Weather Underground radical David Gilbert wins parole after 40 years in prison

Officials escort a handcuffed David Gilbert, second from left, from Rockland County Court (David Handschuh/AP)

Former Weather Underground radical David Gilbert has been granted parole after 40 years behind bars for his role in a deadly 1981 Brink’s robbery that was a violent echo of left-wing extremism born in the 1960s, the New York state corrections department said.

Gilbert, 76, has been imprisoned since shortly after the infamously botched armoured car robbery in which a guard and two police officers were killed.