*** Ronnie Biggs still poses a risk...[*Update 6th Aug*] Ronnie Biggs is freed

This is what you get for pissing-off the 'establishment'..

[link to www.dailymail.co.uk]

Ronnie Biggs 'feels no remorse for train robbery and could still return to violent crime'


A report by the parole board reveals that Ronnie Biggs feels 'no regret' over his role in the £2.6 million train robbery

Ronnie Biggs still poses a risk of associating with other criminals and returning to crime, an official report warned just eight days before the Great Train Robber is set to be freed from prison.

A report by the parole board warns that there is 'little evidence' Biggs' attitude to crime has changed, and only his poor health and age have reduced the threat of him returning to violent offending.

Despite his unreformed attitudes, Biggs is safe to release because he is now unable to speak or move easily - he is fed through a tube and communicates using an 'alphabet panel' after suffering a series of strokes.

The report said Biggs had expressed 'no regret' over his role in the £2.6 million train robbery.

Today's revelations come eight days before Biggs, 79, is scheduled to be released from the hospital wing of Norwich Prison.

The parole board report conceded that Biggs's release - which has still to be formally approved by Justice Secretary Jack Straw - was likely to prompt public and political debate.

However, it concluded that because the risks can 'safely be managed' he should be freed.

The report stated: 'In terms of his attitude and risk areas there is little evidence beyond his increased age to suggest that, if he were able to return to his old criminal associates and lifestyle, the risk of involvement in further violent offending has reduced significantly.

'He does not regret his offending.'

'Mr Biggs now describes what happened to the train driver as a 'light tap'. He says he has no regrets about the conspiracy and subsequent events,' the report stated.

'What has quite plainly reduced enormously is his capacity to reoffend.

'The medical evidence indicates overwhelmingly that his own ability to commit further acts of violence has reduced to an extremely low level.'

The parole board believes the main risk of Biggs' release is from his association with criminal peers and consequent indirect involvement.

Biggs, from Lambeth, London, was a member of a 15-strong gang which attacked the Glasgow to London mail train at Ledburn, Bucks, in August 1963, before making off with £2.6million.

After being given a 30-year sentence, he escaped from Wandsworth prison, south London, in a furniture van after spending 15 months in jail.

He was on the run for more than 30 years, living in Spain, Australia and Brazil, before returning to the UK voluntarily in 2001.

His family have said he hopes to be free to celebrate his 80th birthday on August 8, 46 years to the day since the heist.

Last Edited by Nothing is true on 08/06/2009 02:31 PM