In the papers they are talking about the Great Train Robber, Ronnie Biggs, and his son's disbelief about Ronnie being denied parole. He has apparently had 3 strokes, 2 heart attacks and skin cancer. Poor old man...but is he?
This poor old man is a thief, an incompetent thief admittedly and, he is also at least party to the vicious assault on Jack Mills (the train driver).
Mills was struck on the head with an iron bar and never recovered completely from the blow to the head, suffering severe headaches for the rest of his life. He was unable to work again.
Biggs was arrested and imprisoned but escaped from Wandsworth Prison. He fled to Australia with his wife and children, then to Brazil where he had a son. He made a record with the Sex Pistols, wrote a biography, got kidnapped, had a public party in Brazil for his 70th birthday with other Great Train Robbers, lived the life of a celebrity in Brazil, then decided after over 30 years 'on the run' that he wanted to return to England and:
"My last wish is to walk into a Margate pub as an Englishman and buy a pint of bitter."(as told to The Sun)
You get parole for being repentant. It doesn't sound like he is... Nowhere in any quotes is there anything saying that he wishes that he hadn't done it. That he is sorry that Jack Mills was injured.
"I am an old man and often wonder if I truly deserve the extent of my punishment. I have accepted it and only want freedom to die with my family and not in jail." (Biggs's public appeal)
His son is complaining that this isn't justice. For whom? Certainly not for Jack Mills...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/8131053.stm
Randomeanderings: Useful and useless things, random assorted ideas and general waffle
Randomeanderings: Useful and useless things, random assorted ideas and general waffle
- clinestar
- Part time poet, full time librarian, student of the delights of milk chocolate. Likes books, milk, paddling, poetry, scribbling, chocolate, notebooks, sea, piers. Not necessarily in that order. All work copyright cih.