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Should Ronnie Biggs be freed to die?
GREAT Train Robber Ronnie Biggs is at the centre of a political storm.
Frail and unable to talk, the 79-year-old has been recommended for release by the Prison Parole Board.
But Justice Secretary Jack Straw stepped in to block the move, claiming Biggs is "unrepentant" for his crime.
We asked shoppers in the streets of South Shields if they though the decision was a right and moral one.
Biggs' crime is so old you need to be of a "certain age" to remember it.
Biggs, from Lambeth, south London, was a member of a 15-strong gang which attacked the Glasgow to London mail train at Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, in August 1963, and made off with 2.6m in used banknotes.
He was given a 30-year sentence, but escaped from Wandsworth Prison after serving 15 months by climbing over a 30ft wall and fleeing in a furniture van.
Biggs was on the run for more than 30 years, living in Spain, Australia and Brazil, before returning to the UK voluntarily in 2001.
Mr Straw has rejected a recommendation by the Parole Board which said Biggs posed no risk and should be released.
The Justice Secretary said Biggs was "wholly unrepentant" about his crime.
Daniel Thompson, 81, is old enough to remember the Great Train Robbery.
Mr Thompson, of Regent Court, South Shields, recalls the front page headlines and the frantic police hunt for the culprits.
Although a rail worker attacked during the robbery later died, Mr Thompson regards the Great Train Robbery as "nowhere near the worst crime ever".
He said: "If it was up to me I'd let Biggs go. It was a serious crime but it was such a long time ago and now he's done his time."
Canvasser Joan Averil, 59, of Pelaw, Gateshead, can vaguely remember the robbery – she was 13 at the time.
She admits to seeing "both sides of the argument" in the Biggs debate.
Mrs Averil added: "I remember the Great Train Robbery dominating the news, the robbery itself and then the money found on the farm, Biggs fleeing to Brazil and then later the movie Buster.
"The problem is that violent crime has increased so rapidly in this country since the 1960s, that the shock of what happened in that decade is abating.
"I can understand the reluctance to release him if he remains defiant and shows no remorse, but he can hardly walk or talk now.
"I'm also sceptical if he really is going to be any better off in a care home than he is in a prison hospital."
Harry Cawley, 64, of Brentwood Place, South Shields, called on the Government to show some "human kindness".
Mr Cawley said: "Let him go. He's no danger to the public anymore. There is no chance of him causing any trouble and we should show some human kindness. His debt has been paid to society."
King Street shop manager Gill Patterson also supports the Biggs family's call for mercy.
She said: "He should be released on compassionate grounds. He's a frail, sick old man.
"These days if you commit murder you can be out in seven years.
"They seem to be trying to make an example of Biggs because he escaped and appeared to stick two fingers up at the authorities. It was a long time ago, he should be released."
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Weather for South Shields
Friday 10 February 2012
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