The Great Train Robbery (25 page)

In contrast, Williams was beginning to make progress in his search for Bob Welch, who had gone missing from his home some weeks earlier:

Welch had disappeared from his usual haunts. Through snippets of information we later uncovered his movements. He stayed at the Harbour Lights Hotel in Mevagissey from 30 August to 8 September when he left for the Headland Hotel in Newquay. The reservation had been made by Charles Lilley who had booked in on 2 September with his wife and daughter. Welch stayed in Newquay until 13 September.
16

The IB’s R.F. Yates describes the events that followed:

During early October I was told that some of the suspects in this case were staying at an isolated farm near Beaford, Devon and that over £200,000 of the stolen money was being held there or at a bank in the area.
17
In discussions with Chief Superintendent Butler, I undertook the task of trying to establish directly who were at Beaford, the vehicles used and habits of the suspects and I sent an IB team to Devon, together with IB radio sets. The villages were small and the risk of being spotted was, therefore, great. However, the IB officers took a Sub-Postmaster, his wife and a postman into their confidence who quickly established some basic information as regards descriptions of strangers and car registration numbers. Patient and continual observation from remote points, coupled with efficient radio communication, then enabled these suspects to be followed to important spots including Exeter and Barnstaple and they were identified as:-

By examining records at the local telephone exchange, the IB fixed the group’s arrival at Beaford House as being approximately 17 September. From that date, regular calls were made by the suspects from telephone number Beaford 305 and a tap was placed on the line.

According to the IB’s log of calls, the majority were made to their home addresses back in London and to
s
outh London bookmakers, where bets were placed. However, looking at the list of calls, three in particular stand out. The day after their presumed arrival, 18 September at 9.06 a.m., a call was placed to Lincoln & Lincoln solicitors in Armitage Road, London NW1.
19
The call apparently lasted for three minutes and seven seconds. Later in the afternoon, at 4.38 p.m., a call was placed to Whitehall 1212, lasting for two minutes and one second. Just over an hour later, at 5.58 p.m., a further call was made to the same number that lasted for six minutes and two seconds. Unlike the other calls logged in the report, no destination name or address appears opposite Whitehall 1212. The number is, in fact, the telephone number for Scotland Yard. Why would one of the five men make two calls to the Yard shortly after arrival? According to Welch, he had fled to Devon as the result of a tip-off from a police officer that the net was closing in. Was the call placed to this officer at the Yard or is there an alternative explanation?
20

On 7 October Yates reported further details about the farm:

Beaford House is a country house standing in its own ground of approximately five acres 1½ miles from the village of Beaford. The property lies back from the approach lane well concealed by trees. The owner occupier of the property, Mr LW Wickett, purports to be a farmer, but in addition he and his wife run Beaford House as a residential country guest house and it is thought that they derive the greater part of their income from this source. There are numerous outbuildings associated with the property but it has nevertheless been established from observations that the guests park their vehicles on the forecourt in front of the house. Prior to taking over Beaford House two years ago, Mr Wickett was a farmer at Holsworthy, Devon, and he does in fact still bank with the Holsworthy Branch of Lloyds Bank Ltd. Mr Wickett is the owner of a green Ford Consul motor-car Index No 897 ADV.

The suspected offenders in this case were using a white Ford Consul motor-car Registration 587 AYE which is believed to be registered in the name of Lilley. During the course of the observations four of the suspected offenders were seen in the Exeter and East Devon Districts. Mr Sturm was not seen at any time.

The four suspects were frequent visitors of the Globe Hotel in Beaford where Messrs Boniface and Petrie are the joint landlords. It has been learnt that the suspects drank lavishly at the Globe and that the landlords were frequently embarrassed by having to change £5 Bank of England Notes.
21
The suspects were exceedingly generous in the village and the local vicar has been heard to comment that he had never known such a remunerative harvest festival. The landlords at the Globe are known to bank with Messrs Lloyds Bank at Torrington. A brother of Mr Boniface was a former Police Officer in the Brighton Constabulary where he was believed to have been an Inspector.

