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1. Olly - Member

   Ronnie Biggs, infamous train robber and serial runner awayer (as i understand it)
   is being refused parole.
   he was one of a gang who stole £2.6m from a train in the 60s. then spent life on the run.

   i dont want to come across all doe eyed, but it strikes me, thats a really romantic crime, no one got hurt, its what stories are made of.
   and they wont let the bugger out of prison, even though his bones are breaking under thier own weight and he can barely look after himself.

   yet them there thug teenagers who go around killing and torturing each other get out by the time they are in thier late thirties?
   'orrible pieces of work like the ex boss off RBS (his name escapes me) walk off with more money than that as payment for thier part in destroying the economy.

   praps you dont agree, but i fail to see the justice!

   Posted 2 years ago #
2. trailmonkey - Member

   wise words.

   Posted 2 years ago #
3. TandemJeremy - Member

   People were hurt in the great train robbery.

   Myself I think he should stay in jail - he has orchestrated a media campaign to get out. He only returned to britain for free healthcare. Let him get that inside while he does his sentence. He fits non of the criteria for release on parole.

   Posted 2 years ago #
4. uplink - Member

   Isn't a condition of parole that the offender needs to show remorse - Biggs doesn't

   Posted 2 years ago #
5. rowley - Member

   didn't one of the guards die as a result of the beating they dished out within a year of it taking place??

   Posted 2 years ago #
6. Olly - Member

   maybe people were hurt, Beeb website wasnt especially detailed, and thats what i was basing my thoughts on.
   if people got hurt, he can stay there.

   taking life deserves life, and not this "parole in a few years" life

   throw away the key life

   Posted 2 years ago #
7. montylikesbeer - Member

   Yes one of the guards was struck on the head and jossed it.

   If I get a fined for doing 31 in a 30 zone then "old ronnie" can do his bird as well.

   If he meets the parole criteria next time around then I am sure British justice with prevail and he will be set free to make a few bob from the red tops.

   Posted 2 years ago #
8. uplink - Member

   It was a brutal attack

   Posted 2 years ago #
9. richc - Member

   I don't think he died of the injuries but he was certainly brain damaged from the hiding they gave him. So hardly victim-less.

   Posted 2 years ago #
10. large418 - Member

    He's a criminal who spent years on the run, failing to do the time for his crime. Let him rot in jail. Life's tough isn't it, but sometimes the things you do catch up with you. It's time he learnt that you don't get let off for being an old decrepit scumbag.

    Posted 2 years ago #
11. Olly - Member

    fair enough. i didnt know that
    thoughts corrected!

    Posted 2 years ago #
12. nickc - Member

    I understand a guard was attacked and hit on the head with an iron bar brought along for that purpose, I think however he died of a non related injury (cancer, something like that)

    I'm pretty much on the side of leave him there. He's spent a life on the run, and as others have said, only came back because of the NHS treatment he'd get. I think the argument that there are other criminals more violent let out doesn't really hold much water, just because they're out means somehow he gets to go free? makes little sense to me...

    Posted 2 years ago #
13. TandemJeremy - Member

    uplink - Member

    Isn't a condition of parole that the offender needs to show remorse - Biggs doesn't

    This is the key point - however the parole board did agree him for parole despite him not showing remorse - Home secretary stopped it

    Posted 2 years ago #
14. uplink - Member

    I knew that TJ - I just saw it as the Home Secretary correcting their error

    Posted 2 years ago #
15. rogerthecat - Member

    Seems unjust that the guard suffers physical and psycological trauma and eventually dies as a result when Mr Biggs in enjoying himself in Rio. And then comes back to receive free health care at the point of delivery - pah, pull the plug.

    Posted 2 years ago #
16. Lanesra - Blocked

    Its days like today that restore my faith in justice as Michael Shields (the guy who threw a paving slab on an innocent Bulgarian waiters head) was also refused a pardon :thumbsupforjackstraw:

    Posted 2 years ago #
17. Junkyard - Member

    biggs did a runner and goaded/gloated over the system for years in Brazil (including having a child to avoid deportation) and had no remorse at all or guilt until he required health care he could no longer afford. I am struggling to think of a less deserving case for parole frankly and I am a bleeding heart liberal

    Posted 2 years ago #
18. coffeeking - Member

    romantic crime indeed, what a pile of codswallop. No crime is romantic.

    He committed a crime, he's serving his sentence, leave him there.

    Posted 2 years ago #
19. TandemJeremy - Member

    Lanesra - Micheal Sheilds is innocent

    Posted 2 years ago #
20. Lanesra - Blocked

    Jack Straw, The European Court of Human Rights, two Bulgarian Courts and myself would disagree with you TJ

    Posted 2 years ago #
21. porterclough - Member

    a condition of parole that the offender needs to show remorse

    I don't really understand this - you can get let out earlier if you lie than if you tell the truth?

