Page 184 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

1968 saw the arrest of Charlie Wilson in Canada on 25 January, while Bruce
Reynolds was arrested in Torquay, England, on 8 November. Reynolds was
sentenced to 25 years in January 1969.

In October 1969 Biggs was traced to Melbourne, Australia. Armed police
raided his house, but they missed him by hours. On 5 February 1970 Biggs left
Australia on the RHMS Ellinis as “Michael Haynes”. Unknown to Biggs, the
previous day train driver Jack Mills, had died of lymphatic leukaemia.

Biggs arrived in Brazil on 11 March 1970. On 20 April, Detective Chief
Superintendent Tommy Butler, the Grey Fox, died, and on 26 June, William
Boal, who was never a train robber, died in prison.

Freedom

In April 1971, Roger Cordrey was the first of the main train robbery gang to be
released from prison. On 6 January 1972, fireman David Whitby collapsed
and died. He was aged just 34.

On 1 February 1974 Biggs, who was planning to return to Britain and give
himself up, was betrayed by the Daily Express and arrested in Rio de Janeiro
by Detective Chief Inspector Jack Slipper and Detective Inspector Peter
Jones. They, however, did not get their man and returned to the UK empty
handed. Under Brazilian law, the father of a Brazilian child could not be
extradited. Biggs had by now fathered a son, Michael with his former stripper
girlfriend Raimunda Rothen.

In April 1975 Buster Edwards and Jimmy White were released from prison, and
in August Roy James was the first of the “30 year” prisoners to be released. By
October Edwards was back in prison for six months for shop lifting £65.76
worth of goods from Harrods.

November saw the release of Jim Hussey, followed by Gordon Goody in
December, Tommy Wisbey in February 1976, and Bobby Welch in June, the
same month that Roy James broke his leg in a car crash during a race at
Silverstone.
Bruce Reynolds was finally released from prison on 6 June 1978 after serving
ten years, and on 18 December, Charlie Wilson was the last of the imprisoned
robbers to be released.

In early 1979, Brian Field, the link to the unidentified insider, died in a car crash
with his new wife, Sian.

On 16 March 1981, Biggs was kidnapped in Rio de Janeiro and flown by a
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private plane from Rio to Belem, in the north of Brazil, where he was put on
the yacht Nowcani II that sailed to the Caribbean. Biggs was landed in