in 2023 terms); Biggs's share was 147,000 (equivalent to 3,274,800 or US$4,128,565 in 2023). That was when the head of CBS Records in Brazil spotted him and invited him to join a children's pop group. "People have to understand that this was not about money or medical treatment. On 4 July 2007, Biggs was moved from Belmarsh Prison to Norwich Prison on compassionate grounds. [22], In 1991, Biggs sang vocals for the songs "Police on My Back" and "Carnival in Rio" by German punk band Die Toten Hosen. He then slipped into Australia with his wife Charmian and their two sons, Nicky and Christopher. But every time I came in the house we shared [in Rio de Janeiro], there were notes: 'I want to go back. He subsequently became notorious for his escape from prison in 1965, living as a fugitive for 36 years, and for his various publicity stunts while in exile. Even in Brazil, I was a prisoner of my own making. Speaking at a press conference to launch the five-part drama, she said: There have been some fantastic times as well as very sad ones but thats life. The wife of Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs had an abortion after falling pregnant with another mans child while her husband was in prison. [1] Biggs's main task had been to get Agate to move the train, and when it became obvious that the two were useless in that regard, they were banished to a waiting vehicle while the train was looted.