    Also, this wouldn't be a home secretary ignoring the advice of legal experts just avoid looking bad in the tabloids because of the high level of public interest would it? Nah, that wouldn't happen.

    Posted 2 years ago #
22. ollie - Member

    I thought someone else admitted to throwing the paving slab in the michael shields incident? I could be wrong though.

    Posted 2 years ago #
23. uplink - Member

    It's only right the Straw considers public opinion - that's his job

    He also looks at lenient sentencing etc.

    Posted 2 years ago #
24. richc - Member

    I don't really understand this - you can get let out earlier if you lie than if you tell the truth?

    I think you have to convince a prison psychologist, and they are pretty expert in spotting lying scumbags.

    Posted 2 years ago #
25. porterclough - Member

    It's only right the Straw considers public opinion - that's his job

    No, it's very wrong. There should be a seperation of powers.

    Posted 2 years ago #
26. Drac - Moderator

    I thought someone else admitted to throwing the paving slab in the michael shields incident? I could be wrong though.

    Rock/Brick and yes they did but it wasn't accepted as evidence.

    Posted 2 years ago #
27. TandemJeremy - Member

    porterclough - Member

    I don't really understand this - you can get let out earlier if you lie than if you tell the truth?

    To some extent that is correct - some of our longest serving prisoners are those who were locked up as miscarriages of justice - they refuse to admit their guilt they don't get parole

    Posted 2 years ago #
28. Pigface - Member

    TJ how do you know Shields is innocent?

    Posted 2 years ago #
29. uponthedowns - Member

    Whew I'm agreeing with TJ and Jack Straw on the same day. I'm obviously not well.

    Posted 2 years ago #
30. porterclough - Member

    To some extent that is correct - some of our longest serving prisoners are those who were locked up as miscarriages of justice - they refuse to admit their guilt they don't get parole

    If they admit to being a witch and repent they go free, if not they must be burnt for the sake of their souls... good to see we've moved on.

    Posted 2 years ago #
31. TandemJeremy - Member

    Of course I don't for sure - but there was a lot in the press including others confessing to the crime, witnesses that say it wasn't him and so on.

    The ECHR judgement was not on the facts of the case but on the procedure.

    However I don't think a pardon is right.

    Posted 2 years ago #
32. Heather Bash - Member

    [i]biggs did a runner and goaded/gloated over the system for years in Brazil (including having a child to avoid deportation) and had no remorse at all or guilt until he required health care he could no longer afford. I am struggling to think of a less deserving case for parole frankly and I am a bleeding heart liberal

    Sums it up.

    I remember the gloating. iirc the cheeky fcuker even glamourised his crime with various publicity stunts (singing with the Sex Pistols?)

    The establishment were never going to let him go once they got him back and quite rightly imo.

    Posted 2 years ago #
33. RepacK - Member

    I think we did this some time back..But to repeat sentiments from above - he's showing no sign of remorse & only came back to the UK when he became unwell & homesick..

    Posted 2 years ago #
34. trailmonkey - Member

    He deserves to spend more time in clink for that terrible record with the Sex Pistols alone.

    Posted 2 years ago #
35. Rickos - Member

    It's only right the Straw considers public opinion - that's his job
    

    Is that like taking a Straw poll?

    IGMC...

    Posted 2 years ago #
36. Lanesra - Blocked

    The only people who have said Shields never did it, were his mates and some guy who was paid to make a "confession".

    All the rest of the non partisan witnesses placed him at the scene commiting the crime

    Posted 2 years ago #
37. Drac - Moderator

    and some guy who was paid to make a "confession".

    And you know this for sure?

    Posted 2 years ago #
38. cynic-al - Member

    I wondered how long it would take for this to crop up...He should serve his sentence, be paroled etc in the normal way.

    I can't believe the brass neck of his son, lying to the media.

    He's already had 60+ odd years of freedom has he not?

    Posted 2 years ago #
39. Coyote - Member

    "Ronnie Biggs was doin' time until he done a bunk..."

    Spent a good deal of time livin' it up in Rio, laughing at the British Plod. Who's laughing now Ronnie?

    Posted 2 years ago #
40. G - Member

    Can't do the time don't do the crime.

    Biggs and his mates were serial offenders, nasty bastards by all accounts. Despite all the efforts to glamourise what they did it was a nasty squalid crime, and his life subsequently has been a nasty squalid round of living off his "Reputation" and freeloading. Hes earned his time so let him have it.

    Posted 2 years ago #

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