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Great Train Robber dies aged 84
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Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs dies aged 84
British criminal Ronnie Biggs, who took part in the 1963 Great Train Robbery, has died, his spokeswoman confirmed.
8 August 1963, a gang of men, including Ronnie Biggs, stopped and stole £2.6m (equivalent of £40m in today's money) the night mail train from Glasgow to London. Fifteen men were convicted and received sentences.
He was given a 30-year sentence but escaped from prison in 1965. In 2001, he returned to the UK seeking medical help but was sent to prison. He was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 after contracting pneumonia.
Biggs, who died early on Wednesday, was being cared for at the Carlton Court Care Home in East Barnet, north London.
He could not speak and had difficulty walking after a series of strokes.
He was last seen in public at the funeral of his fellow Great Train Robber, Bruce Reynolds, in March.
Christopher Pickard, ghost writer of Biggs' autobiography, said he should be remembered as "a great character of the last 50 years". He said he was "kind and generous" with a great sense of humour, which he retained to the end.
Biggs was the first product of the "media age" who "inherited fame while running around the world", he said.
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