The Great Train Robbery: Britain’s Most Infamous Heist

Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript, removing any inappropriate language and ensuring a more polished tone:

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Hello and welcome to another episode of Biographics. I’m your host, KL SM, and today we’re talking about The Great Train Robbery, the most infamous heist in British history. As with all of our videos, this one is based on an original script submitted to us by a member of our writing team, Radu Alexander. You can follow them on their socials below, which will be alongside my own.

Let’s get to it! You won’t believe this, but they stole from a train. That was the special announcement heard on police radios in the early hours of August 8th, 1963, after a gang of criminals pulled off one of the most audacious heists in British history. They robbed a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London and made off with about 120 mailbags containing approximately £2.6 million, which is about £60 million in today’s money. Fortunately, nobody was killed, although one train driver did receive a serious injury.

The author of this script has included several Britishisms, so I might add my own corrections as I feel necessary. The story played out like a classic caper movie, full of mysterious and shady characters, precise actions, and daring prison escapes. At times, it seemed more like a comedy, where the bumbling criminals behaved more like a comedic troupe. This included moments such as recruiting a train driver who couldn’t actually drive a train and leaving behind fingerprints on a Monopoly board.

Throughout the entire saga, the media covered every single aspect of the story, at times portraying the gang as the most cunning criminals to ever set foot in England, and other times as a bunch of lovable rogues. The public became utterly fascinated with this crime, and it’s no wonder that this heist became immortalized in British criminal law as The Great Train Robbery.

Our story begins in early 1963 with a man named Gordon Goody, a regular member of London’s criminal underground. In fact, he had just been released from prison for robbery when he received a message to stop by the office of a solicitor named Brian Field. He and fellow gang member Buster Edwards headed there, where Field introduced them to a mysterious man known only as the “Oyster Man.” This shady character informed them about a big score and was looking for someone who might be interested.

Field, who regularly passed on tips to his more unsavory clients, thought that Goody and his crew were just the people they were searching for. The Oyster Man had valuable information about the Royal Mail, including the schedule and routes of the mail trains, and which ones would be carrying a lot of money. Specifically, he knew that the overnight train from Glasgow to London on August 8th would be transporting millions of pounds in its high-value package coach.

For a habitual robber like Goody, this kind of information was irresistible. Once he heard about it, there was no doubt in his mind that he would try to rob it. He just needed to assemble a crew to carry out the heist of the century. Goody and Edwards were already part of the criminal group known as the South West Gang, but it wasn’t nearly big enough for the kind of score they had in mind, so they started recruiting.

Now, we won’t mention everyone involved in the heist, as it would just be a long list of names. For now, let’s focus on the main characters: Gordon Goody, Buster Edwards, Charlie Wilson, who played the role of treasurer during the heist, and Bruce Reynolds, the mastermind behind the operation. We should also mention Ronnie Biggs, who became the most well-known person involved in The Great Train Robbery, even though his actual role in the heist was relatively minor.

Biggs, another career criminal, was looking to borrow some money and approached Reynolds, whom he befriended in prison. Instead of a loan, Reynolds let him in on the heist and assigned him the task of finding a train driver who could operate the locomotive. Biggs recruited a train driver known only by the pseudonym “Stanner Gates,” who turned out to be completely inexperienced.

Reynolds had assembled his crew and worked out a plan for the robbery. The idea was to rig a signal light to get the train to stop, hop aboard, immobilize everyone, decouple the engine and high-value package coach from the rest of the train, drive it further along the track, unload the money bags into trucks, and speed off into the night. Simple, right? Well, not quite.

At 6:50 p.m. on the night of August 7th, 1963, the mail train left Glasgow and headed towards Houston Station in London. The train was known as a Traveling Post Office, meaning Royal Mail employees were aboard sorting mail during the journey. There were no other passengers, just a few dozen postal workers, the railway engine driver Jack Mills, and his fireman, Dave Whitby.

This particular train typically carried around £300,000 in cash, but this time, due to a bank holiday weekend, there was much more money on board than usual. Around 3:00 a.m., as the train reached Sear’s Crossing in Buckinghamshire, Mills spotted an amber signal light ahead, warning him to proceed with caution. A little further ahead was a red light, so the driver brought his train to a halt, unaware that the green light was actually on and working just fine. The robbers had simply obscured it.

