Ronnie Biggs 'suffers heart attack'

Great train robber Ronnie Biggs was in hospital after suffering a suspected heart attack, his spokeswoman said today.

Biggs, 73, was taken from Belmarsh prison to the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Woolwich, south London, where he is also being treated for pneumonia.

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

He had been held in the hospital wing of Belmarsh since he returned voluntarily to the UK in May 2001 – 36 years after escaping from jail and fleeing abroad.

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