Ronnie Biggs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ronald Arthur Biggs, born 8 August 1929 in London's East End (known commonly as Ronnie Biggs), is an English prisoner who is known for his minor role in the Great Train Robbery of 1963.
Together with other gang-members, he stole £2.6 million from a mail train. After being convicted and jailed, he escaped from HM Prison Wandsworth in 1965 by scaling the wall with a rope ladder. He fled to Paris, where he acquired new identity papers and received plastic surgery to disguise his appearance. Later, in 1970 he quietly moved to Adelaide, South Australia. He worked in Set Construction at Channel 10 when a reporter recognised him. He then fled to Blackburn North, in Melbourne, Australia, staying for some time before fleeing to Brazil in the same year. He allegedly had only £200 left when he arrived in Brazil. His wife, Charmian, and two sons stayed behind in Australia. He spent the next three decades of his life as a fugitive and became something of a media celebrity. Despite being a rather minor figure in the actual robbery he could be argued to have gained the most notoriety from it.
In 1974 he was found by the British police in Rio de Janeiro, but could not be extradited because England did not benefit from reciprocity of extradition to Brazil, a condition for the Brazilian process of extradition. Additionally, Biggs had no fear of extradition because his current girlfriend (Raimunda de Castro, a nightclub dancer and prostitute) was pregnant. Brazilian law would not allow the parent of a Brazilian child to be extradited. As a result, Biggs was able to live openly in Brazil, completely untouchable by the British authorities. Whilst his status as a felon prevented Biggs from working, there was nothing to stop him profiting from Scotland Yard's misfortune. As a result, "Ronnie Biggs" mugs, coffee cups and t-shirts suddenly started to appear in tourist traps throughout Rio.
Supposedly, Biggs returned to the UK several times during the making of a documentary about the Great Train Robbery, always in disguise. He also recorded vocals on two songs for The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, Malcolm McLaren's film about the Sex Pistols. The basic tracks for "No One is Innocent" (aka "The Biggest Blow (A Punk Prayer)") and "Belsen Was a Gas" were recorded with guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook at a studio in Brazil shortly after the Sex Pistols' final performance, with overdubs being added in a British studio at a later date. "No One is Innocent" was released as a single in the UK and reached #6 on the British singles charts, with the sleeve showing Martin Bormann playing bass with the group (in actuality this was American actor James Jeter).
Following the extradition attempt, Ronnie collaborated with Bruce Henry, an American bass player, Jaime Shields and Aureo de Souza to record Mailbag Blues, a musical narrative of his life that he intended to use a movie soundtrack. This album was re-released in 2004 by whatmusic.com.
In 1981 Biggs was kidnapped by a gang of adventurers who managed to smuggle him to Barbados, hoping to collect some reward from the British police. The coup was discovered, though, and Biggs made use of legal loopholes to have himself sent back to Brazil. In February 2006 Channel 4 aired a documentary featuring dramatisations of the attempted kidnap and interviews with the ex-British Army personnel who carried it out. The team was headed by security consultant Patrick King. In the documentary King claims that the kidnap may have in fact been a deniable operation. [1]
Ronnie's Brazilian son by Raimunda, Michael Biggs, eventually became a member of a child band of enormous success (Turma do Balão Mágico), bringing a welcome new source of income to his father. In a short time, however, the band faded into obscurity and dissolved, leaving father and son in relatively dire straits again.
In 1991, Biggs sang vocals for the song "Carnival In Rio (Punk Was)" by German punk band Die Toten Hosen.
In 2001 Biggs announced to The Sun newspaper that he would be willing to return to the UK. He had suffered a stroke the previous year, was in poor health and found himself unable to meet mounting medical costs. His stated desire was to "walk into a pub a British man and have a pint of bitter".
Biggs was fully aware that he would be detained upon arrival in the UK. Even so, he returned voluntarily on 7 May 2001, aged 71, and was immediately arrested and re-imprisoned for his crimes. His trip back to the UK on a private jet was paid by The Sun, which reportedly paid Michael Biggs £20,000 plus other expenses in return for exclusive rights on the news story. Ronald Biggs had 28 years of his sentence left to serve. Since his return he has undergone a number of health scares, including two heart attacks, and has failed to get his sentence overturned or reduced.
On 14 November 2001, Biggs petitioned Governor Hynd of HMP Belmarsh for early release on compassionate grounds based on his ill health. He had been treated four times at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich in less than six months. His health was deteriorating rapidly and he asked to be released into the care of his son for his remaining days. The application was denied.
On 10 August 2005, it was reported that Biggs had contracted MRSA. His lawyers, seeking for Biggs's release on grounds of compassion, said that their client's death was likely to be imminent.[2]
On 26 October 2005, the Home Secretary Charles Clarke declined his appeal stating that his illness is not deemed terminal. Home Office compassion policy is to release prisoners with three months left to live.[citation needed] Biggs continues to need a tube for feeding and has difficulty speaking. [3]
