The Great Train Robbery (24 page)

15
.  DPP 2/3717, Report 4 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version released 25/6/10)

16
.  
Ibid
.

17
.  
Ibid
.

18
.  The Antecedent History of Brian Field, J82−245 (opened 1994).

19
.  
Ibid
.

20
.  
The Times
, 6 August 1958, p. 5.

21
.  DPP 2/2861 (opened 1991).

22
.  Solicitors Regulatory Authority; Wheater was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors of England & Wales in March 1949 and had formerly practised in partnership with Richard Lomer at 48 Beaufont Gardens, Brompton Road, Chelsea SW3 between 1956 and 1959. In 1959 he began practising as a sole solicitor under the name ‘TW James & Wheater' at 3 New Quebec Street, London W1.

23
.  Brian Hocking, Property Agent, Flat D, 4 Leinster Square, Bayswater, London W2 (CRO File 18147/55).

24
.  DPP 2/3718, 2 of 6 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version released 25/6/10).

25
.  BT 31/765560; 765622; 765633; 765634.

26
.  ASSI 13/658 (opened 1993), & DPP 2/3735 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 22/9/10).

27
.  BT 31/734607; In
Freddie Foreman,
t
he Godfather of British Crime
(John Blake, 2008), p. 154
ff,
Frederick Foreman describes how and why he set up the company under the aegis of his associate Derek Ruddell (also referred to in the book as ‘Ding Dong'). The company was dissolved on 11 August 1966.

28
.  MEPO 2/10571 (still closed at time of writing).

29
.  DPP 2/3718, 1 of 6, part 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

30
.  DPP 2/3718/1, part 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).

31
.  POST 120/95 (originally closed until 2001; opened 2002).

32
.  MEPO 2/10575 (still closed at time of writing).

33
.  By common consent today, Boal had no involvement in the robbery and was unknown to all those who participated in it with the exception of Cordrey (see Reynolds,
Crossing the Line
, pp. 203, 221 and 287).

F
ollowing the release of Gordon Goody on 25 August, the police stepped up their efforts to find something that might stick, something that would enable them to charge him. Two days earlier, on 23 August, a search had been conducted by DS John Vaughan at The Windmill public house in Blackfriars:

On the 23 August 1963, I went to the Windmill Public House, 17 Upper Ground, SE1, in company with Dr Holden. There I saw the licensee, Mr Alexander, who after brief conversation took me to the second floor front bedroom. There he said, ‘This is my daughter’s bedroom but she is away at the moment and Mr Goody is using it’. I said, ‘How long has he been using it?’ Mr Alexander said, ‘He is an old friend of mine and has been here some weeks.’

I said, ‘Whose property is this?’ Mr Alexander said, ‘All the male clothing is his’. He then opened the wardrobe and said, ‘Everything in here is his except my daughter’s clothes’. He pointed to a pair of shoes under the wardrobe saying, ‘Those are his’. He then indicated a pair of boots under the bed and a pair of slippers saying, ‘Those are his as well’. Then, pointing round the room he said, ‘All the rest of the male clothing, and the books and bag are Mr. Goody’s’. He then left the room. Dr Holden and I then commenced to search the room. I took possession of the pair of brown suede shoes, ‘True Form’ make size 10, which were under the wardrobe.
1

Interestingly, it would be nearly a month before any significance was attached to these shoes. On 28 August DC Keith Milner took custody of a partially squashed tin of yellow paint at Leatherslade Farm. While in his later statement he recalled seeing ‘this tin of paint on my first visit to the farm on 14 August and subsequent visits there’, he gave no explanation as to why he finally decided, on 28 August, to take the tin and hand it over to Dr Holden the following day.
2
A further three weeks passed before Dr Holden, in Milner’s presence, removed some yellow paint from the clutch and break pedal of a Land Rover at Leatherslade Farm, along with a sample of khaki paint on 19 September.
3

Scotland Yard also appear to have got it into their heads that Bill Boal was also one of the robbers. Unable to find any trace of his fingerprints at Leatherslade Farm, they set about securing alternative evidence of his guilt. As a result of an in-depth search of his Fulham home, three items were passed on to Dr Holden on 26 August by DS Price; a pair of knuckledusters, a blue jacket and a peaked cap.
4

