The Great Train Robbery of 1963 is one of the most infamous crimes in British history. The bulk of the money stolen (equivalent to over £40 million today) has never been recovered, and there has not been a single year since 1963 when one aspect of the crime or its participants has not been featured in the media. Despite the wealth and extent of this coverage, a host of questions have remained unanswered: Who was behind the robbery? Was it an inside job? And who got away with the crime of the century? Fifty years of selective falsehood and fantasy has obscured the reality of the story behind the robbery. The fact that a considerable number of the original investigation and prosecution files on those involved and alleged to have been involved were closed, in many cases until 2045, has only served to muddy the waters still further. Now, through Freedom of Information requests and the exclusive opening of many of these files, Andrew Cook reveals a new picture of the crime and its investigation that, at last, provides answers to many of these questions.

Definitive account of the famous 1963 Great Train Robbery - and its aftermath. In the early hours of Thursday 8th August 1963 at rural Cheddington in Buckinghamshire, £2.6 million (£50 million today) in unmarked £5, £1 and 10-shilling notes was stolen from the Glasgow to London nightmail train in a daring and brilliantly executed operation lasting just 46 minutes. Quickly dubbed the crime of the century, it has captured the imagination of the public and the world's media for 50 years, taking its place in British folklore and giving birth to the myths of The Great Train Robbery. Ronnie Biggs, Buster Edwards and Bruce Reynolds became household names. But what really happened? This is the story of four talented villains who took the criminal world by storm, of the 'perfect crime'. It is also the story of ruthless policemen, determined to hunt the robbers down and to make sure nobody slipped through the net, not even the innocent. It is the story of an Establishment under siege, and of one mistake which cost the robbers 307 years in prison. Fifty years later, here is the story set out in full for the first time, a true-life crime thriller, and also a vivid slice of British social history.

The amazing true story of one of Great Britain’s most notorious heists and the crack team that brought the perpetrators to justice. On August 8, 1963, a group of fifteen men dressed in military uniforms stopped the Royal Mail train running between Glasgow and London at Sears Crossing in Ledburn. The gang uncoupled the engine and first two cars, drove them to a different location, and then disappeared with one hundred and twenty mailbags containing more than £2.5 million in used banknotes. A number of books have already been published about England’s infamous Great Train Robbery, but until now, little has been written about the intensive police investigation and the intrepid team that hunted down the criminals responsible. In this riveting true crime chronicle, author, journalist, and former police detective Geoff Platt explores the execution and aftermath of the brazen criminal enterprise that British newspapers dubbed “the Crime of the Century.” He introduces readers to members of the elite Flying Squad organized by “the Old Grey Fox,” Det. Chief Superintendent Tommy Butler, and details step by step, the organization and execution of the massive police inquiry, and exposes the mistakes that hindered the robbers and the investigators alike. In addition, Platt compares the methods used more than fifty years ago with contemporary crime fighting and forensic techniques to explore how the same investigation would most likely be run today. A fascinating study of crime and detection, The Great Train Robbery and the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad shines a brilliant new light on a legendary act of audacious criminality.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Jurassic Park comes classic historical thriller about Victorian London’s most notorious gold heist. London, 1855, when lavish wealth and appalling poverty exist side by side, one mysterious man navigates both worlds with perfect ease. Edward Pierce preys on the most prominent of the well-to-do as he cunningly orchestrates the crime of his century. Who would suspect that a gentleman of breeding could mastermind the extraordinary robbery aboard the pride of England’s industrial era, the mighty steam locomotive? Based on fact, but studded with all the suspense and style of fiction, here is a classic historical thriller, set a decade before the age of dynamite—yet nonetheless explosive…

In 1981, Detective Inspector Satchwell was the officer in charge of the case against Train Robber Tom Wisbey and twenty others. The case involved massive thefts from mail trains – similar to the Great Train Robbery of 1963 where £2.6 million was taken and only £400,000 ever recovered. Thirty years later their paths crossed again and an unlikely partnership was formed, with the aim of revealing the truth about the Great Train Robbery. This book reassesses the known facts about one of the most infamous crimes in modern history from the uniquely qualified insight of an experienced railway detective, presenting new theories alongside compelling evidence and correcting the widely accepted lies and half-truths surrounding this story.

The theft of 120 mailbags from a travelling post office has been dubbed the crime of the century. Reproduced here are extracts from the report of Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary, which was submitted to the Home Office in 1964. At that time the investigation was still not complete: much of the #2.6 million had not been recovered and at least three of the robbers were still at large. A brief postscript covers the later arrest and sentencing of Buster Edwards, Bruce Reynolds and James White - and the re-arrest of Ronnie Biggs in 2001, 36 years after his escape from prison.