The train had no means of communication with the outside world, and this was an unplanned stop. Fireman David Whitby got out of the engine to call and see what was going on, but the criminals had the foresight to cut the wires. Before he could inform Mills, he was approached and pushed to the ground by one of the robbers wearing a ski mask. The robber warned him to remain quiet, and wisely, Whitby complied.

While one robber restrained Whitby, a couple of others made their way into the engine and overpowered Mills. Once Mills started to regain consciousness, he and Whitby were tied together and placed on the ground. Meanwhile, the workers inside were still sorting the mail, blissfully unaware that anything had gone wrong.

The robbers decoupled the other carriages and drove off with just the engine and the high-value package compartments. Up until this point, their plan had worked like clockwork. However, things took a turn when the driver they had recruited turned out to be inexperienced. The robbers had to retrieve the half-conscious Mills and ask him to drive the locomotive and two coaches further down the track to a bridge where their getaway vehicles were parked.

Once this was done, some of the robbers forced their way into the high-value package coaches, which didn’t prove too difficult, as there were no guards or police present. The postal workers attempted to prevent the robbers from getting in by stacking bags of mail against the door, but this was hardly an impenetrable barrier.

After loading the 120 mailbags into their trucks, the criminals drove off into the night. The heist was finished, but now came the tricky part: getting away with it. The gang had rented a rundown old farmhouse named Leather Slade Farm in Oakley, Buckinghamshire, located only about 25 minutes away from the scene of the crime. They planned to lay low for a while and enjoy their ill-gotten gains.

Unfortunately, their plans were disrupted when one of the robbers warned the postal workers to sit quietly for 30 minutes or else. This warning inadvertently provided the police with a key piece of information: the getaway location must be within a 30-minute drive of where the train had stopped.

By the time the robbers reached the farm, they were already hearing news of their daring heist being broadcast over police radios. Scotland Yard’s major crime unit, known as the Flying Squad, was on the case, led by Detective Sergeant Jack Slipper. There wasn’t much evidence, as the robbers wore masks, but the 30-minute remark gave investigators their best lead.

Meanwhile, at the farm, the gang was in a celebratory mood, having drinks and even playing Monopoly using real money. However, their confidence began to wane as they realized the police were searching all remote locations in the area.

A neighboring farmer, John Maris, noticed the unusual activity at the farmhouse and, upon hearing about the heist, connected the dots and called the local police. The police received hundreds of tips, but it took them a while to get to Maris’s call. By the time they arrived at Leather Slade, the criminals had already fled.

On August 13th, 1963, just five days after The Great Train Robbery, investigators arrived at the farmhouse and found evidence everywhere. The robbers had not done a good job of disposing of evidence, and their fingerprints were found on various items, including a Monopoly board.

The police quickly identified several members of the gang from the fingerprints, leading to arrests. Among those arrested were Ronnie Biggs, Charlie Wilson, Buster Edwards, and Bruce Reynolds. The trial began in January 1964, with 12 of the robbers in custody. They all protested their innocence, except for one who admitted guilt.

Judge Edmund Davies handed down lengthy sentences, with the robbers receiving a combined total of 307 years in prison. However, none of them served their full sentences. The Great Train Robbery had divided public opinion, with some viewing the criminals as minor celebrities.

Bruce Reynolds managed to evade authorities for five years, moving abroad before eventually being arrested. He was released on parole in 1978 and made sporadic media appearances. Charlie Wilson escaped from prison and spent time in Canada before being tracked down and arrested.

Ronnie Biggs became the most famous member of the gang, not for his role in the robbery but for his colorful life afterward. He escaped from prison in 1965 and spent time in various countries before returning to England in 2001. He was arrested but released on compassionate grounds in 2009.

Even after almost half a century, the public remained fascinated with this tale of daring and ingenuity known as The Great Train Robbery.

Thank you for joining me for this episode. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed recording it. A special thanks to Radu Alexander for their work on the script. If you’re a fan of this format, please like, comment, and subscribe. If you have any other daring tales you’d like us to cover, let us know in the comments.

I appreciate the opportunity to host this series and hope everyone has a great day. Cheers!

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This version maintains the essence of the original transcript while ensuring a more respectful and polished presentation.