The Great Train Robbery (15 page)

At 6.00 pm the same day I again saw Goody and said to him, ‘I have seen Miss Margaret Perkins and although you have not seen her since last July you had arranged to send her some postcards from Ireland to an address of a friend nearby. These have now been destroyed but according to Miss Perkins the last card was received on Thursday, the day of the robbery’. He replied, ‘That puts me there doesn’t it’. I then said to Goody, ‘I am not satisfied with your explanation and you will now be taken back to Aylesbury Police Station pending further enquires’. He replied, ‘My brief will be there, I have arranged if I don’t turn up for the necessary to be done’. I then returned with him to Aylesbury Police Station where he was detained.

At about 12 midnight on the 23 August 1963 with D/Chief Superintendent Butler, I again saw Goody at Aylesbury Police Station. Superintendent Butler said to him, ‘I understand you were detained at Leicester having travelled as far as Bedford in a motor car belonging to someone else and you were using the name of Alexander. Would you care to explain these facts?’ He replied, ‘I was going to keep out of the way until things died down. Them blokes who are all in the paper are friends of mine and that puts me in it and all according to you’. Mr Butler then asked, ‘What do you mean by that?’ He said, ‘Because of the aggravations over the Airport job and I had to sweat for eight months.’ Mr Butler then said, ‘That matter is over and done with. I would like you to tell us what your movements were on the 7/8 August, as that is the reason for your being brought here, as you well know’. Goody was silent for a few moments and then said, ‘Look, I want to think about that; I am tired because I didn’t have much sleep last night what with these aggravations and all.’ He was then informed by the Superintendent that he would be detained and he replied, ‘So I’ll be detained, see you later’.

At about 1.00 pm on the 24 August I was present when Goody was seen by Superintendent Butler at Aylesbury
p
olice
s
tation, Mr Butler said to him, ‘You have had ample time to think about the matter we discussed last night. Would you now tell us of your movements and your location on the 7/8 August?’ He replied;,’I was touring Ireland doing a bit of fishing and shooting’. He was then asked, ‘Where did you stay whilst you were there?’ He replied, ‘I can’t tell you that; if I am charged it will be part of my defence’. Mr Butler then said, ‘If you were in Ireland as you say then it follows you were not at Leatherslade Farm that night doesn’t it?’ He replied (indicating myself), ‘He mentioned that yesterday; I don’t know the place. What would I be doing on a farm?’ The Superintendent then said, ‘You could be there preparing for the commission of this very serious offence or taking part in the division of the proceeds of it’. He replied, ‘You don’t expect me to admit that do you?’

Superintendent Butler then said to him, ‘I suspect you were at Leatherslade Farm at the time already mentioned’. He replied, ‘Nobody saw me there; I’ll stand on any ID parade you like to put up.’ Mr Butler then said to him, ‘It may come to that. In the meantime enquiries are still in progress and we will see you later in the day.’ The interview was then concluded.

At 11.45 pm on Saturday 24 August 1963 with D/Chief Superintendent Butler I again saw Goody and Mr Butler said to him, ‘It has been said by you that on the 8 August 1963, the date of the mail robbery, you were in Ireland. I have now ascertained that you travelled by air to Belfast on the 2 August 1963 with your mother and a man named Knowles and stayed with a relative, but you returned alone on Tuesday 6 August 1963 leaving Knowles and your mother there. These two persons returned home on Wednesday 7 August 1963 and both travelling in the name of Goody’ – Goody interrupted and said, ‘Look, I am saying nothing more; I’ll have to see my mouthpiece; he will fit me up with something else’.

At 12.15 am on 25 August, 1963, Goody was released on the undertaking that he again returned to Aylesbury
p
olice
s
tation on Saturday 7 September 1963. He was taken to his home by police transport.
44

With apparently no fingerprint evidence against him, Goody was optimistic that his luck would hold. However, the police were convinced that he was not only involved but had played a major role in the commission of the crime. A key police informant had come forward and mentioned Goody by name, and had also given groundbreaking new information which was to open up a whole new angle for the investigation.

