Every couple of years a Ronald Biggs health scare prompts calls for the train robbers release from Prison and although i feel that i should support it, i really don't.
Yes he is an old man of 79 with failing health but he isn't some innocent citizen wronged by the justice system.
He, along with other gang members, stole £2.6 million from a mail train. After being convicted and sentenced to 30 years, he escaped from HM Prison Wandsworth after a year of his sentence and fled to Spain, Australia and then Brazil.
As Biggs could not be sent back home because the UK had no extradition agreement with Brazil, he was able to brazenly live it up with his ill gotten gains for the next three decades, sticking two finger's up at us from the beaches of Rio de Janeiro.
It was only 36 years later,when the money ran out and he could no longer afford his health care in Brazil that he announced that he would be willing to return to the UK and suffer the consequences.
Sent back to prison in 2001, he immediately petitioned for an early release on compassionate grounds based on his poor health and to be released into his sons care for his remaining days. It was denied.
In 2005 his lawyers again sought his release on grounds of compassion, saying that their client's death was imminent. Again it was denied.
He was still hanging around in 2007 when he asked to be released to die with his family pleading that 'I am an old man and often wonder if I truly deserve the extent of my punishment. After all, I only stole 2.6 million pounds and watched while an innocent man was beaten to pulp with an iron bar - not that serious'.
Now he has pneumonia and his son has sent pictures of a frail looking Biggs in a hospital bed to every member of Parliament with a note stating that Biggs is not much longer for this World yet again and should be released.
My feeling is that if he had not run out of money then he would still be in Brazil flicking us the finger and laughing it up how he had escaped justice so i'm siding with Justice Secretary Jack Straw who rejected a parole board recommendation that Biggs be released. Leave him in there.
2 comments:
I don't really care if Ronnie stays inside or gets his freedom... but I had a good dark laugh at the irony of Jack Straw putting the mockers on his release...
Is this the same Jack Straw who told us a bunch of horseshit lies to help launch the Iraq War, who currently uses his powers as Justice Secretary to veto the publication of relevant Iraq War documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act, and who also claimed the full council tax expense on his home, even though he only pays 50% of it himself? i.e. stealing money off us? Is is that Jack Straw?
I know which of the two I'd like to see locked up.
It did seem strange typing the words 'i am siding with Jack Straw' because generally i want him tied to a rocket and fired into the Sun also but i have to go along with him on this one. I'm sure the feeling won't last very long though.
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