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Summary
Britain's Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, who stole the equivalent of 50 million U.S. Dollars 46 years ago, was freed early from prison on compassionate grounds as he lay in hospital gravely ill. Biggs, who spent 35 years on the run, won notoriety and some popularity for his ingenuity in evading capture and for cheekily thumbing his nose at the law from sun-soaked beaches. Biggs, said to be frail and sick in hospital with pneumonia, is free to celebrate his 80th birthday today with friends and family -- 46 years to the day since the heist. Biggs' son Michael, who was at his father's bedside at a hospital close to Norwich prison in eastern England where he was held, said his father, who has suffered several strokes, was unable to speak, walk or feed himself. But he said he was absolutely delighted with the news. With 11 other gang members, Biggs robbed a Glasgow-to-London mail train in 1963 and stole 2.6 million pounds -- about 30 million pounds ($49 million) in today's money. The crime became known as The Great Train Robbery. Biggs was caught and convicted the following year but escaped from prison after just 15 months using a rope ladder that dropped him on to the roof of a waiting van. Following his escape, he spent decades as a fugitive, moving from Australia to Panama and Venezuela, before ending up in Brazil, where his playboy lifestyle and cocky defiance of the British authorities made him a criminal legend. Now 79, Biggs returned to Britain voluntarily in 2001 and has been in jail since, but his declining health stirred debate about whether he should be released from his 30-year sentence. The government approved his release after being told he was unlikely to recover, reversing its decision last month to refuse him parole on the grounds that he had not shown remorse.
