Wayne
08-06-2009, 06:08 PM
Great Train robber Ronnie Biggs released from prison sentence
Ronnie Biggs, the Great Train Robber, is to be released from his prison sentence tomorrow on “compassionate” grounds, the Ministry of Justice has announced.
The decision comes after Jack Straw, the justice minister, received reports from doctors on the condition of Biggs, who is in poor health in hospital after suffering severe pneumonia.
Mr Straw said he had made the decision after considering the medical evidence, which stated that his condition is unlikely to improve. He said : “On July 1 I refused Mr Biggs’ release on parole. These two decisions, however, involved different considerations.
"I made the decision to refuse parole principally because Mr Biggs had shown no remorse for his crimes nor respect for the punishments given to him and because the Parole Board found his propensity to breach trust a very significant factor”
But Mr Straw said the issue of compassionate release involved other consideration.
"In this case, I have had to consider the medical evidence against well established criteria – specifically whether death was likely to occur soon and whether the prisoner was bedridden or severely incapacitated.
“The medical evidence clearly shows that Mr Biggs is very ill and that his condition has deteriorated recently, culminating in his re-admission to hospital. His condition is not expected to improve.
“It is for that reason that I am granting Mr Biggs compassionate release on medical grounds. I have therefore been satisfied that the relevant conditions have been met, which I was not in respect of the recommendation for parole.”
Mr Straw added: “Mr Biggs will be subject to the same strict licence conditions as other prisoners on release. He must live at an approved address, behave well, and cannot travel abroad without approval. If he were to breach those conditions or commit any further offence, he would be liable to immediate recall to prison.”
Biggs, aged 79, was readmitted to the Norfolk and Norwich University hospital last week, suffering from severe pneumonia. He had been in a special wing for elderly and infirm prisoners at Norwich jail.
After his move to hospital his family appealed to the Ministry of Justice for him to be released from custody on compassionate grounds because of his ill health.
The criteria for release are that a prisoner is suffering from a terminal illness and death is likely to occur in less than three months, or that a prisoner is bed-ridden or severely incapacitated and further imprisonment would endanger the prisoner’s life or would reduce life expectancy.
A total of 48 prisoners have been released from jail on compassionate grounds in the last five years.
Mr Straw’s decision to allow Biggs to be released comes just week after he rejected a recommendation from the Parole Board that Biggs could be released from the prison into an 80-bed care home in Barnet, north London.
Mr Straw made the rare decision to reject a Parole Board recommendation on the ground that Biggs was "wholly unrepentant" about his crimes.
Biggs, from Lambeth, South London, was a member of a 15-strong gang that attacked the Glasgow-to-London mail train at Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, in August 1963, and made off with £2.6 million in used banknotes.
The train driver, Jack Mills, was hit over the head during the robbery and never worked again. He died some years later from an unrelated illness.
Biggs was given a 30-year sentence but after 15 months he escaped from Wandsworth prison in southwest London by climbing a 30ft wall and fleeing in a furniture van. He was on the run for more than 30 years, living in Australia and Brazil before returning to the UK voluntarily in 2001 to receive medical treatment.
He was locked up in Belmarsh high-security prison on his return, before being moved to a specialist medical unit for elderly and infirm prisoners at Norwich prison.
Ronnie Biggs, the Great Train Robber, is to be released from his prison sentence tomorrow on “compassionate” grounds, the Ministry of Justice has announced.
The decision comes after Jack Straw, the justice minister, received reports from doctors on the condition of Biggs, who is in poor health in hospital after suffering severe pneumonia.
Mr Straw said he had made the decision after considering the medical evidence, which stated that his condition is unlikely to improve. He said : “On July 1 I refused Mr Biggs’ release on parole. These two decisions, however, involved different considerations.
"I made the decision to refuse parole principally because Mr Biggs had shown no remorse for his crimes nor respect for the punishments given to him and because the Parole Board found his propensity to breach trust a very significant factor”
But Mr Straw said the issue of compassionate release involved other consideration.
"In this case, I have had to consider the medical evidence against well established criteria – specifically whether death was likely to occur soon and whether the prisoner was bedridden or severely incapacitated.
“The medical evidence clearly shows that Mr Biggs is very ill and that his condition has deteriorated recently, culminating in his re-admission to hospital. His condition is not expected to improve.
“It is for that reason that I am granting Mr Biggs compassionate release on medical grounds. I have therefore been satisfied that the relevant conditions have been met, which I was not in respect of the recommendation for parole.”
Mr Straw added: “Mr Biggs will be subject to the same strict licence conditions as other prisoners on release. He must live at an approved address, behave well, and cannot travel abroad without approval. If he were to breach those conditions or commit any further offence, he would be liable to immediate recall to prison.”
Biggs, aged 79, was readmitted to the Norfolk and Norwich University hospital last week, suffering from severe pneumonia. He had been in a special wing for elderly and infirm prisoners at Norwich jail.
After his move to hospital his family appealed to the Ministry of Justice for him to be released from custody on compassionate grounds because of his ill health.
The criteria for release are that a prisoner is suffering from a terminal illness and death is likely to occur in less than three months, or that a prisoner is bed-ridden or severely incapacitated and further imprisonment would endanger the prisoner’s life or would reduce life expectancy.
A total of 48 prisoners have been released from jail on compassionate grounds in the last five years.
Mr Straw’s decision to allow Biggs to be released comes just week after he rejected a recommendation from the Parole Board that Biggs could be released from the prison into an 80-bed care home in Barnet, north London.
Mr Straw made the rare decision to reject a Parole Board recommendation on the ground that Biggs was "wholly unrepentant" about his crimes.
Biggs, from Lambeth, South London, was a member of a 15-strong gang that attacked the Glasgow-to-London mail train at Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, in August 1963, and made off with £2.6 million in used banknotes.
The train driver, Jack Mills, was hit over the head during the robbery and never worked again. He died some years later from an unrelated illness.
Biggs was given a 30-year sentence but after 15 months he escaped from Wandsworth prison in southwest London by climbing a 30ft wall and fleeing in a furniture van. He was on the run for more than 30 years, living in Australia and Brazil before returning to the UK voluntarily in 2001 to receive medical treatment.
He was locked up in Belmarsh high-security prison on his return, before being moved to a specialist medical unit for elderly and infirm prisoners at Norwich prison.