He masterminded the hit in prison, it took 3 years to execute it and he took almost 3 million pounds: the robbery that shocked all of Scotland

The Glasgow train robbery was long considered the largest robbery in 20th century history.: The amount stolen was approximately 2.6 million pounds. The plan began to hatch in the mind of Bruce Reynolds, son of a trade unionist at Ford’s Dagenhamun plant, three years before the day the gang carried it out.

Reynolds was a thief imprisoned in Durham Jail when another inmate spoke to him about the confidential transfer of money that took place periodically between the city of Glasgow and the city of London. That money came from the collection from banks and transported by the Royal Mail on secret trains and in the dark, in the silence of the night.

As soon as he was released from prison, Reynolds He traveled to London and began looking for the necessary partners to carry out the robbery. In total, 15 people were part of the band, including Buster Edwards, Jim White and Roger Cordrey. The last to join was Ronnie Biggs, an old colleague of Reynolds.

What was the Glasgow train robbery like?

On Wednesday, August 7, 1963 at ten minutes to seven, the “Up Special” train left Glasgow Central Station for Euston Station in London, with ua load of 2.6 million pounds. In its 12 carriages, they traveled 72 Royal Mail workers.

Although the money to be transported did not usually exceed 300,000 pounds, this time more money had been accumulated because it was after a long weekend. Although it was very confidential data, the band I knew it from a confidant.

At a quarter past 3 in the morning on August 8, the engineer stopped the train in front of a red light that the gang of thieves had previously manipulated. When the driver’s assistant got off the train to contact the nearest station, the cables were cut.

They were instantly surrounded by the thieves and, from that moment on, the events occurred quickly and precisely. Tom Wisbey and Robert Welch grabbed the helper, while Charles Wilson stormed the locomotive. The driver resisted and went hit in the head. Buster Edwards and Roy James They unhitched the mail car and forced the engineer to drive the train to a nearby bridge, where a truck with the rest of the gang was waiting for them.

They quickly loaded the vehicle with the 126 bags of money that the train was transporting, and fled. without the postal staff knowing what had just happened.

bank robbery thief

What happened to the criminals of the Glasgow train robbery

After the robbery, the 15 members of the gang had gone into hiding on a farmwhere they planned to spend a couple of weeks and wait for the atmosphere to relax. Although the plan seemed coherent, they couldn’t hold out and after a few days they distributed the money and left.

A neighbor, upon noticing strange movements on the farm, alerted the police, but it was too late. The only thing they found was empty bags that belonged to the stolen train.

A specific object determined the identification and arrest of the group of assailants: a monopoly board. While there, the members had played this iconic game to kill time and had left their fingerprints. That information was key to identifying and arresting almost all the members of the group that carried out one of the largest robberies in history.

On January 20, 1964, the trial of the thieves began in Aylesbury (Buckinghamshire) and lasted 51 days. All members of the bench received sentences of at least 30 years in prison.