The Great Train Robbery (14 page)

At just before 12 noon on Wednesday, 21 August, 1963, in company with Detective Chief Inspector Baldock, I saw a woman I know as Mrs McDonald and her solicitor, Mr Stanley, at New Scotland Yard.
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Chief Inspector Baldock said, ‘As you probably know, we wanted to see you in connection with the train robbery at Aylesbury’, and following this, he put a number of questions which I recorded in writing, together with the answers she gave. Mrs McDonald signed the document after it had been read over to her in the presence of the solicitor. The solicitor then left.

At about 2.30 pm the same day, I left New Scotland Yard with Mrs McDonald, accompanied by Detective Sergeant Moore and Woman Detective Constable Willey, and went to Mrs McDonald’s address at 4 Wimbledon Close, The Downs, Wimbledon. During the journey in the Police car, Mrs McDonald said to me, ‘Do you remember me? I was at Judge in Chambers and saw you there when Billy Still applied for bail. Do you know that he’s applied two or three times and it was up again a few days ago? I’m glad he didn’t get bail otherwise I knew he would have been in the Aylesbury job with Reynolds. I cautioned her and she said nothing further.

We arrived at the address, and I searched the flat. During the course of the search I was in one of the bedrooms with Mrs McDonald when she said to me, ‘I’m scared stiff about this. I saw my solicitor on Monday first thing and he kept me there all day, and then advised me to hide until he’d sorted it all out’. I reminded her of the caution, and said to her, ‘What exactly do you mean by that remark?’ and Mrs McDonald said, ‘Just what I’ve said, now what is going to happen to me?’

I said to her, ‘Your shop and all your other accommodation is going to be searched, and then you will be taken to New Scotland Yard.’
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The search was completed at the flat and shop, and a warehouse at 18 Thornton Road nearby, and then we returned to New Scotland Yard, where she was detained. Later that evening Mrs McDonald was again seen by Chief Inspector Baldock and I. Mr Baldock said to her, ‘You will be detained overnight and tomorrow morning you will be taken to Aylesbury Police Station, where you will be charged with receiving the sum of £833, knowing the same to be stolen’. She was cautioned, and said, ‘I’ve got nothing to say.’
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With the results of the fingerprint work of DS Ray now becoming available, a debate began at Scotland Yard as to how to proceed.
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George Hatherill’s view, which was supported by Flying Squad chief Ernie Millen, was to immediately publish photographs of the wanted men and their wives via posters, newspaper releases and television news bulletins. However, other senior Flying Squad officers such as Tommy Butler and Frank Williams were opposed. They felt that such a move would drive the suspects underground, making it harder to track them down. Despite their objections, Hatherill and Millen decided to press ahead. On 22 August photographs of Bruce Reynolds, Charlie Wilson and Jimmy White (along with extracts from their CRO files) were published and the police manhunt began.
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This was an almost unprecedented move for the police and underlined the unchartered territory the investigation was now entering. There were also concerns at the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) that this move might be viewed in some quarters as prejudicing a fair trial.

The Flying Squad’s first target was Wilson, who, unlike Reynolds and White, was still going about his normal, everyday business. Wilson’s name had been one of the first that came forward from informants during the first forty-eight hours after the robbery. C11 believed that he had connections with a number of criminals in the East End of London, such as Harry Smith, whom he had worked with, as well as West London criminals that included Gordon Goody, Bruce Reynolds and Ronald Edwards. C11 believed that Wilson, Goody and several others had been involved in a robbery at the National Provincial Bank in Clapham on 14 August 1962. No evidence to prove Goody’s involvement had ever been obtained and Wilson, although charged, was found not guilty when the case came to court. Also found not guilty was a close associate of Wilson’s, Joseph Hartfield. The Flying Squad were therefore keen to interview Hartfield, a steel fixer, of 1 Isabella House, Cottington Street, London SE11 as part of their enquiries.

DS McArthur’s report refers to Wilson’s arrest:

On 22 August 1963, Charles Frederick Wilson, CRO 5010/54, aged 31 years, a greengrocer of 45 Crescent Lane, Clapham, London, SW4, was arrested. At 12.55 pm Detective Sergeant Nigel Reid of the Flying Squad, New Scotland Yard, was waiting at Wilson’s home, when Wilson entered.
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According to Reid’s report, Wilson:

… came into the house shortly after we arrived. I told him that we were police officers. I asked him to wait in the sitting room of his house until Inspector Byers returned. At about 20 minutes past one, Inspector Byers came into the room. He said to Wilson, ‘Are you Charles Frederick Wilson?’ Wilson replied, ‘Yes that’s right.’ The Inspector then said, ‘I am Detective Inspector Byers of the Flying Squad and I want to see you in connection with the mail train robbery. You know the one the Press have been writing about which took place at Cheddington.’ Wilson replied, ‘I know what you mean. I’ve never been there. I understand about it.’ The Inspector then said, ‘Although you’ve never been there, I want to search your house. And I want you to accompany me to Cannon Row Police Station for further enquiries to be made’.

