Ronnie Biggs Says of Great Train Robbery: 'It Was My Greatest Hit!'

Great train robber Ronnie Biggs has defiantly insisted he has no regrets about his role in the 'crime of the century'.

It will be 50 years this Thursday since Biggs and 14 others stole £2.6m cash in a heist which turned him into a notorious fugitive who fled from justice.

Biggs escaped from HMP Wandsworth in 1968, fleeing the country to Brazil.

He then spent 13,000-plus days on the run from the police - including many on the beach in Brazil. It was a brazen two-finger salute to UK authorities which brought Biggs infamy and also some admirers, including the likes of Mick Jagger and the Sex Pistols.

This week, Biggs says he feels no shame at taking part in the crime and actually remains "proud" of it.

He told the Mirror: "I look on the robbery as one of my greatest hits, so if that is what my friends and fans want to hear me play, who am I to disappoint them? Rock on.

"If you want to ask me if I have any regrets about being one of the train robbers, my answer is 'no!'

"I will go further: I am proud to have been one of them. I am equally happy to be described as the 'tea-boy' or 'The Brain'.

Biggs took part in what became the great train robbery on his birthday in 1963. The heist took months to plan and the conspirators were ready to do whatever it took to get their hands on the cash.

Train driver Jack Mills was badly injured in the heist when he was clubbed on the head. He could no longer work because of his injuries and died seven years later. His family said that his injury and the trauma he suffered contributed to his early death.

Biggs claims he feels bad for Mills, saying: "It is regrettable, as I have said many times, that the train driver was injured.

"The people who paid the heaviest price for the Great Train Robbery are the families, the families of everyone involved in the Great Train Robbery, and from both sides of the track."

Biggs eventually grew tired of life in Brazil and announced in 2001 he would be willing to come back to Britain. In his arrival he was promptly returned to prison but soon suffered a string of health problems. As a result, he was released early from jail in 2009.

Biggs says he wants to be remembered as a good father, but acknowledges he will always remain indelibly linked with the great train robbery.

"I would like to be remembered as a good father," he said. "A good husband. A good brother. A good friend. A good man. But that is simply not going to happen. Like it or not, I have reached the point of infamy when I am going to be remembered simply as 'Ronnie Biggs', whatever or whoever he is in your mind."