Editing Great Train Robbery (1963) (section)

==Trial, 1964==
The trial of the robbers began at [[Aylesbury Crown Court|Aylesbury Assizes]], Buckinghamshire, on 20 January 1964. Because it would be necessary to accommodate a large number of lawyers and journalists, the existing court was deemed too small and so the offices of [[Aylesbury Rural District|Aylesbury Rural District Council]] were specially converted for the event. The defendants were brought to the court each day from [[Aylesbury Prison]] in a compartmentalised van, out of view of the large crowd of spectators. Mr Justice [[Edmund Davies, Baron Edmund-Davies|Edmund Davies]] presided over the trial, which lasted 51 days and included 613 exhibits and 240 witnesses. The jury retired to the Grange Youth Centre in Aylesbury to consider its verdict.<ref>{{cite news|title=The crime of the century|first=Tom|last=Hodson|newspaper=The Buckingham and Winslow Advertiser|date=3 May 2007|url=http://www.buckinghamtoday.co.uk/the-great-train-robbery/The-crime-of-the-century.2852468.jp}}</ref>

On 11 February 1964, there was a sensation when John Daly was found to have no case to answer. His counsel, Walter Raeburn [[Queen's Counsel|QC]], claimed that the evidence against his client was limited to his fingerprints being on the Monopoly set found at Leatherslade Farm and the fact that he went underground after the robbery. Raeburn went on to say that Daly had played the Monopoly game with his brother-in-law Bruce Reynolds earlier in 1963, and that he had gone underground only because he was associated with people publicly sought by the police. This was not proof of involvement in a conspiracy. The judge agreed, and the jury was directed to acquit him.<ref>The Train Robbers (Piers Paul Read) (1978)</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2020}}

Detective Inspector Frank Williams was shocked when this occurred because, owing to Tommy Butler's refusal to share information, he had no knowledge of the fact that Daly's prints were only on the Monopoly set. If Williams had known this, he could have asked Daly questions about the Monopoly set and robbed him of his very effective alibi. Daly was clever in avoiding having a photo taken when he was arrested until he could shave his beard. This meant that there was no photo to show the lengths he had gone to in order to change his appearance. No action was taken against Butler for his mistake in not ensuring the case against Daly was more thorough.<ref>Williams, Frank ''No Fixed Address'' (1973) Ch. Get Out of Gaol...Free (Pp 45–53).</ref>

On 15 April 1964 the proceedings ended with the judge describing the robbery as "a crime of sordid violence inspired by vast greed" and passing sentences of 30 years' imprisonment on seven of the robbers.<ref name=Bucksheadlines>{{cite book|year=1992|first=Jean|last=Archer|isbn=1-85306-188-3|title=Buckinghamshire Headlines|publisher=Countryside Books}}</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2020}}

===Sentencing===
The 11 men sentenced all felt aggrieved at the sentences handed down, particularly Bill Boal (who died in prison) and Lennie Field, who were later found not guilty of the charges against them. The other men (aside from Wheater) resented what they considered to be the excessive length of the sentences, which were longer than those given to many murderers or armed robbers. Train robbers who were sentenced later, and by different judges, received shorter terms. The severity of the sentences caused some surprise. When mastermind Bruce Reynolds was arrested in 1968, he allegedly told arresting officer Tommy Butler that those sentences had had a detrimental effect. According to him, they had prompted criminals generally to take guns with them when they set out on robberies.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Name
!Age
!Occupation
!Sentence
|-
| John Thomas Daly || 32 || antiques dealer || No case to answer
|-
| Ronald Arthur Biggs || 34 || carpenter || 30 years (25 years for conspiracy to rob and 30 years for armed robbery)
|-
| Douglas Gordon Goody || 34 || hairdresser || 30 years (25 years for conspiracy to rob and 30 years for armed robbery)
|-
| Charles Frederick Wilson || 31 || market trader || 30 years (25 years for conspiracy to rob and 30 years for armed robbery)
|-
| Thomas William Wisbey || 34 || bookmaker || 30 years (25 years for conspiracy to rob and 30 years for armed robbery)
|-
| Robert Welch || 34 || club proprietor || 30 years (25 years for conspiracy to rob and 30 years for armed robbery)
|-
| James Hussey || 34 || painter || 30 years (25 years for conspiracy to rob and 30 years for armed robbery)
|-
| Roy John James || 28 || racing motorist and silversmith || 30 years (25 years for conspiracy to rob and 30 years for armed robbery)
|-
| Roger John Cordrey || 42 || florist || 20 years (20 years for conspiracy to rob and various receiving stolen goods charges)
|-
| Brian Arthur Field || 29 || solicitor's clerk || 25 years (20 years for conspiracy to rob and 5 years for obstructing justice)
|-
| Leonard Denis Field || 31 || merchant seaman || 25 years (20 years for conspiracy to rob and 5 years for obstructing justice)
|-
| John Denby Wheater || 41 || solicitor || 3 years (Aiding and abetting a crime)
|-
| William Gerald Boal || 50 || engineer || 24 years
|}

===Appeals, July 1964===
On 13 July 1964, the appeals by Lennie Field and Brian Field (no relation) against the charges of conspiracy to rob were allowed. This resulted in their sentences being in effect reduced to five years only. On 14 July 1964, the appeals by Roger Cordrey and Bill Boal were allowed, with the convictions for conspiracy to rob quashed, leaving only the receiving charges. Justice [[Fenton Atkinson]] concluded that a [[miscarriage of justice]] would result if Boal's charges were upheld, given that his age, physique and temperament made him an unlikely train robber. Luckily for him, as the oldest robber, Cordrey was also deemed to be not guilty of the conspiracy because his prints had not been found at Leatherslade Farm.

Brian Field was only reluctantly acquitted of the robbery. Justice Atkinson stated that he would not be surprised if Field were not only part of the conspiracy, but also one of the robbers. The charges against the other men were all upheld. In the end, Lennie Field and Bill Boal got some measure of justice, but Boal died in prison in 1970 after a long illness.<ref>The Train Robbers by Piers Paul Read (1976)</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2020}}