How Ronnie Biggs Escaped a British Prison — And Lived Free for 36 Years

0:00 The Wandsworth Prison escape 1:47 Ronnie Biggs before the robbery 3:11 Planning the Great Train Robbery 5:29 Evidence, arrest and the 30-year sentence 7:14 The rope ladder breakout 8:44 Life on the run through Australia and Brazil 11:07 Ronnie Biggs becomes a Brazilian folk hero 16:03 Return, death and the legacy of Ronnie Biggs I follow Ronnie Biggs from a daring escape over Wandsworth Prison’s wall to the decades he spent as Britain’s most famous fugitive. I explain his troubled early life, his connection to Bruce Reynolds, the Great Train Robbery, and the evidence that led to his arrest and 30-year sentence. I also look at the escape plan, the impact on Jack Mills, and how Biggs crossed Europe and Australia before reaching Brazil. I trace how Brazil’s laws kept him free, how he became a tourist attraction and folk hero, and why he eventually returned to Britain. Finally, I consider whether Ronnie Biggs was a lovable rogue, a violent criminal, or both.