The Great British Train Robbery 1963

The theft of 120 mailbags from a travelling post office has been dubbed the crime of the century. Reproduced here are extracts from the report of Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary, which was submitted to the Home Office in 1964. At that time the investigation was still not complete: much of the #2.6 million had not been recovered and at least three of the robbers were still at large. A brief postscript covers the later arrest and sentencing of Buster Edwards, Bruce Reynolds and James White - and the re-arrest of Ronnie Biggs in 2001, 36 years after his escape from prison.