How many took part in the great train robbery

In mitigation, Fletcher said that the flowers were for his then-girlfriend and co-star, Julia Sawalha, but that he had lost his bank card and had no money to pay. Later in life Buster developed acute depression, exacerbated by a severe alcohol problem.

After two failed suicide attempts, he was found by his brother hanging from a steel girder in a lock-up garage in Leake St, Lambeth. He was aged just At the time of his death, he was under pressure due to an investigation by the police as part of an inquiry into a suspected large-scale fraud.

Medical reports noted his family had "been at the end of their tether" trying to stop him drinking. At the time of his death he had enough alcohol in his body to kill someone unused to drinking, the court was told. A small bottle of vodka, one-third full, was found discarded by his body.

Tragically, the pathologist, Dr Vesna Djurovic, surmised he had died just before he was discovered. Southwark Coroner's Court recorded an open verdict, based on testimony that Buster had been too intoxicated to form an intent to kill himself. And there his story ends with one last touch of style, as his family was collected from court by a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce with heavily tinted windows.

Related: London. Toggle navigation. Read more. Sign up to British Heritage Travel's daily newsletter here! Subscribe here to receive British Heritage Travel's print magazine! BHT newsletter Subscribe to our Newsletter. You May Also Like. Most Read Most Recent. Surprising nicknames The Royals The Royals are just like any other family, which means they all hav Five Victorian buildings in Lond Here are five of London's most beautiful buildings built during the He went to live in Surrey.

Who was the real Ronnie Biggs? Great Train Robber Reynolds dies. How the Great Train Robbery unfolded. Armed robbery - crime v time.

Train robber Biggs wins freedom. Timeline: Ronnie Biggs. Profile: Ronnie Biggs. From left to right, pictures of Bruce Reynolds, Ronald "Buster" Edwards and Ronnie Biggs released by police at the time of the robbery in So who was he and who were the other gang members?

Ronnie Biggs. Bruce Reynolds. Ronald Edwards. Charles Wilson. Roy James. Brian Field. Gordon Goody. James Hussey. Roger Cordrey. He was jailed for 20 years, reduced to 14 on appeal. James White. Tommy Wisbey. Bobby Welch. Bill Boal. John Wheater. Published 18 December Published 28 February Published 1 July Overwhelming the postal workers, they threw mail sacks down an embankment where two Range Rovers and an old military truck awaited.

Within the hour, a guard from the back of the train scouted the delay and rushed to the closest station with news of foul play. Alarms rang throughout Cheddington. The police spent a day canvassing farms and houses before contacting Scotland Yard.

The metropolitan bureau searched for suspects through a criminal index of files that categorized 4.

British papers criticized the absence of a national police force, saying that a lack of communication between departments fostered an easier getaway for the lawbreakers. Journalists also balked at the lack of postal security, and suggested that the postal service put armed guards on mail trains.

The police knew that the crime required the assistance of an insider with a detailed working knowledge of postal and train operations: someone who would have anticipated the lack of security measures, the amount of money, the location of the car carrying the money, and the right place to stop the train. Detective Superintendent G. McArthur said the robbers would have known this. All 15 of the robbers would be arrested, but the insider would remain free.

For his role in planning the robbery, the Ulsterman received a cut the thieves split the majority of the money equally and remained anonymous but to three people for decades. Only one of those three is still alive. Scotland Yard reached a breakthrough in their case on August 13, , when a herdsman told police to investigate Leatherslade Farm, a property about 20 miles away from the crime.

The man had grown suspicious over increased traffic around the farmhouse. When police arrived, they found 20 empty mailbags on the ground near a 3-foot hole and a shovel. The getaway vehicles were covered nearby.