Notes

  
1
.  For Roger Cordrey it was a double irony, for he was one of the few robbers at Leatherslade Farm who had kept his gloves on for the full duration of the three days he spent at the farm. Indeed, when the exhaustive fingerprint search was completed by the police, no trace of any print belonging to Cordrey was found at the farm. Had it not been for his chance encounter with Emily Clarke he would most likely have evaded detection and arrest; DPP 2/3723, part 2 of 3 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

  
2
.  HO 287/1496 (originally closed until 1995; opened 1996).

  
3
.  DPP 2/3718, part 2 of 6 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

  
4
.  Before his arrest, Cordrey had given the Pilgrims £860 in £5 notes and Rene Boal £330 in £5 and £1 notes from his share of the stolen money.

  
5
.  HO 287/1496 (originally closed until 1995; opened 1996).

  
6
.  DPP 2/3717, Report 11(originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened on 25/6/10); DPP 2/3718, 1 of 6, part 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10); Inspector Roberts’s report appears on p. 258 of this file – the whole of the following page, 259, remains closed until 2045. McArthur’s report in DPP 2/3717/1 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10) is also redacted in respect to Charles Lilley, although an unredacted copy is to be found in POST 120/96 (closed until 1993; opened 1994).

  
7
.  POST 120/95 (originally closed until 2001; opened 2002). Without a definitive fingerprint report, a theoretical compilation list was the best that could be done at this stage of the investigation.

  
8
.  Henry George Pitts, of East Lane, Walworth, London SE, (CRO File 30286/51) – sentenced to an eight-year jail term in 1958, Pitts died of tuberculosis, aged 51, at Parkhurst Prison, Isle of Wight on 10 November 1962.

  
9
.  Michael David Kehoe, a car hirer of Barry Road, East Dulwich, London SE, (CRO File 20937/54) – eliminated as a suspect. A known associate of Anthony Thomas Lucraft (see note 16, Chapter 3), whose name had been mentioned by another informant in connection with other mail offences.

10
.  Terence Michael Sansom, a car dealer of Leighton Gardens, Kensal Rise, London NW (CRO File 34126/52) – eliminated as a suspect. Was found not guilty of the non-capital murder of James Hawney, a guard, after a £9,400 bus payroll hold-up in Wimbledon on 26 January 1961.

11
.  George Sansom (CRO File 10076/60), brother of Terence Michael Sansom – eliminated as a suspect.

12
.  Frederick Robinson, a car dealer of Holland Road, Willesden, London NW (CRO File 24078/39) – a string of robbery convictions stretching back to 1939. In January 1962 he was sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment for receiving money from a wages robbery at Lots Road Power Station, Chelsea on 17 August 1961 – eliminated as a suspect.

13
.  John Charles Cramer of Camgate Mansions, Camberwell Road, London SE (CRO File 21846/47) – eliminated as a suspect.

14
.  Hayden Francis Smith (CRO File 15918/58) – younger brother of Henry Thomas Smith – eliminated as a suspect.

15
.  William David Ambrose, a car salesman of Stepney, London – eliminated as a suspect.

16
.  Kenneth Shakeshaft, a club owner of Essendine Mansions, Maida Vale, London W (CRO File 15847/42) – eliminated as a suspect.

17
.  POST 120/96 (originally closed until 1993; opened 1994).

18
.  Michael (Mick) Regan was an associate of
s
outh London bookmaker and publican Frederick Foreman. See
Freddie Foreman: The Godfather of British Crime
(John Blake, 2008), chapter 7
ff
for references to Regan.

19
.  DPP 2/3919, part 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

20
.  POST 120/96 (originally closed until 1993; opened 1994) and DPP 2/3717, Report 16 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

21
.  The prospective buyer was Bruce Reynolds (see ‘Reynolds, p. 200
ff
).

22
.  DPP 2/3718/1 and DPP 2/3718, 1 of 6, part 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

23
.  DPP 2/3713, Report 16 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

24
.  DPP 2/3719, part 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

25
.  
Ibid
.