Whilst at Beaford House Lilley and Welch enjoyed the local country amenities to the full, eg fishing and hunting etc. They were however accepted by the local population with some reserve and casual remarks had been passed that they could have been concerned in the Mail Train Robbery. From observation it was noted that of the five suspected persons, one always remained at Beaford House during the periods when the party went shooting in the woods.

It was later speculated in a Flying Squad report that, ‘The house commands an extensive view of the woods. This may be one of the main reasons for one man always remaining in the house. With a pair of binoculars he could, from an upstairs window, see strange persons in the vicinity of the woods and warm his confederates. One is forced to the conclusion that the men have a cache of stolen money somewhere in the woods.
22

IB officers in Devon sent regular reports to IB controller Clifford Osmond, who liaised directly with DCS Butler:

At 8.00 am on Friday 11 October 1963, I left Exeter, equipped with short range wireless, bound for the Winnleicth area via the A377 and B3220 roads. I reached the area shortly after 9.00 am.

At 1.05 pm from my concealed vantage point, I saw an off-white Ford Consul index number 587 AYE moving very fast along the B3220 on the direction of the A377. I followed at a discreet distance until I reached a telephone kiosk at the junction of the B3220 and A377 where I stopped to telephone and inform Mr Bond, the time then was 1.20 pm.

I then continued to Exeter where I established radio communication and was instructed to continue observation on foot. At 2.50 pm I was outside Lyons café in company with other officers when I saw four men leave, three of the men I believe to be R A Welch, CRO 61730/57, Daniel Pembroke, 27206/56 and R C Harvey, 1196/51, description of the fourth man 5’ 7” in height, thick set build, broad shoulders, greying hair and full faced, aged about 40 years, wearing a light blue sweater.
23

It was during this observation that large rolls of £5 notes were first observed on the suspects:

I kept the four men under observation until they reached the entrance of the car park at Central Station. The time then was 2.55 pm. I next saw the men leave the station car park in 587 AYE and I followed them to St David’s Station, which was reached at 3.00 pm. A few minutes later I was in the telephone kiosk which is situated in the booking hall and was about to telephone Mr Bond when the four men entered the booking hall. I saw Harvey purchase a ticket and obtain three platform tickets from the appropriate machine. He re-joined the group who were near the kiosk and I could see the man wearing the blue sweater had a roll of £5 notes in his hand. There appeared to be some friendly banter about the notes and I saw the man jokingly offer them to Welch, who jokingly pretended to accept them. The notes, however, did not exchange hands and I heard Welch exclaim amid chuckles, ‘They are only worth three pence a-piece now’. I saw the men go on to the station but made no attempt to follow them.
24

DCI Frank Williams believed that the earlier tip-offs he had received from informants about large sums of stolen money being with the five suspects was verified by IB reports such as these:

I believed the time had now come to raid the farm. I felt certain that none of the other members of the train gang was going to use it and at least we could catch Welch and recover some of the money. It was reasonable to assume, through the free spending, that a substantial part, if not all, of Welch’s £150,000 share was there.
25

Apparently, Williams was overruled by DCS Butler, and no raid was authorised by Scotland Yard. However, Williams’s belief that at least some of the money had been banked in Exeter seems to be confirmed by an IB observation report from 11 October:

At 2.25 pm the man in the blue sweater detached himself from the rest of the group and went into the Midland Bank, Queen Street. He remained in the Bank until 2.35 pm when he left and proceeded to Lyons Café in High Street where he rejoined the group. At 2.55 pm the four men returned to the parked vehicle and drove to St David’s Station. They reached there at 3.00 pm and remained in the car for some minutes conversing.
26

An IB report from L.V. Fowler to Clifford Osmond on 17 October describes one of a number of shopping expeditions undertaken by the party while in Devon:

On entering Exeter some 15 minutes later Mr Bowerman and myself observed 587 AYE to be parked in Goldsmith Street. I left Mr Bowerman to park his car and proceeded on foot to the Exeter shopping centre. At 5.30 pm I observed Mr D Pembroke to leave the outfitters shop at ‘Lillywhites’ in the High Street and cross the road into ‘Horne Bros’ on the opposite corner. As I looked into this shop I saw Mr C Lilley descending the stairway leading from the first to the ground floor of these premises. I am unable to say what purchases these two men made in Exeter.
27

