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The 'Great Train Robber' close to death, says son
Published on Sat, Jul 04, 2009 at 11:49, Updated on Sat, Jul 04, 2009 at 12:28 in World section
Tags: Ronnie Biggs, Great Train Robbery , London
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London: The "Great Train Robber" Ronnie Biggs, one of a 15-strong gang which stole a then record £2.6 million in used notes from the Glasgow to London mail train in 1963, is close to death, his son has claimed.
According to Michael Biggs, his 79-year-old father has pneumonia, plus fractures of the hip, pelvis and spine, and may soon die if he does not respond to his current hospital treatment at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.
"If he does not respond to the current treatment he is receiving, there is a risk he could pass away. He has fractured hip and fractures to his spine and
pelvis as well as pneumonia. The pneumonia is extremely strong in his body at the moment," the 34-year-old son told the Daily Express.
The senior Biggs earned the nickname the "Great Train Robber" after that incident which inspired the hit Hollywood flick The Great Train Robbery.
He has been refused parole on Wednesday to which his son said he couldn't understand Justice Secretary Jack Straw's decision not to grant his father parole. He said the former fugitive was in poor health that he posed no risk.
"I would urge Mr Straw to come down to the hospital and see him. He cannot read or write. He cannot eat or drink. He is extremely disappointed with Mr Straw's decision not to release him. It was a political decision. My father is more than ever now a political prisoner," his son said.
After he was convicted for the robbery, Biggs was given a 30-year sentence but escaped from prison after 15 months. He was on the run for more than three decades, living in Spain, Australia and Brazil before returning to Britain
voluntarily in 2001.
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