My Encounter With The Great Train Robbery

This is a story of an alert member of the public who had his life and that of his family changed having notified the police of the whereabouts of the hideout of the Great Train Robbers. Within days his notoriety had spread worldwide and this began years of constant pressure, physical threats to him and his family, trauma and anxiety. He had to take precautions at work in the hope of preventing an attack whilst working alone. Because of his careful detail in the evidence which he gave at the trial he was subjected to an attempt to frame him on a charge of perjury. Eventually he pondered the question, If a similar situation arose, would he act in the same way?

From the bestselling author of Jurassic Park, Timeline, and Sphere comes an enthralling novel about Victorian London’s most notorious gold heist. London, 1855, when lavish wealth and appalling poverty exist side by side, one mysterious man navigates both worlds with perfect ease. Edward Pierce preys on the most prominent of the well-to-do as he cunningly orchestrates the crime of his century. Who would suspect that a gentleman of breeding could mastermind the extraordinary robbery aboard the pride of England’s industrial era, the mighty steam locomotive? Based on fact, but studded with all the suspense and style of fiction, here is a classic historical thriller, set a decade before the age of dynamite—yet nonetheless explosive…

What is it that fascinates so many people about Ronnie Biggs and makes him a household name sixty years on from the crime that made his name? Is it the man or the myth that makes Ron a latter-day Robin Hood, and the odd man out who is best remembered from a gang of sixteen who held up a mail train in August 1963? This book covers Ron's entire life including the Great Train Robbery, his conviction and subsequent escape from HMP Wandsworth. Ron tells how he managed to outrun and outthink the posse of law enforcement officers and the media that chased him around the world as one of its most wanted men. From his time in Australia, to his discovery and arrest in Brazil in 1974, it is all included here. It covers the two attempts to kidnap him, and his son Mike's rise to stardom. For the first time Ron tells exactly what has happened to him since the early 1990s to today, including his strokes, his attempted suicide, the death of his partner and friends, the extradition attempts, the Rio carnival tribute, his decision to come back to the UK, and his much publicised return in 2001 after 13,068 days on the run. It also covers his death in 2013 and the legacy he leaves behind. This is not only Ronald Biggs' autobiography; it is also the most complete biography of one of the most famous names in British life of the last 50 years. A brand new 10,000-word timeline covers not only the life and times of Ronald Biggs, but includes the most detailed timeline and facts ever published about the events surrounding the Great Train Robbery itself. This book will stand the test of time as the most complete telling of the life and times of the man who is Ronald Arthur Biggs, and his part in the Great Train Robbery.

Definitive account of the famous 1963 Great Train Robbery - and its aftermath. In the early hours of Thursday 8th August 1963 at rural Cheddington in Buckinghamshire, £2.6 million (£50 million today) in unmarked £5, £1 and 10-shilling notes was stolen from the Glasgow to London nightmail train in a daring and brilliantly executed operation lasting just 46 minutes. Quickly dubbed the crime of the century, it has captured the imagination of the public and the world's media for 50 years, taking its place in British folklore and giving birth to the myths of The Great Train Robbery. Ronnie Biggs, Buster Edwards and Bruce Reynolds became household names. But what really happened? This is the story of four talented villains who took the criminal world by storm, of the 'perfect crime'. It is also the story of ruthless policemen, determined to hunt the robbers down and to make sure nobody slipped through the net, not even the innocent. It is the story of an Establishment under siege, and of one mistake which cost the robbers 307 years in prison. Fifty years later, here is the story set out in full for the first time, a true-life crime thriller, and also a vivid slice of British social history.

In 1981, Detective Inspector Satchwell was the officer in charge of the case against Train Robber Tom Wisbey and twenty others. The case involved massive thefts from mail trains – similar to the Great Train Robbery of 1963 where £2.6 million was taken and only £400,000 ever recovered. Thirty years later their paths crossed again and an unlikely partnership was formed, with the aim of revealing the truth about the Great Train Robbery. This book reassesses the known facts about one of the most infamous crimes in modern history from the uniquely qualified insight of an experienced railway detective, presenting new theories alongside compelling evidence and correcting the widely accepted lies and half-truths surrounding this story.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Jurassic Park comes classic historical thriller about Victorian London’s most notorious gold heist. London, 1855, when lavish wealth and appalling poverty exist side by side, one mysterious man navigates both worlds with perfect ease. Edward Pierce preys on the most prominent of the well-to-do as he cunningly orchestrates the crime of his century. Who would suspect that a gentleman of breeding could mastermind the extraordinary robbery aboard the pride of England’s industrial era, the mighty steam locomotive? Based on fact, but studded with all the suspense and style of fiction, here is a classic historical thriller, set a decade before the age of dynamite—yet nonetheless explosive…

The amazing true story of one of Great Britain’s most notorious heists and the crack team that brought the perpetrators to justice. On August 8, 1963, a group of fifteen men dressed in military uniforms stopped the Royal Mail train running between Glasgow and London at Sears Crossing in Ledburn. The gang uncoupled the engine and first two cars, drove them to a different location, and then disappeared with one hundred and twenty mailbags containing more than £2.5 million in used banknotes. A number of books have already been published about England’s infamous Great Train Robbery, but until now, little has been written about the intensive police investigation and the intrepid team that hunted down the criminals responsible. In this riveting true crime chronicle, author, journalist, and former police detective Geoff Platt explores the execution and aftermath of the brazen criminal enterprise that British newspapers dubbed “the Crime of the Century.” He introduces readers to members of the elite Flying Squad organized by “the Old Grey Fox,” Det. Chief Superintendent Tommy Butler, and details step by step, the organization and execution of the massive police inquiry, and exposes the mistakes that hindered the robbers and the investigators alike. In addition, Platt compares the methods used more than fifty years ago with contemporary crime fighting and forensic techniques to explore how the same investigation would most likely be run today. A fascinating study of crime and detection, The Great Train Robbery and the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad shines a brilliant new light on a legendary act of audacious criminality.

On Thursday August 8, 1963, fifteen masked men stopped the night train from Glasgow to London and robbed it of £2,500,000 (the equivalent of £41 million today). It was called the crime of the century, and the thieves were relentlessly pursued by Scotland Yard until half the gang were behind bars serving huge prison terms. But the story did not end there. First one, then another escaped in thrilling style and fled abroad, catching the world's imagination and making the Train Robbers into folk heroes. Thirteen years later, the gang combined to tell their story, and Piers Paul Read, author of the bestselling Alive, agreed to write it. This is the classic, complete and exclusive story of the twentieth-century's most audacious crime and its even more sensational aftermath.