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Ronnie Biggs: another escape?
The great train robber suddenly looked a lot better after being freed by Jack Straw
Has Ronnie Biggs pulled a fast one? It's a question being asked in prison circles and online after Justice Minister Jack Straw granted the great train robber his freedom last Friday, on the eve of his 80th birthday.
Straw had been told told Biggs (photographed above on his return to the UK in 2001) was close to death and for that reason felt able to free him, even though he still refused to repent for his actions. The train robber's son, Michael Biggs, said: "Finally common sense has prevailed. I just hope my father can survive to his birthday."
A report in the Times painted a picture of a "sick, semi-comatose old man who cannot walk or talk and is fed through a tube... hanging on to life after suffering a bout of severe pneumonia."
That was Friday. On Saturday, the Daily Mirror photographed Biggs celebrating his birthday and announcing: "I have a bit of living to do yet.
"I'll live on just to spite those who want me dead. I don't have much strength but I'll keep on fighting... I might even surprise them all by lasting until Christmas - that would be fantastic."
And a photo of Biggs - out of bed and sitting in a chair - in yesterday's Daily Mail brought several comments from online readers. "I thought the Reaper was already at his bedside," wrote 'Harry'. "He's just escaped from jail a second time."
Harry was referring to the notorious escape from Wandsworth jail in 1965 when Biggs scaled the prison wall, escaped in a furniture van - and spent the next 36 years on the run. ·
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The decision was based on medical evidence, so are any of these morons claiming that a team of doctors conspired to get Biggs released? Biggs got up a lot of noses clearly, he didn't display the requisite mea culpa face. But he did actually say he regretted thw train robbery, he just won't admit to regretting his escape, and who would? So he was being honest, rather than telling the parole board a lie to get his freedom back. Compared to many crimes since, this one was free of violence apart from the regrettable assault on the driver, but that wasn't Biggs, he was a minor player and the sentence he got was all about showing everyone that the state would punish severely anyone who attempted such a crime again. So what if he lives for a few more months or even years? He's served long enough and to keep him locked up is pure vindictiveness. Sachman, your reasoning is flawed, morally steadfast??? What are you, a vicar?
By the standards applied to other criminals, he's been in prison longer than he should. Those standards are wrong, as they don't provide the justice that victims need. But it does seem he's been comparatively unreasonably treated. And without question, he will pass into folklore as a rogue rather than evil. Perhaps that's the standard he should be judged by.
Biggs should die in jail, it is to him, after all, an occupational hazard. What consideration and compassion did he show while committing a violent act of thievery and being a party to a pitiless act of violence.
To see the kind of remorse Biggs really feels you only have to watch footage of his 70th birthday party and of Biggs cavorting with bikini clad models wearing comedy police helmets. He doesn't care, he's had a great time, probably missed fish and chips and a pint but, hey, those are the breaks.
This is the time when Biggs rightly should be feeling his "punishment" most, reflecting on his criminal past. He needs to serve his remaining days living through the mental torture of knowing there is a damn good reason he isn't with his family, friends and hangers-on. Instead he will celebrate his 80th birthday like he has so many others, a free man.
I'm sure there are some weaker and less morally steadfast who may now think crime might just be worth a punt, you might just get lucky and get away with it.
This decision is most certainly not reinforcing the threat of jail as a deterrent.
Oh and btw was there not a question about some missing money?
Any bets he does get to that pub in Margate?