Ronnie Biggs
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Ronnie Biggs (born Ronald Arthur Biggs in August 8, 1929) is a British prisoner who is known for his role in the Great Train Robbery of 1963.
He and others stole £2.6 million from a mail train. After he was convicted he escaped from HM Prison Wandsworth in 1965 by scaling the wall with a rope ladder, got papers and a new face in Paris, and fled to Australia and then Brazil in 1970. He allegedly had only £200 left when he arrived in Brazil. His wife, Charmian, and two sons stayed behind in Australia. He spent the next three decades of his life a fugitive and became somewhat of a media celebrity.
In 1974 he was found by the British police in Rio de Janeiro but couldn't be extradited because his current girlfriend (Raimunda de Castro, a nightclub dancer and prostitute) was pregnant. Brazilian law wouldn't allow the parent of a Brazilian child to be extradited. Unfortunately, his felon status also prevented him from working, but nothing prevented him from profiting from Scotland Yard's misfortune. "Ronnie Biggs" coffee cups and t-shirts suddenly started showing up in tourist traps throughout Rio. For $60 you could have breakfast and stimulating conversation with the charming anti-hero.
Supposedly, he was back and forth to the UK several times during the making of a documentary about the Great Train Robbery, always in disguise. Also, he produced several songs with the Sex Pistols right after Johnny Rotten left the band in 1978. With the Pistols he recorded the song "No One is Innocent".
In 1981 Biggs was kidnapped by a gang of adventurers who managed to smuggle him to Barbados, hoping to collect some reward from the British police. The coup was discovered, though, and Biggs made use of legal loopholes to have himself sent back to Brazil.
Ronnie's Brazilian son by Raimunda, Michael, would eventually become a member of a child band of enormous success (Turma do Balão Mágico), bringing a welcome new source of income to his father, who would spend with abandon. In a short time, however, the band faded into obscurity and dissolved, leaving father and son in relatively dire straits again.
In 2001 Biggs announced to The Sun newspaper that he would be willing to return to the UK. He had suffered a stroke the previous year and was in poor health. His stated desire was to "walk into a pub a British man and have a pint of bitter". It is believed by some that he was probably only after the free health care available.
He returned on May 7, 2001, and, much to his family's displeasure, was re-imprisoned. His trip back on a private jet was paid by The Sun, which has also reportedly paid Michael Biggs £20,000, plus other expenses. Ronald Biggs had 28 years of his sentence left. Since his return he has undergone numerous health scares, including two heart attacks, and has failed to get his sentence overturned or reduced.