The following day IB Officer E.J. Hattersley observed the return to London of two of the five men and reported back to Clifford Osmond:

At about 5.40 pm the white Consul drove past me in Paul Street where it was held up in traffic. I observed the four occupants to be Mr Harvey (driving) who was wearing dark clothes, Mr Welch sitting next to him, with Mr Lilley and Mr Pembroke in the rear passenger seat. The car then turned left into Queens Street in the direction of St David’s Station, to where I proceeded on foot ... I then obtained a platform ticket to Platform 5, where the 6.00 pm Exeter to London train was waiting. I then saw Mr Lilley and Mr Welch standing on Platform 5 talking to someone in the train. Observing the two men to be standing directly outside a Gentlemen’s Toilet, I proceeded to the toilet where I could see the two men in the train to be Mr Harvey and Mr Pembroke. I then left the Station and entered the observation van (43CLY) which was parked opposite the white Consul (587 AYE). At about 6.07 pm I saw Mr Lilley and Mr Welch leave the Station and approach their car.
28

Frank Williams continued to pick up information about Welch’s movements:

We heard from another informant that Welch was to travel to London one evening to meet his brother.
29
This meeting was to be at London Bridge Railway Station. I briefed my team and we set ourselves up, out of sight, near the station. I saw Welch come from the station, meet his brother, and they both walked towards our waiting car. We had a team of five men in the area, two waiting in nondescript cars and others strolling casually in the street. As Welch opened the door of the car we pounced. He stood absolutely still with a look of blank astonishment on his face. He was dumbfounded and had difficulty in speaking when I told him who I was.
30

At about 8.50 pm on Friday 25 October 1963, I was with Detective Sergeant Van Dyck in Railway Approach, London Bridge, SE1, when I saw Robert Welch. I said to him, ‘We are Police Officers, what is your name?’ He replied, ‘Robert Welch, what’s the trouble?’ I said, ‘I intend to take you to New Scotland Yard in connection with enquiries into the robbery at Cheddington, Buckinghamshire, in August of this year’.

He replied, ‘Do you mean the train job, I don’t know anything about that, I don’t even know Cheddington’. He was put into a police car and on the way to New Scotland Yard, I said to Welch, ‘Where are you living now?’ He said, ‘The same place as when I was pulled in about this last time. He was taken to New Scotland Yard where I introduced Detective Chief Superintendent Butler who said, ‘Enquiries are being made into the train robbery at Cheddington, Bucks on the 8 August of this year, and I have reason to believe that you were concerned’. He replied, ‘I don’t know anything about it, I’ve never been to Cheddington’.

Mr Butler said, ‘Do you know a farm called Leatherslade Farm which is near a village called Oakley in Buckinghamshire?’ He replied, ‘No, I’ve never been there’. Mr Butler said, ‘Have you ever been in the locality of Leatherslade Farm which includes Brill, Bicester or Thame or Waddesdon?’ He replied, ‘No, I don’t know that part of the country at all and never been there’. Mr Butler then said, ‘I am going to mention some names to you and I want you to tell me if you know the persons, Bruce Reynolds, John Daly, Roy James, Ronald Edwards and James White’. He replied, ‘No, I don’t know any of them people’. Mr Butler said, ‘A number of persons have been charged with this case, do you know any of them?’ He replied, ‘I’ve been following the case in the papers, the only two I know out of that lot are Wisbey and Hussey.’ Mr Butler said, ‘How do you know them?’ He replied, ‘Through spieling’. Mr Butler said, ‘How do you get a living?’ He said, ‘I’ve just told you, for the last three years I’ve been spieling, before that I was in the club game’. Mr Butler said, ‘An appointment was made by me to see you with a legal representative on the 25 September last, but you failed to keep it. Enquiries made by other officers and myself show that you were not living at home, can you explain that?’ He replied, ‘I didn’t think it was urgent. I was about though’. Mr Butler said, ‘Where?’ He said, ‘No, I’m not saying where, look I’ve already made a statement about this’. Mr Butler said, ‘We know that, but I believe the contents are untrue. You will be detained pending the result of further enquiries. He was cautioned and said, ‘If you say so’. Mr Butler said, ‘Do you want your solicitor informed?’ He replied, ‘No; the morning will do’.