Inspector Byers and the other officer left the room and started to search Wilson’s house. Wilson remained with me in the living room at the front of the house. As we were there he switched on the record player and after a while he said to me, ‘Can you tell me the strength of this?’ I said, ‘I can’t as we are only carrying out instructions to bring you in for further enquiries to be made.’ He said, ‘You are taking me in then? It must be something strong for you to do that.’ He said nothing more which was relevant. Soon after that Inspector Byers and the other officers came back after having searched the house. I and the other officers took Wilson to the Police Station. Just as we were coming from the living room to the passage of Wilson’s house, he turned and shouted to his wife who was through in the kitchen, ‘Ring him won’t you’ and she answered, ‘You bet’. I got into a police car with Inspector Byers and Wilson and some other police officers. As we were on the way Inspector Byers said to Wilson, ‘You are going to Scotland Yard and not the local station because this is a big job.’ Wilson said, ‘What put you on to me? Not as though you would tell me.’ Inspector Byers did not reply. A short while afterwards Wilson said, ‘I didn’t think you would.’
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It is significant that this thorough search of Wilson’s home was carried out without a search warrant.
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Neither was Wilson cautioned, either at his home or in the police car taking him to Scotland Yard.
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The ‘other officer’ Reid referred to was DS John Vaughan. His statement gives precise details about the nature of the search carried out at 45 Crescent Lane:

In the first floor rear bedroom, from a wardrobe, I took possession of a pair of black crepe soled shoes ‘John White’ make, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of Police issue trousers. In the ground floor lounge, from the rear of a cushion where I had seen Wilson sitting, I took possession of a key. I also searched the garden at the rear of the house, and from the remains of a bonfire situated in the centre of the garden about eight feet from the rear of the building, I took possession of pieces of burnt cloth and also samples of the ashes and soil of the bonfire. The same day I handed the shoes, two pairs of trousers, pieces of burnt cloth, and the remains of bonfire to Dr Holden. I also handed the key to Chief Superintendent Butler.
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On arrival at Scotland Yard, Wilson was interviewed by DS Tommy Butler:

On the 22 August 1963, at 2.50 pm, in company with Chief Inspector Baldock, I saw Charles Wilson detained in the cells at Cannon Row Police Station. I said, ‘I’m Chief Superintendent Butler and this is Chief Inspector Baldock. On my instructions you have been brought here in connection with the mail robbery at Cheddington, Bucks, on the 8 August, 1963. From my enquiries I have reason to believe that you and other persons are responsible for this offence. Do you know Cheddington in Buckinghamshire? Wilson replied, ‘No, I have never been there in my life’. I said, ‘Do you know Leatherslade Farm, near Oakley, Buckinghamshire?’ Wilson said, ‘No, I have never been there in my life, but I have read about these places in the newspapers’. I said, ‘Would you care to tell me where you were on the morning of the 8 August, 1963?’ Wilson replied, ‘I was in Spitalfields Market. I left home about 5 am’. I said, ‘Have you any receipts or proof of business done?’ Wilson replied, ‘No, they don’t give receipts. I saw a few friends there though’. I pointed out the location of Leatherslade Farm and its surroundings. Wilson said, ‘Yes, I have seen it all in the papers. I’m telling you, I have never been there in my life. Nobody can say I have’. I said, ‘Are you quite certain that what you are saying is correct, because I have reason to think it is not’. Wilson replied, ‘You obviously know a lot; I have made a ricket somewhere, but I’ll have to take my chances’.

