www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/10/ukcrime-brazil

Old and decrepid Ronnie Biggs must be left to rot in prison at the taxpayers expense.

Why should he be let off the hook? Because he's ill??? He stuck 2 fingers up at the UK for years. If you cant do the time..etc

The main question to be considered when deciding if a prisoner should be released is whether they pose a continued threat to society. In the case of Biggs he clearly doesn't. So, is it in the public interest to keep in jail at the expense of "tax payers money".

There has to be some logic and sensitivity in all legal judgements. To rigidly apply the letter and ignore the spirit of the law is a sign of an uncivilized society.

Personally I feel Ronnie should have been released ages ago; there is no decency, kindness or tolerance in humanity any more and as we sow, so shall we reap.

sticking 2 fingers up at Britain is hardly a crime. His real crime is that he stuck 2 fingers up at the establishment and that is never forgiven. (mind you-we never actually found out who is was that organised the robbery..always said to be someone very important)

30 years ?..you don't get that for murder..except for the Kray twins who got life for one murder each.

Ronnie should have been given an award by Fleet Street-he must have sold millions of newspapers for them, including the pontifiacting Daily Mail.

he'd done 10 years-he would normally be eligible for parole.

Whatever happened to his son who was in Menudo with Ricky Martin ?

Biggs was a terrible man who's actions permanently disabled the train driver of the train involved. That said there is no advantage in keeping a man in jail that is very old and severely ill, particularly when he came back to Britain of his own accord.

Nobody forced him to come back. He should have stayed in Brazil where he chose to live

Who says the "main question" when asking if someone should be kept in jail is if they are still a threat to the public? That's not true, it may be part of the evaluation but that is but one part of it. Many other factors come in to play. Biggs escaped justice for a very, very long time. He was living the life of riley with stolen money while innocent hard working people struggled. Then he became sick. He returned to the UK to get treatment, paid for by the hard working and law obiding tax payers. When Biggs is released how will this save the taxpayer money? After years of being nothing but a liability is this man going to do a hard days graft to earn his way in the world? I highly doubt it. The first place he would go is the benefits office.

Other factors that come into play are the seriousness of the crime and the fact he was guilty of it. Justice and punishment needs to be made. He escaped it for so long, and had many years of good life that he should not have done, as he should have been behind bars for this terrible crime. I don't care if he dies in prison!

granted Biggs was no angel but he came from an era and culture that was riven with corruption.

Biggs didn't actually cosh the driver did he ?

One of the reasons he gave for wanting to return home was that he was missing the "green fields" of England though when he actually saw them was a mystey and he must have known he would be banged up immediately.

However the establishment has been tough on many like Biggs and the originally sentence was so long what sane man wouldn't break out if jail ?. And jails then (and now) were government sactioned cesspits.

Justice must be tempered with mercy or you keep sliding down the road where an innocent Brazillian electrician gets blasted to death and no-one is punished.

Well said veritas.
I personally think he's done enough time for the crime,especially when you look at how long the origional sentence was,very excessive by modern standards.
He's paying the price for embarrising the system for sure.A police thug is filmed attacking a man who died soon after,and he's not even taken into custody.If justice is what this is about then thieving is given 30 years,while punching and killing a stranger in a supermarket cue is only worth 4 years?
Be a lot cheaper to pay the man a pittance of an old age pension,than the amount we spend on prison charges.Especially if he's having to go to hospital,and the costs of transport and guarding are added.

Who says the main question? I say the main question. I'm not talking about official procedures, I was speaking from a personal point of view.

From what I understand, Biggs played only a minor part in the train robbery, and it was not him who attacked the train driver. His worst crime seems to have been to escape from prison and successfully escape re-capture. Whether he is in prison or not he will still be receiving medical treatment funded by the "hard working and law abiding tax payer".

I'd just like to point out that AL is not me (Al).

veritas wrote:
granted Biggs was no angel but he came from an era and culture that was riven with corruption.



what a load of old drivel.