r. biggs.

nortype · 06-08-2009, 16:55

to be released from prison. about time.

Taggy · 06-08-2009, 18:09

Hadn't he already spent rather a long time out of prison??

Best Regards - Taggy

nortype · 06-08-2009, 21:25

taggy. the mans nearly dead no point in prison for him now

junetta · 06-08-2009, 22:51

I've always thought that thirty years was a little harsh and as there was no fear of him re-offending they could have released him a couple of years ago. If not for him but for his son who obviously adores him.

lindsay ormerod · 06-08-2009, 22:51

Apartr from the fact that he is a convicted criminal who has shown no remorse whatsoever for his actions......

Eric · 06-08-2009, 22:55

I remember the robbery .... vaguely .... and I always thought that the sentences were way out of line .... like the heat got really po'd at the perps, and the courts, instead of sentencing, "sent a message". It has always struck me as a typical "English" crime, fairly clever in its concept and using the minimum of force ... if it had taken place in the US, it would have been brute strength, ignorance, assault rifles and lots of ammo ... and probably a high body count. Just musing.

BERNADETTE · 06-08-2009, 23:14

Makes me wonder if folks had been related to the poor bloke whos life was ruined would they feel differently? Sure he wasn't killed but his quality of life was taken away, not so sure whether the perpetrators were bothered/or would be bothered either way. He only came back here to take advantage of our NHS, maybe I would feel a bit sorry for his plight if he had shown some remorse.

Eric · 06-08-2009, 23:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by BERNADETTE

Makes me wonder if folks had been related to the poor bloke whos life was ruined would they feel differently? Sure he wasn't killed but his quality of life was taken away, not so sure whether the perpetrators were bothered/or would be bothered either way. He only came back here to take advantage of our NHS, maybe I would feel a bit sorry for his plight if he had shown some remorse.

Hear what you are saying hon, but, what did they get 35yrs? ..... can't remember exactly, but it was serious time .... don't know what the sentences are like in England, but, in Canada murder gets you 25 before eligibility for parole ... and with good behaviour, and a little remorse in front of the parole board, you are back on the street .... and if the perps had been preparing for real confrontation they surely would have been packing ..... I do think that those who commit high profile crimes tend to get the proverbial book tossed at them, while those who commit a low key, but perhaps more violent crime get away with less. Somehow this doesn't go along with the blindfold justice wears .... I guess if you commit a crime that rates a movie, you are screwed if you get caught.

I'm not climbing on a soapbox here .... just a few random thoughts. Time to move on to other things.

cashman · 06-08-2009, 23:52

bottom line with the great train robbery, it was government money so thats more serious than stealing mine or yours

hence the severe sentences, at that moment in time when it happened average life sentence fer murder was LESS than 20 years. the guy who got coshed was a fool, should just have let em get on wi it simple as. could understand his actions if it had been his money.

personally i reckon biggs should be released to die.

garinda · 06-08-2009, 23:59

This is Ronnie Bigs in 1979, whilst still on the run in Brazil, starring in a film with the Sex Pistols.

It was actually filmed four years after fellow Great Train Robber Buster Edwards had been released in 1975, after serving his time for the crime.

Biggs could be free today, if he had shown remorse for the crime, which to this day he's never done, or stayed in Brazil.

He chose not to stay in Brazil because he needed medical care, and he was skint, so he came back so we could pay for it.

You do the crime, and if you get caught, you do the time.

Age should be no barrier to the laws of justice.

Would be people still be calling for his freedom if it happened to be a sick old man who'd been a child abuser?

I think not.

cashman · 07-08-2009, 00:06

Big differance to me a child abuser don't get 30 years normally. the punishment DID NOT fit the crime in the Train Robbers Case IMHO. did not notice many people calling fer that bitch Myra Hindleys release.

garinda · 07-08-2009, 00:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by cashman

Big differance to me a child abuser don't get 30 years normally. the punishment DID NOT fit the crime in the Train Robbers Case IMHO. did not notice many people calling fer that bitch Myra Hindleys release.

Okay, he wasn't a child abuser, and the sentence could be described as harsh, but as was posted earlier, at that time they were holding them up as an example of the severity of the punishment to others if you went about coshing innocent guards, and nicking the Royal Mail.

The fact is if he had served his time, and shown any remorse, by the time he was farting about on the beach in Rio with the Sex Pistols, he could have been free anyway.

His choice.

We wouldn't be having this debate at all if he hadn't blown all his money. He'd still be in Brazil, giving the British justice system the V-sign. He came back because he was broke, and you don't get free medical care in Brazil.

His choice.

cashman · 07-08-2009, 00:21

was nowt to do with coshing the guard, was simple fact it was goverment money, which they would never say officially, i look at it this way, if they had give me 30 yrs bird fer that, i would be very bitter n like biggs i would have stuck 2 fingers up at em.

garinda · 07-08-2009, 00:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by cashman

was nowt to do with coshing the guard, was simple fact it was goverment money, which they would never say officially, i look at it this way, if they had give me 30 yrs bird fer that, i would be very bitter n like biggs i would have stuck 2 fingers up at em.

They knew whose money it was when they planned it, and presumably the consequences if they were caught, for committing what was at that time the biggest robbery in British history.

The bulk of the money was never recovered. The money being government money, and therefore our money, the British tax payer.

No one served thirty years, even the ones who escaped and were recaught, but they showed remorse, unlike Biggs, which in this country is still a prerequisite for early parole.

BERNADETTE · 07-08-2009, 00:54

Bottom line for me irrelevant of whos money it was and by the way is goverment money not the tax payers money? So therefore they were robbing the tax payers!! Anyway irrelevant of the ins and outs of the crime and the sentence. Ronnie Biggs was quite happy to sod offf and spend the spoils of his crime whilst knowing he was on the run. Why when he finds himself with a terminal illness did he come back here? Well we all know the answer to that it was because we have a far superior health service here!! IMHO he should have been sent straight back to wherever he spent the money he and his gang nicked. It is a travesty that felons can come back and get treatment (even when in the clink) whilst honest tax payers are fighting for every cancer drug depending on their postcode. By all means realease him but send him back to the country he spent all the dosh in for treatment. Given that option I'm damn sure he or his son would decide on the dying in jail option!!!