The End of the Line for Robbery Mastermind
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE PRESS, Christchurch Saturday, March2, 2013 WORLD B3 BRITAIN Dead at 81: Bruce Reynolds was considered the key planner behind the Great Train Robbery. Photos: GETTY IMAGES The end of the line for robbery mastermind David Sanderson London To some he was a perfect gentleman. To everyone he was the brains behind the ‘‘crime of the century’’. Bruce Reynolds, whose pivotal involvement in one of the great British crime stories earned him celebrity status and invitations to open village fetes, died yesterday. He was 81. The mastermind of the 1963 Great Train Robbery, who fled abroad with his share of the loot before being captured in Torquay in 1968, died in his sleep yesterday, his son, Nick, a musician with Alabama 3, said. His death closed another chapter on the notorious crime that has been the subject of books and films. It has also highlighted the misplaced glamour that sur- rounded the gang, which stole Anatomy of a robbery: From left, Buster Edwards, Tom Wisbey, Jim White, Bruce Reynolds, Roger Cordrey, more than £2.5 million Charlie Wilson, and Jim Hussey, show copies of their book, The Train Robbers. (NZ$4.58m) – about £43m in today’s terms – from the Royal Mail travelling post office which ran between London and Glasgow. During the heist they injured the train driver, Jack Mills, whose health was permanently affected. Reynolds was one of the clutch of gang members, including Buster Edwards and Ronnie Biggs, who managed to flee the country. Reynolds escaped to Mexico, where he was joined by his Statuesque: Bruce Reynolds poses with his son, Nick. Arrested: Bruce Reynolds outside court in 1968. wife, Angela, and son, Nick. He later moved to Canada. Eddie Richardson, who paid In 1995 he wrote his of organised crime. ‘‘If you Five years after the crime tribute. ‘‘He was his own memoirs in which he claimed really want to make money he travelled to the south of man,’’ Richardson said. ‘‘He that the Great Train Robbery nowadays, you should go into France and then on to was good company, an experi- had proved to be a curse. hedge funds or be like Conrad England in search of more enced person, had a few After his release from prison Black, who’ll do his time in a ‘‘work’’. After six months in stories to tell.’’ no-one wanted to employ him, health farm,’’ he wrote. ‘‘But his homeland he was arrested After his release on parole legally or illegally. ‘‘I became where’s the buzz?’’ and sentenced to 25 years in in 1978, the former antiques an old crook living on John Schoonraad, a family prison. dealer struggled to adapt. His handouts from other old friend, described the criminal In prison he befriended marriage had failed and he crooks,’’ he said. as the ‘‘perfect gentleman’’. another of the so-called glam- was jailed again in the 1980s Five years ago he wrote ‘‘He said to me ‘crime doesn’t our criminals of the 1960s, for amphetamine dealing. about the changing landscape pay’,’’ he added. The Times BRITAIN ‘Vile’ thief steals ring from dying hospice patient’s finger Sadie Gray A hospice patient had her diamond ring stolen from her finger as she lay dying, her son claimed yesterday. The ring had been a present to Wendy Dolton from her late husband on their 40th wedding anniversary, nine years ago. Dolton, 65, had cancer and had entered the last hours of her life in Pilgrim’s Hospice Disgusted: Wendy Dolton with her in Canterbury, Kent, when son, Sean, who called the theft of the ‘‘vile and despicable’’ theft his mother’s ring ‘‘vile and happened. despicable’’. Her son Sean, 46, said the ring was stolen at some point on and she died at around ‘‘The fact that someone caused a great deal of upset in the 24 hours before she died 5pm on the Thursday. could do that to someone for Wendy’s family at a time on February 14. ‘‘I feel sick to know that when they are at their most when they are already trying He said yesterday: ‘‘It’s a someone could do that in the vulnerable is unbelievable. to cope with her sad passing. violation of morality that is last hours of her life. ‘‘She would have been ‘‘Pilgrim’s Hospice has just unbelievable. I’m speech- ‘‘It’s not just any ring. It lying there and unable to do been fully co-operative and less. Whoever did this is was a 40th anniversary pres- anything.’’ our investigation continues. absolute scum. ent from my father in the last PC Chris Poulter, of Kent We have visited some second- ‘‘I saw her at about 6pm on months of his life, so the value Police, who is investigating, hand shops and will continue the Wednesday and she had it is hugely sentimental. said: ‘‘The theft of the ring has to make inquiries.’’ The Times.