Calls to release Biggs on 'compassionate grounds'

Calls were growing tonight for ailing Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs to be released from prison on compassionate grounds.

Biggs, 74, who has already suffered a series of suspected strokes, was being treated in hospital for pneumonia and was being fed through a tube.

His son Michael, 29, said: “He was only ever a not-very-good thief who’s been straight now for over 30 years – how much punishment does this [British] government really think he deserves?”

Under Section 36 (1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 Home Secretary David Blunkett has the power to release prisoners on licence in exceptional circumstances when they have a short time to live.

Tonight, Labour MP Harry Cohen said Biggs, who still has about 25 years of his sentence to serve, should be released.

“I thought it was incredibly harsh to make him serve his full sentence,” he said.

“I think there are very strong medical and compassionate grounds and I think it’s very cruel to imprison him until he dies, I think it would be a very cruel State that does that.

“I have met his son, and his son would be his best carer, and I think he should be with his son in his final days.

“I know he was sentenced and he evaded that sentence but actually that was an incredibly harsh sentence he was given.

“He gave himself up and he has served a period in prison now and ill health is a major factor.”

He said it was “ridiculous” that Biggs was being kept in a high security jail.

“He is just a frail old man. When people are very frail and old, genuinely so, then I think the State should show a little bit of compassion in the last period.

“Ronnie Biggs isn’t a danger to anyone.”

Biggs was rushed from Belmarsh to the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Woolwich, south London on Tuesday night.

He was initially thought to have had a heart attack but doctors later said he was suffering from pneumonia and that may have caused his heart to beat differently.

Michael, who was at his father’s hospital bedside, criticised the Government for continuing to hold him at a high security Category A prison despite his ill health.

“My father is a very sick man and I have absolutely no doubt that the nature of his imprisonment has contributed greatly to this,” he said.

“To see my father so seriously ill and be unable to be with him is extremely depressing.”

He said Biggs cannot read or speak and was finding it difficult to breathe.

Looking drawn, Michael said: “I am very concerned. My father is still very ill.

“He left Belmarsh Prison with a suspected heart attack and as soon as he arrived they suspected pneumonia.

“He’s coughing a lot and not looking very well at all, he is still very weak and it is very concerning that he is still at Belmarsh Prison with his age and in his present medical condition.”

He said doctors were carrying out further tests.

“My father came back to close a chapter in his life. He is an Englishman who wanted to come home,” he added.

“It would be nice if the present Government was to show some compassion and at least take him out of a maximum security jail.”

He said that keeping his father in Belmarsh was costing the taxpayer more than £150,000 a year.

He said: “He can barely talk, read or write and he is fed by a tube inserted into his stomach. There is no reason to keep him in a maximum security prison, it is just a waste of taxpayers’ money.”

A spokeswoman for the hospital said that Biggs’ condition was “stable and comfortable”.

The Howard League for Penal Reform said it did not comment on individual cases.

But a spokesman said: “We believe that older people in prison should have the same access to medical facilities and specialist services for the elderly as older people in the community.

“If a prisoner is extremely ill they are unlikely to pose a risk to the community.

“We believe that if prisoners need specialist treatment or palliative care then they should be granted compassionate medical release.

“Older and extremely ill prisoners should be treated with dignity.”