It was called the crime of the century, and as it approaches its 50th anniversary, the Great Train Robbery, which saw a 15-strong gang rob a train of £2.6m, still holds many mysteries.

English criminal legend Ronnie Biggs, with 14 other gang members, seized the cash after holding up a mail train from Glasgow to London on August 8, 1963, his 34th birthday.

The following year, nine of the gang of were jailed and most received sentences of 30 years.

Biggs served 15 months in Wandsworth Prison before escaping by scaling the wall with a rope ladder and dropping on to a waiting removal van.

While most of the gang were caught, the National Archives in Kew will host a talk to discover facts about those who got away and what happened to the money, most of which was never recovered.

Peter Guttridge, a crime novelist who was commissioned by the National Archives to write an account of the robbery, says: “Ronnie Biggs was not the brains behind it. He was just the most known because he escaped prison.

“In the 60s it was probably the biggest thing to happen around the world.

“It was like a James Bond type thing, nobody had ever really done anything like this before. It was an adventure.

“What I’ll be doing is telling the dramatic side of the story and then get behind what actually happened.”

He used police, court and other archives in the national collection to write his account, which remains the most objective of the robbery and the robbers who committed it.

The novelist met Bruce Reynolds, who died in February this year, at a book festival.

He says: “He had written an autobiography about living a life of crime.

“The thing about these robbers is that they are criminals, which means that they are liars – they lie for money.

“Back in the 70s a book was written about the robbery but it was just a whole pack of lies.

“I have met some of them but it wasn’t very useful because I didn’t believe a word they said.”

Visitors can marvel at original police photographs of Biggs, as well as of the mounds of cash found and the gang’s hideout at Leatherslade Farm in Surrey, as Guttridge pieces together the story of one of the greatest robberies in history.

Guttridge says: “Anyone can turn up and anyone who hasn’t been to the National Archives before should do so. It really is a fantastic place. It’s going to be entertaining.”

The Truth about the Great Train Robbery; The National Archives, Kew; August 6; 2pm to 3pm; Free.

 

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