DS McArthur was later to report that:

A jacket which was found at Boal’s house was also examined and a knurled knob of yellow paint was found in the right jacket pocket. This paint was the same colour and chemical composition as that found on Goody’s shoes. Dr Holden was quite satisfied that the shoes must have been at Leatherslade Farm.
5

As a result of Dr Holden’s conclusions, DCS Butler was now confident he could charge Goody:

At 2.50 pm on Thursday 3 October 1963, at Putney Police Station, with Chief Inspector Vibart, I saw Goody in the presence of Mr Brown of Lesser and Co solicitors. I said to Goody, ‘You know us both. Enquiries have now been completed in connection with yourself in relation to the mail robbery which occurred at Cheddington, Bucks, on the 8 August, 1963’. I showed him a pair of size 10 brown suede shoes by True Form, and said, ‘Would you examine these, as they were found in a room at the Windmill Public House, Blackfriars, where you were staying when you left for Leicester on the 22 of August this year. Are these your shoes?’ Goody examined them and said, ‘Yes, Mr. Butler, they are mine’. I said, ‘Have you ever loaned them to anybody?’ He replied, ‘Of course not’. I said, ‘You will recall being questioned regarding your visit to Ireland between the 2 and the 6 August, 1963. Would you now care to tell me how and on what date you travelled back?’ Goody replied, ‘My going to Ireland and coming back had nothing to do with what you’re enquiring about. It was all personal and certainly not incriminating’. I said, ‘Would you care to say what it was?’ He said, ‘Can I speak to my Solicitor alone?’ I told him that he would be arrested and charged at Aylesbury Police Station with being concerned with others in robbing a mail train at Cheddington, Bucks, on the 8 August, 1963. He was cautioned, and he said, ‘Yes, I see’.
6

With Goody in custody, there were now six suspects – Bruce Reynolds, Buster Edwards, Jimmy White, Roy James, John Daly and Bob Welch – who were effectively in hiding or on the run. While there were other suspects in the frame, police believed that they had enough tangible evidence to charge the six and DCS Butler now focused his manhunt on arresting them as quickly as possible.

Reynolds had gone to ground almost immediately, hiding out in London flats and safe houses. After he had been publicly named as ‘wanted’ on 22 August he had to move yet again. In December, Reynolds was almost arrested when a police patrol car spotted a ladder up against the first-floor window of the flat he and his wife were sharing above a dry-cleaning shop in Handcroft Road, Thornton Heath. Unbeknown to them, they had just been burgled. When the police rang the doorbell and asked to look over the flat they found a naked man in the bedroom. The woman who opened the door to the police officer explained that her husband was away and that the man in the bedroom was her lover. They had, she explained, been in bed when he rang the doorbell. The naked Reynolds gave a false address in Battersea and the two officers left. Only when they got back to the police station did they recognise him from a poster. By the time they raised the alarm and informed Scotland Yard, Reynolds and his wife were gone. After the flat had been raided and subjected to a fingerprint search, prints belonging to Roy James were found in the kitchen.
7
Reynolds had been lucky in more ways than one; the Thornton Heath area had been staked out for some weeks by Flying Squad officers who had information he was living in the neighbourhood. Had it not been for his unplanned departure they might well have eventually located him.
8

From Thornton Heath, the Reynolds moved to a house in Albert Mews in South Kensington where they stayed for six months until a new identity in the name of Keith Miller had been secured for him. He eventually flew out of the country from Elstree Aerodrome in June 1964 heading for Mexico via Brussels.

Reynolds had taken great care to arrange that the bulk of his share of the money was transferred to Switzerland and paid into a Zurich bank account. His brother-in-law John Daly was not so circumspect; according to DCS Butler: ‘Reliable information has been received here to the effect that Daly had split up his share of the proceeds of the robbery into three equal parts. One part held by (William) Goodwin, one by (Michael) Black and the third by a jeweler in the Folkestone district.’
9
Daly would later discover (to his cost) that, contrary to the old saying, there was in fact no honour among thieves.

