Great Train robber Biggs to marry in prison

GREAT Train robber Ronnie Biggs is to get married in prison today, a family spokeswoman said.

The 72-year-old former fugitive will tie the knot with Raimunda Rothen, the mother of his son Michael, 27, after proposing to her four times. Biggs, who partly paralysed after four strokes, has 28 years left to serve in prison for his part in the 1963 robbery.

He will get married at Belmarsh Prison in south-east London in a closed ceremony, said a family spokeswoman.

The service at 10am will be attended by Michael, his girlfriend Veronica and their daughter Ingrid, 2, plus a handful of guests.

Raimunda, 54, who currently lives in Switzerland, has visited Biggs several times since giving up his life on the run and returning to Britain in May last year.

She was said to be “extremely worried” about his ailing health and accepted his most recent proposal because she feared he was nearing the end of his life, said the spokes-woman..

The service will be conducted by the Rev David Powe, and Biggs’s solicitor, Richard Mallett, will also be present.

Biggs was part of a gang that ambushed a Glasgow-to-London night train in August 1963, escaping with £2.6m in cash.

He was caught and jailed, but escaped after 15 months and fled abroad, spending most of his fugitive years in Rio de Janeiro.

A Home Office spokeswoman would not comment on the wedding.