I said, ‘You will be detained and taken to Aylesbury Police Station, where you will be charged in being concerned with others in robbing a Travelling Post Office train at Cheddington on the 8 August 1963. Wilson was cautioned, and he said, ‘I don’t know how you can make it stick without the poppy and you won’t find that’. Later, Wilson was charged and formally cautioned at Aylesbury Police Station, and replied, ‘Not guilty, that’s all’. Just prior to having his fingerprints taken, I said to him, ‘I understand that you have an interest in a greengrocery business at High Street, Penge, which is run for you by someone else; what do you sell there?’ I cautioned him and he replied, ‘Fruit and vegetables, of course’. I said, ‘Do you sell any tinned goods?’ He replied, ‘No, I don’t think so’. I said, ‘Don’t you know what you are selling at the shop?’ and he replied, ‘I think we sell a bit of tinned fruit, that’s about all’. I said, ‘Do you sell groceries of any type?’ He replied, ‘No nothing like that. Why are you asking me? You can go there and see for yourself.’
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Wilson flatly denied making the now famous quote about not knowing ‘how you can make it stick without the poppy’. This quasi-admission was certainly totally out of character for Wilson.
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So-called ‘verballing’ (i.e. fabricating quotes used in police statements) by police officers was relatively common at this time.
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This was not the first occasion on which a suspect’s home had been searched without a warrant. Although no fingerprint evidence had been found at the farm to incriminate Gordon Goody, and although his details were not included in the 22 August police media appeal, he remained on the suspects list due to his known association with some of the other suspects. The week before officers searched Charlie Wilson’s home without a warrant, they had searched the home of Goody’s mother, again without a warrant. Goody took this as a sign that the police were determined to nail him and dropped out of circulation. He moved into an old bolt-hole above the Windmill Public House in Blackfriars. On the day of Wilson’s arrest, Goody borrowed the landlord’s car and set off for Leicester, by way of the M1, to meet a girlfriend. Before leaving he wrote a letter addressed to a police officer who had been involved in the London Airport robbery the previous year:
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22/8/63

Dear Sir

No doubt you will be surprised to hear from me after my double trial at the Old Bailey for the London Airport Robbery.

At the time of writing I am not living at my home address because it seems that I am a suspect in the recent train robbery. Two Flying Squad officers recently visited my home address whilst I was out, and made a search of the premises and honestly Mr Osborne, I am now very worried that they connect me with this crime. The reason I write to you now is because you always treated me in a straight forward manner during the Airport Case. I will never forget how fair and just yourself and Mr Field were towards me.

That case took nearly eight months to finish and every penny I had, and to become a suspect in the last big robbery is more than I can stand.

So my intentions are to keep out of harm’s way until the people concerned in the train robbery are found.

To some people this letter would seem like a sign of guilt, but all I am interested in is keeping my freedom.

Hoping these few lines find you and Mr Field in the best of health.

Yours faithfully

D G Goody
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The car broke down in Cranfield, near Bedford, but Goody eventually got to Leicester in a hire car. While staying at the Grand Hotel, he was ironically mistaken for Bruce Reynolds (whose photograph had been in the papers that morning) and the Leicester police were called. Goody was taken to Leicester police headquarters to await the arrival of Chief Inspector Peter Vibart of the Flying Squad, who reported:

At 3.15 pm on Friday, 23 August 1963, in company with Detective Sergeant Read, I went to Leicester City Police Headquarters where I saw Douglas Gordon Goody. I said to him, ‘I am assisting in enquiries regarding the mail robbery which occurred at Cheddington, Buckinghamshire, on 8 August 1963. Where were you at about 3.00 am on that night?’ He replied, ‘I was about’. I said to him, ‘Have you ever been to Leatherslade Farm at Brill in Buckinghamshire’, and he replied, ‘That’s a funny old question, is he (pointing to D/Sergeant Read) all right, have you been to the Windmill and seen Alexander because it was his car I had when I was having it away. I have been staying there since they turned the “Old Lady” over’. I then said to him, ‘I know you were using his motor car when it broke down in Bedford and that you later travelled to Leicester by hired car to meet a Miss Perkins but why were you using the name of Alexander and his vehicle? You have two motor cars, a Jaguar and a Ford Zodiac of your own’. He replied, ‘Did you see the smudges in the paper? I wouldn’t have got a hundred yards in mine. I thought if I was with the bird it would take the dairy off’. I said, ‘Are you telling me you were implicated in the mail robbery because known associates of yours are now wanted for interview?’ He replied, ‘Look. I was away out of it over the water on the Green Isle so you can’t fit me in’. I said, ‘Do you mean you were in Ireland on the 8 August 1963?’ He replied, ‘I am not trying to be awkward but I am not saying where I was as alibis are alibis, Mr Vibart.’ I then said, ‘Would it not be a simple matter to tell me where you were on the 8 August as you are aware a great deal of publicity has been given to the mail train robbery’. He replied, ‘I had to get away for a month or two as the smokes empty. They’ve all had it away so what could I do? - stand around and mow the lawn till you came and laid bands on me, so I borrowed the car and phoned the bird; I borrowed a “flim” from her. I am skint, what do you think I buried it?’ The interview was then concluded.