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1963: £2.6 million stolen in 46 minutes, prison sentences totalling 378 years, 23 criminals, countless victims.
1963: £2.6 million stolen in 46 minutes, prison sentences totalling 378 years, 23 criminals, countless victims.
In the early hours of Thursday, 8 August 1963 at Sears Crossing near Cheddington in Buckinghamshire, £2.6 million (£45 million today) in unmarked £5, £1 and 10 shilling notes was stolen from the Glasgow to London mail train in a violent and daring raid which took forty-six minutes. Quickly dubbed ‘the Crime of the Century’, it has captured the imagination of the public and the world’s media for fifty years, taking its place in British folklore. Ronnie Biggs, Bruce Reynolds and Buster Edwards became household names and their accounts have fed the myths and legends of ‘The Great Train Robbery’.
The Great Train Robbery was the crime of the century given that the sum of £2.6 million was taken from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London .
The crime, which had been meticulously planned for months by a gang of 15 was carried out in the early morning of 8 August 1963. The gang stopped the train at a signal box, moved the train a little up the track to the Bridego Railway Bridge, (now Mentmore bridge) Ledburn, near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire.
They stole £2.6 million, a lot more than they had expected to be on the train, and would be equivalent to £50 million today. The bulk of the stolen money was never recovered. The train driver was severely beaten and never worked again.
After the robbery, the gang hid at Leatherslade Farm.They left many clues behind which lead to the eventual arrest and conviction of most of the gang. The ringleaders were sentenced to 30 years in jail.
Destination : London, Buckinghamshire, Mentmore Author/Guide: Nick Russell-Pavier and Stewart Richards Departure Time: 1963
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