Editing Great Train Robbery (1963) (section)

==Pursuit of fugitives==
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'''Jimmy White''' – With the other robbers on the run and having fled the country, only White was at large in the United Kingdom. White was a renowned locksmith/thief and had already been on the run for 10 years before the robbery. He was said to have "a remarkable ability to be invisible, to merge with his surroundings and become the ultimate Mr Nobody." He was a wartime paratrooper and a veteran of [[Battle of Arnhem|Arnhem]].<ref name="Reynolds 1995"/>{{page needed|date=August 2020}}{{unreliable source?|date=August 2020}}{{primary source inline|date=August 2020}} According to [[Piers Paul Read]] in his 1978 book ''The Train Robbers'', he was "a solitary thief, not known to work with either firm, he should have had a good chance of remaining undetected altogether, yet was known to be one of the Train Robbers almost at once—first by other criminals and then by the police". He was unfortunate in that Brian Field's relatives had dumped luggage containing £100,000 only a mile from a site where White had bought a caravan and hidden £30,000 in the panelling. In addition, a group of men purporting to be from the Flying Squad broke into his flat and took a briefcase containing £8,500. Throughout his three years on the run with wife Sheree and baby son Stephen, he was taken advantage of or let down by friends and associates. On 10 April 1966, a new friend recognised him from photos in a newspaper and informed the police. They arrested him at Littlestone while he was at home. He only had £8,000 to hand back to them. The rest was long gone. He was tried in June 1966 at [[Leicester]] [[Assizes]] and Mr Justice Nield sentenced him to 18 years' jail, considerably less than the 30 years given to other principal offenders.

'''[[Buster Edwards]]''' – Edwards fled to Mexico with his family, to join Bruce Reynolds (and later Charlie Wilson) but returned voluntarily to England in 1966, where he was sentenced to 15 years.

'''[[Charlie Wilson (criminal)|Charlie Wilson]]''' – Wilson took up residence outside [[Montreal, Quebec]], Canada, on [[Rigaud, Quebec|Rigaud Mountain]] in an upper-middle-class neighbourhood where the large, secluded properties are surrounded by trees. He lived under the name Ronald Alloway, a name borrowed from a Fulham shopkeeper. His wife and three children soon joined him. He joined an exclusive golf club and participated in the activities of the local community. It was only when he invited his brother-in-law over from the UK for Christmas that [[Scotland Yard]] was able to track him down and recapture him. They waited three months before making their move, in the hope that Wilson would lead them to Reynolds, the last suspect still to be apprehended. Wilson was arrested on 25 January 1968 by Tommy Butler. Many in Rigaud petitioned that his wife and three daughters be allowed to stay in the Montreal area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://coolopolis.blogspot.com/2008/03/montreals-connection-to-great-train.html |title=Coolopolis: Montreal's connection to the Great Train Robbery |publisher=Coolopolis.blogspot.com |date=17 March 2008 |access-date=6 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002221818/http://coolopolis.blogspot.com/2008/03/montreals-connection-to-great-train.html |archive-date=2 October 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

'''[[Bruce Reynolds]]''' – On 6 June 1964, Reynolds arrived in Mexico, with his wife Angela and son Nick joining him a few months later, after they evaded the obvious police surveillance. A year later in July 1965, Buster Edwards and his family arrived, although unlike the Reynolds family they planned to return to England at some stage, and did not like Mexico. Charlie Wilson, on the run with his family still back in England, visited them for six weeks, so three of the train robbers were together in exile for a time. After the Edwards family returned to England, the Reynoldses also decided to leave Mexico and go to Canada to potentially join up with the Wilson family, leaving on 6 December 1966. They had spent much of their share of the robbery by this point – living far more extravagantly than the Edwardses had. After realising the danger in settling near the Wilsons in Montreal, they went to live in Vancouver, and then went to Nice, France. Reynolds did not want to go to Australia where Biggs was, and needing money decided to go back to England, settling briefly in Torquay before being captured by Tommy Butler.<ref>Crossing the Line - The Autobiography of a Thief, by Bruce Reynolds</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2020}}{{primary source inline|date=August 2020}}{{unreliable source?|date=August 2020}}

'''[[Ronnie Biggs]]''' – Biggs fled to Paris, where he acquired new identity papers and underwent [[plastic surgery]]. In 1966, he moved to [[Adelaide, Australia]], where he worked as a builder and he and his wife had a third son. Tipped off that [[Interpol]] was showing interest, he moved to [[Melbourne]] working as a set constructor for [[Nine network|Channel 9]], later escaping to [[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Brazil]], after police had discovered his Melbourne address. Biggs could not be [[extradition|extradited]] because there was no extradition treaty between Britain and Brazil, and additionally he became father to a Brazilian son, which afforded him legal immunity. As a result, he lived openly in Rio for many years, safe from the British authorities. In 1981, Biggs's Brazilian son became a member of a successful band [[Turma do Balão Mágico]], but the band quickly faded into obscurity and dissolved.

In May 2001, aged 71 and having suffered three strokes, Biggs voluntarily returned to England. Accepting that he could be arrested, his stated desire was to "walk into a [[Margate]] pub as an Englishman and buy a pint of [[bitter (beer)|bitter]]".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/pictures/image/0,8543,-10704180185,00.html|title=2001: Biggs wants to return|work=[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]|location=London|access-date=14 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129211901/https://www.theguardian.com/pictures/image/0,8543,-10704180185,00.html|archive-date=29 November 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=66752 |title=Statement from Michael Biggs made in London |publisher=Prnewswire.co.uk |date=8 May 2001 |access-date=6 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608190152/http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=66752 |archive-date=8 June 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> Arrested on landing, after detention and a short court hearing he was sent back to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence. On 2 July 2009, Biggs was denied parole by Justice Secretary [[Jack Straw]], who considered Biggs to be still "wholly unrepentant",<ref>{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Holden |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE5613K620090702 |title=Great Train Robber is refused parole |work=Reuters |date=2 July 2009 |access-date=6 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806090814/http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE5613K620090702 |archive-date=6 August 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=autobio>Matthews, Stanley. ''The Way It Was: My Autobiography'', Headline, 2000 ({{ISBN|0747271089}})</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2020}} but was released from custody on 6 August, two days before his 80th birthday, on 'compassionate grounds'. He died on 18 December 2013, aged 84.