26
.  Terence Hogan (CRO File 38593/45) was a close friend of Bruce Reynolds over many years (see Reynolds p. 47
ff
). Both Reynolds and Piers Paul Read use the alias ‘Harry Booth’ when referring to Hogan in their respective books. See also ‘Crime paid for my privileged childhood’ by Karen Hogan (
Daily Mail
, 15 May 2011).

27
.  DPP 2/3717, Report 16 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

28
.  DPP 2/3718, 1 of 6, part 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

29
.  George Stanley was in fact born George Albert Sturley in Stepney, London on 11 July 1911 (Volume 1C, p. 645, Register of Births, Stepney Registration District, County of London). His role in these events will be explored later in this book.

30
.  Mac’s antique shop in Portobello Road, London W11 was owned by her husband. Both Bruce Reynolds and his brother-in-law John Daly claimed to be antique dealers operating from this address.

31
.  DPP 2/3718, 1 of 6, part 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

32
.  DPP 2/3723, 2 of 3 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

33
.  DPP 2/3723, 1 of 3 (originally closed until 2045, redacted version opened 25/6/10).

34
.  DPP 2/3717, Report 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10.

35
.  DPP 2/3718/1 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

36
.  Ibid; DSgt Nigel Reid admitted under cross-examination by Mr J.C. Mathew, Wilson’s counsel, that the officer did not have a search warrant. He justified this by stating that Wilson ‘had no objection to the search’.

37
.  
Ibid
.; Reid, however, perjured himself at the trial by stating under cross-examination by Mr Mathew that, ‘up to the time we arrived at Scotland Yard there was no decision to arrest Wilson otherwise he would have been cautioned’. Wilson’s fingerprints were the first to be identified and this in itself was the basis for publicly naming Wilson, Reynolds and White on 22 August. It is equally clear from DPP files that all three men were arrested on the strength of the recovered prints and not on an ad-hoc decision made as the result of searching his home. This is also confirmed by Commander George Hatherill. See George Hatherill,
A Detective’s Story
(Andre Deutsch, 1971), p. 202.

38
.  
Ibid
.

39
.  
Ibid
.; Butler’s report essentially confirms that Wilson was arrested on his instructions, which were issued before the Flying Squad officers left Scotland Yard. By Butler’s own admission, Wilson was not cautioned until the end of the interview.

40
.  Wilson was dubbed ‘the silent man’ on account of his reputation for saying little or nothing when under arrest. This was certainly borne out in the two robberies with which Wilson was charged prior to the train robbery, i.e. the London Airport robbery (November 1962) and the National Provincial Bank robbery in Clapham, London (August 1962) (DPP 2/3588, closed until 2045 at the time of writing). He was discharged on both counts. Lord Justice Edmund Davies commented on Wilson at the train robbery trial that, ‘No one has said less than you throughout this long trial. Indeed, I doubt you have spoken half a dozen words.’

41
.  The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) was specifically introduced to tackle police abuses, especially the practice of verballing, i.e. officers saying that a suspect had made some kind of admission when in fact no such conversation took place. PACE introduced a number of Codes of Practice: Code C governs the detention, treatment and questioning of persons by police officers. The code provides at C11.7 (a) that an accurate record must be made of each interview; in practice this means that interviews are now recorded.

42
.  Goody had been acquitted of the London Airport robbery by jury tampering (to ensure a failure to agree at the first trial) and by bribing a police officer to switch a key piece of evidence at the retrial (DPP 2/3588; closed until 2045 at the time of writing).

43
.  DPP 2/3717, Exhibits (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

44
.  DPP 2/3718, 2 of 6 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

F
or nearly fifty years, one question has remained unanswered: did someone tip off the robbers about the millions on board the train – was there an inside man at the Post Office who provided the intelligence and helped the robbers plan the crime? A team of highly specialised Post Office investigators were tasked by the postmaster general with determining whether or not the robbery had been, as he strongly suspected, an inside job. The Post Office case files on the robbery have remained closed for the best part of fifty years, but are now, in the majority of cases, open for the first time.