Ronnie Biggs: Great Train Robber Who Escaped for 36 Years

There aren’t many criminals whose faces become more famous than the crime they committed, but Ronnie Biggs is one of them. From the Great Train Robbery to his audacious escape from Wandsworth Prison and decades hiding in Brazil, his story is full of contradictions. This article traces the key events, the people around him, and what his life tells us about British justice and public fascination with celebrity outlaws.

Born: 8 August 1929 ·
Died: 18 December 2013 ·
Known for: Great Train Robbery (1963) ·
Sentence: 30 years (escaped after 15 months) ·
Years on the run: 36 years ·
Return to UK: 2001 (voluntary)

Six key facts about Ronnie Biggs, from birth to death.

Who helped Ronnie Biggs escape?

The escape from Wandsworth Prison

• Biggs was serving a 30-year sentence after the Great Train Robbery (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).
• On 8 July 1965, he scaled the prison wall using a homemade rope ladder and dropped onto a waiting removal van (Wikipedia (community encyclopedia)).

The escape involved at least one inside contact and a getaway driver. According to reports, the rope ladder was supplied by accomplices on the outside. Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work) notes that a Scotland Yard detective later arrested him in Rio de Janeiro five years later, but the identities of the helpers remain partly unconfirmed.

Bottom line: The Wandsworth escape was a well-coordinated operation, but full details of the team behind it remain shady.

The role of accomplices and outside help

• After escaping, Biggs underwent plastic surgery in Paris (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).
• He then moved with his wife and children to Melbourne, Australia (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).

The network that shielded Biggs included friends who provided false documents and safe houses. The pattern: Biggs was never a lone fugitive – he relied on a chain of contacts that stretched from London to the antipodes.

The implication: his escape was not just luck but a product of the criminal underworld’s ability to move people across borders in the 1960s.

Life on the run in Australia and Brazil

• Biggs fled to Brazil in 1969 as authorities closed in (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).
• He was arrested in Rio de Janeiro in 1974 but avoided extradition because he had fathered a Brazilian child (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).

Why this matters: his son Michael, born in 1974, became his legal shield. Brazilian law then did not extradite parents of Brazilian children, a loophole that allowed Biggs to live openly for decades.

Was Ronnie Biggs ever caught?

The initial capture after the robbery

• Biggs was arrested shortly after the Great Train Robbery in 1963 and sentenced to 30 years (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).
• The robbery took place on 8 August 1963 and netted £2.6 million (Encyclopaedia Britannica (topical entry)).

The response: yes, Biggs was caught and convicted. But his prison stay lasted only 15 months before he fled.

Escape and decades as a fugitive

• He escaped from Wandsworth Prison in 1965 and remained a fugitive for 36 years (Wikipedia (community encyclopedia)).
• In 1981, according to an Apple Podcasts (audio documentary), Biggs was kidnapped in Brazil, triggering a media frenzy and a diplomatic clash between Brazil and the UK.

What this means: even as a free man in Brazil, Biggs remained a headline. The kidnapping attempt showed that both authorities and opportunists saw him as a prize.

Voluntary return and final imprisonment

• Biggs flew to London in May 2001 and was arrested by police (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).
• He was released in August 2009 on compassionate grounds due to declining health (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).

The pattern: his return was voluntary, driven by failing health and a desire to die on home soil. British authorities did not track him down – he turned himself in.

Bottom line: Biggs was “caught” twice – after the robbery and after his return – but his 36 years as a fugitive defined his legend.

How old was Ronnie Biggs’ wife when she died?

Charmian Brent (née Powell)

• Charmian Powell married Ronnie Biggs in 1960 (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).
• She was born in 1940 and died in 2023 at age 83 (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).

Charmian was a constant presence in Biggs’ story, even after their separation. She wrote a memoir and gave interviews that humanised the man behind the headlines.

Her life with Biggs and after separation

• After Biggs fled, Charmian stayed in the UK with their sons (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).
• She divorced him in the late 1970s (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).

Why this matters: Charmian’s loyalty and later independence provided a contrasting narrative to Biggs’ own fugitive glamour. She was both a victim and a survivor of the train-robbery aftermath.

The pattern: Charmian’s narrative reshaped how the public viewed the train robber’s family, shifting focus from the outlaw to those he left behind.

Why did Ronnie Biggs leave his wife?

The strain of life on the run

• Biggs left Charmian and their sons in the late 1960s while on the run (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).
• He formed a relationship with a Brazilian woman, Raimunda, with whom he had a son (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).

Biggs himself said, “I had a good time in Brazil,” suggesting he embraced the fugitive lifestyle and left his old family behind. The strain of constant hiding and the temptation of a new life in Brazil likely drove the separation.

Bottom line: Biggs abandoned one family to start another in Brazil, a choice that defined both his personal saga and his public image as a carefree rebel.

What happened to Ronnie Biggs’ son Nicholas?

Nicholas Biggs’ early life

• Nicholas Biggs was born in 1961 (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).
• He grew up in the UK with his mother Charmian after his father fled (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).

Nicholas became his father’s advocate, campaigning for his release from prison in the 2000s (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).

His role in his father’s later years

• Nicholas visited his father in prison and spoke to media about his father’s health (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).
• He died in 2014, a year after his father, from complications of a heart condition (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).

The pattern: Nicholas acted as the bridge between the public and the ailing ex-convict, but his own early death added tragedy to an already complex family story.

The implication: the Biggs family story remains open, with Michael Biggs as the living legacy in Brazil.

Where are Mrs. Biggs’ sons now?

The fates of Nicholas and Michael Biggs

• Nicholas Biggs died in 2014 (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).
• Michael Biggs, the son of Biggs and Raimunda, lives in Brazil (Encyclopaedia Britannica (reference work)).

The “Mrs. Biggs” in the question is Charmian. Her only biological son Nicholas is deceased; her stepson Michael remains in South America. Michael occasionally gives interviews about his father’s legacy but keeps a low profile.

Bottom line: The two sons represent two sides of Biggs’ life – the British family left behind and the Brazilian family born in exile. One is gone, the other still lives in the shadow of the Great Train Robbery.