Biggs will take case to human rights court

THE son of Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs said yesterday his father would go to the European Court of Human Rights within weeks after his case was dismissed in a British court.

Biggs' attempt to launch a last-ditch appeal against his 30-year jail sentence was dismissed in the British High Court, where a judge said it was "hopeless" and "completely misconceived".

Ailing Biggs, 74, has been held in the hospital wing of Belmarsh prison, southeast London, since he returned voluntarily to Britain in May 2001 36 years after escaping from jail and fleeing abroad.

He had served less than two years of the sentence imposed for his part in the infamous stg£2.6 million (3.7m) mail train heist in 1963.

Biggs had pinned his hopes of being freed from prison after applying to the Criminal Cases Review Commission to refer his sentence back to the Court of Appeal.

But the commission refused and Biggs then sought to challenge its decision in the High Court.

The case was listed for "disposal" yesterday.

No one appeared to represent Biggs and his case was dismissed by Mr Justice Jackson and Mr Justice Silber.

But the robber's son Michael Biggs said later that the case had been made impossible because his father could not get legal aid.

He said his father's lawyers were now drafting an application to the European Court of Human Rights.

He said: "The simple fact is that I can't pay for this battle.

"For some reason the legal aid board will not grant my father legal aid and it will not deny him legal aid this has been going on for more than a year.

"Paedophiles get it straight away, murderers get it straight away but, for some reason, Ronnie Biggs doesn't.

"My father would have had a better chance if he'd molested a child or killed someone.

"We will now go to the European Court of Human Rights where we might have a better chance.

"My father poses no threat to society. He can't read or write, speak, eat or drink and is fed through a tube in his stomach. It's still hard for him to walk.

"He shouldn't be in Belmarsh, where it's costing the taxpayer about £150,000 (214,000) a year to keep him.

"This is a travesty of justice."

One of Biggs' complaints in the case dismissed yesterday related to the disparity between his 30-year sentence and jail terms of between six years and 25 years imposed on his 11 co-defendants among them Bruce Reynolds, who received the 25-year sentence and who, in fact, served only seven years.