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The discovery helped police track down the robbers, with some fleeing abroad and most being sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court. Following a tip-off from a herdsman who used a field adjacent to Leatherslade Farm, a police sergeant and constable called there on 13 August 1963, five days after the robbery. Ferry runs aground with baby on board after smoke in engine room, Nurses strike continues: Major disruption for NHS services in England, Additional flight to evacuate Britons from Sudan today, Ryanair cancels 220 flights over May 1 bank holiday due to strikes, Hardcore coronation fans already camped outside Buckingham Palace, One dead and seven injured in Cornwall nightclub knife attack. On December 18 2013 he died at the age of 84 at a care home in north London. Also, he did some (criminal?) Gerald MacArthur died aged 70 on 21 July 1996. ][non-primary source needed], After the train heist, Reynolds escaped to Mexico with his wife, Angela, and young son, Nick Reynolds (who later became a member of the band Alabama 3, whose song "Woke Up This Morning" was the opening theme of The Sopranos[30]) and lived lavishly with his share of the take, approximately 150,000. David Whitby (24 January 1937 6 January 1972)[98] was also from Crewe. [33] The documentary makers employed Ariel Bruce, a social worker who finds missing family members, to trace McKenna, who was found to have died some years previously. His reward worth more than 250,000 now came from grateful banks and the Royal Mail. Ronnie Biggs, in his 1994 autobiography, Odd Man Out, said that Bruce Reynolds offered him a chance to join the gang if he could find a train driver. Right at the start, Detective Superintendent Malcolm Fewtrell, head of Buckinghamshire CID, said they were looking for a remote farmhouse, which had recently been the subject of a sale, and which was about 25 miles from the scene of the crime. Most of the gang were captured, tried, and imprisoned, but Edwards evaded arrest with his 150,000 share of the stolen money. Leatherslade Farm, near Oakley, Buckinghamshire, was the hideout of the Great Train Robbers. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. The judge acknowledged the minor nature of his role.[80]. That was quite a sum, equivalent to the price of a detached house. Our free newsletter brings you updates from across the county each day. After the Edwards family returned to England, the Reynoldses also decided to leave Mexico and go to Canada to potentially join up with the Wilson family, leaving on 6 December 1966. With the exception of a few 'drinks' for associates, the loot was split into 17 equal shares of around 150,000 each (George Hatherill claims that there were 18 shares). At 05:00, Chief Superintendent Malcolm Fewtrell, head of the Buckinghamshire Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID), located at Aylesbury, arrived at the crime scene, where he supervised evidence-gathering. This meant that Train Robbery Squad members were often dispatched on errands with no knowledge of how their tasks fitted into the overall investigation. And so Fewtrell took those names, which I suspect we will never know, to his grave. Being involved in the Great Train Robbery, our name was good. Mr Justice Edmund Davies presided over the trial, which lasted 51 days and included 613 exhibits and 240 witnesses. However, the train's engineer was so badly injured by being hit with a metal pipe on the head that he was never able to return to work. The deal done with Pembroke caused outrage in the police hierarchy. [72] In 1982, he married a younger woman, but the marriage soon broke down. The trial of the robbers began at Aylesbury Assizes, Buckinghamshire, on 20 January 1964. [112], Up to six of the robbers escaped punishment in one way or another - "The Ulsterman", three robbers who were never caught, John Daly who had his charges dismissed at the trial and Ronnie Biggs who escaped from jail and managed to avoid being taken back to the UK. Of Northern Irish descent, Goody was born in Putney, London in March 1930 and was still living there in his mother's flat at the time of the robbery. It was determined that although the farm had been cleaned for fingerprints, some finger and palm prints (presumably of the robbers) had been overlooked, including those on a ketchup bottle and on the Monopoly set (which had been used after the robbery for a game, but with real money). The final gang who took part in the raid comprised a total of sixteen men.[7]. Macmillan resigned in October 1963, claiming poor healthhe had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and believed he did not have long to live, but the diagnosis turned out to be incorrect. [14], The robbers had cut all the telephone lines in the vicinity, but one of the rail-men left on the train at Sears Crossing caught a passing goods train to Cheddington, where he raised the alarm at around 04:20. This money was part of a deal struck with Frank Williams by Danny Pembroke. Other gang members included Gordon Goody, Buster Edwards, Charlie Wilson, Roy James, John Daly, Jimmy White, Ronnie Biggs, Tommy Wisbey, Jim Hussey, Bob Welch and Roger Cordrey, as well as three men known only as numbers "1", "2" and "3"; two were later identified as Harry Smith and Danny Pembroke. Fewtrell was assisted and later succeeded in the investigation by John Woolley, who served in the Buckinghamshire Constabulary from 1959 to 1984. A quantity of Irish and Scottish money was also stolen. [13][pageneeded][unreliable source? Leatherslade Farm. Details. Having suffered a series of strokes after his release, and unable to speak for the previous three years, Biggs died at the Carlton Court Care home, London on 18 December 2013. We never realised at the time how big it would become it built its momentum. Which of the great train robbers are still alive? - TimesMojo This resulted in their sentences being in effect reduced to five years only. Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. Who investigated the Great Train Robbery? Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. The gang realised the police were using a "dragnet tactic", and with help from the public, would probably discover the farm much sooner than had been originally anticipated. But while the new BBC Worldwide production wants to faithfully retell the story, a shortage of suitable locations in the South led them to move the whole shoot to Yorkshire for the twin train robbery dramas A Robbers Tale and A Coppers Tale. In 2014, Douglas Goody claimed to journalists that "The Ulsterman" was Patrick McKenna, at the time of the robbery a 43-year-old postal worker living in Salford, Lancashire. The ringleaders . He died aged 79 from a heart attack, at home and in his sleep on 28 February 2015. He joined an exclusive golf club and participated in the activities of the local community. It was she who mainly opened the threatening letters and saw their contents. [13][pageneeded][unreliable source? Realising the police were hunting for them the group fled the farm and paid someone to burn it down to destroy the evidence. A notorious London gangster was the real mastermind of the Great Train Robbery, a new book has claimed. [94] According to Biggs, 'Peter' was paid his 40,000 'drink',[95] although other accounts claim otherwise. Although the Wisbey share was one that was not taken by other criminals, Marilyn Wisbey is still bitter that her relatives got to spend a fair amount of the loot while the overall sum dwindled away. He clearly did not know all the names perfectly, and a second informant (a woman) was able to fill in the gaps. My belief is that he thought we knew more about him than we did, and thinking things were getting hot, he decided to get rid of the money to avoid being found in possession with it". The gang had to force the real driver, the dazed Jack Mills, whom they had coshed, to drive the train to the bridge. He was tried in June 1966 at Leicester Assizes and Mr Justice Nield sentenced him to 18 years' jail, considerably less than the 30 years given to other principal offenders.