Great Train robber Biggs could be free in weeks

Ronnie Biggs, one of Britain's most notorious criminals who helped carry out the 1963 Great Train Robbery, could be released in weeks, his lawyer said yesterday, after a parole hearing.

Mr Biggs was jailed for 30 years in 1964 but quickly escaped from prison in a daring break-out and spent three decades on the run, much of it in Brazil, before returning to Britain in 2001 and handing himself in.

The 79-year-old is currently in the hospital wing of Norwich prison in eastern England and his son Michael says he has suffered repeated strokes and heart attacks.

Officials from Britain's Parole Board met yesterday to decide whether he should be freed on the grounds that he is highly unlikely to reoffend.

A spokesman confirmed the meeting had taken place but said there were "certain issues which still need to be clarified before a final recommendation can be made."

The ultimate decision on whether he can be freed rests with Justice Secretary Jack Straw.

But Mr Bigg's lawyer Giovanni di Stefano told BBC television he was confident Mr Biggs would be free in time to celebrate his 80th birthday in August.

"Mr Biggs will be released on the 4th of July unless anything untoward occurs in between that time," he said. "It would be very, very, very unusual for a recommendation not to be accepted under all these special circumstances".

The Great Train Robbery holds legendary status in Britain as one of the most audacious in the country's criminal history.

A 15-strong gang held up a London to Glasgow mail train, making off with £2.6 million in used banknotes - a massive amount at the time.

The gang attacked the driver of the train with an iron bar. He never returned to work and died seven years later without ever making a full recovery.

Mr Biggs played only a minor role in the hold-up but was jailed for 30 years in 1964. However, after serving only 15 months, he escaped prison by shinning down a rope ladder and jumping on to the roof of a furniture van.

He fled to France, where he had plastic surgery, and Spain before heading to Australia and Brazil in 1970.