Shortly after the robbery, a man giving his name as Grant (an alias Daly used while on the run) approached a number of boat yards in Cowes, Isle of Wight. Arthur Scardifield, a director of the Medina Yacht Company Limited, later recalled that:

About 6.00 pm on Friday the 9 August 1963, I know it was the Friday of Cowes Week, I was in my firm’s yard at Birmingham Road, Cowes, when I was informed I was wanted in the office. In the office I saw a man, aged about 50 years, 5’ 11”, average build, fairish hair – greying, clean shaven. He was wearing a darkish grey suit and carrying a camera. The suit jacket may have been lighter or darker than the trousers.

He told me that he had just come into the sum of £25,000 and that his friend, who was a Superintendent in the railway in South Africa, was retiring in January 1964, and together they wanted to purchase a boat – about a 9 tonner, and they were not worried about the price.

I then showed the man different types of brochures and we went into the various boats in detail. I then took him into the boat yard and showed him a number of boats, but unfortunately at that time I did not have any readymade ones for sale. I told him this and he said he was interested in getting one built. He took photographs whilst in the yard of the inside of boats.

The man later gave me his name as Grant of 83 Sloane Square, London, and told me he would telephone his friend and get in touch with me as soon as possible. I was with him for about an hour, and I gave him some brochures and my card.
10

On the same day, Grant visited FS Dinnis Ltd, Marine Engineers, in High Street, Cowes. The manager, Colonel Richard Stoney, told an identical story to Richard Scardifield. When he was shown photographs of the train robbers, he told the police: ‘As I remember him, his likeness would be to that of the man Ronald Edwards or John Daly, with a preference for Daly. I believe I would be able to identify Grant if I saw him in person.’
11

Daly had then headed for Margate in Kent. Information passed to DI Frank Williams indicated that Daly and his wife were staying at a boarding house in the town. Williams felt that door-to-door hotel enquiries would alert Daly and so adopted a more low-key presence in the town. Daly and his wife had in fact checked in to the Endcliffe Hotel, First Avenue, Cliftonville, where they stayed from 14 August to 26 August. According to the hotel manager, Roger Parr, they had with them an excessive amount of luggage and were in possession of a green Jaguar car.
12

According to DS McArthur’s investigation report:

… during their stay at the hotel they were joined for the nights 16 to 19 August by a woman who signed the register M Manson and gave her address as 301 Wheatland House, SE and on the nights 24 to 25 August 1963 by a man who signed the register J Bloor and gave his address as 12 Gribble Place, London E17.
13

On 26 August 1963: ‘Daly unexpectedly asked for his bill saying that his wife was experiencing pregnancy pains and that they should be getting home.’
14
‘I was to learn much later’ said DI Frank Williams, ‘that the publication of Daly’s photograph scared him and he fled from the hotel we had traced before we could get there.’

Daly now shrewdly decided to return to London where he could go to ground with the help of William Goodwin. He also resolved to radically change his appearance by growing a beard and shedding several stone in weight through a punishing diet of fish and slimming pills. Once he had lost weight his appearance was indeed transformed. On 8 November he left London with Goodwin and journeyed to the small Cornish village of St Juliot, near Boscastle, where Goodwin’s mother and niece lived in a house called ‘Endelstowe’. There, they buried a sum of approximately £100,000 under the vegetable garden at the back of the house. Goodwin told his niece, Audrey Sleep, that only three people were to touch the money: himself, Daly and Michael Black. Before burying the money, Daly gave Sleep £100 for looking after his newly born baby and took some money for himself to pay rent for where he was staying in London. Two days later, on 10 November, Goodwin and Daly were involved in a car accident at Cold Northcott on the A395. Their Ford Zephyr had been involved in a collision with some cattle. The car was badly damaged and a police patrol car was soon at the scene. Goodwin, the driver, identified himself with his driving licence, as did his passenger ‘Michael Blake’.
15
Daly’s new appearance totally fooled PCs Richards and Hancock. Later shown a photograph of Daly in the
Police Gazette
, both swore blind that ‘Michael Blake’ was definitely not Daly.

Daly then drove back to London with Goodwin in a hire car, where his wife Barbara was waiting. While DI Frank Williams heard talk that Daly was back in town, he had no indication at all as to where he might be or who might be sheltering him.