The Great Train Robbery (26 page)

His finger and palm prints were taken by Detective Sergeant Van Dyck at Cannon Row Police Station. He was searched and a car key was found in his possession. He was asked if he had a car and he said, ‘Yes, a red Cortina, it is parked in the road where you stopped me’. Mr Butler said, ‘Is it yours?’ He said, ‘A friend of mine hired it for me in his name’. Mr Butler said, ‘Who is this friend and why didn’t you hire the car yourself?’ He replied ‘I don’t want to say’.

At 3 pm the following day, Mr Butler and I saw Welch at Cannon Row Police Station. Mr Butler said, ‘As a result of the complete information we now have, you will be taken to Aylesbury Police Station and charged with being concerned with others in robbing a mail train at Cheddington on the 8 August 1963’. He was cautioned and said, ‘All right’.

He was taken to Aylesbury Police Station where he was formally charged with two offences. The charges were read over to him and he was cautioned and replied, ‘I have nothing to say’.
31

When questioned at Cannon Row, Welch had been asked about the police search of his home on 14 August. A paid hotel bill for £19 7
s
0
d
made out to a Mr Richards by the proprietors of the Flying Horse Hotel, Poultry, Nottingham had been found in a sideboard. When the bill was examined for fingerprints by Dr Holden, a print identified as that of James Hussey was found on it. According to the hotel records, five men who gave false London addresses had stayed there on the night of 22 May 1963. Although the hotel receptionist picked out only one man (James Hussey) in an identification parade held at Aylesbury Police Station on 20 November 1963, the IB believed that Reynolds and Welch were among the other four men. The IB speculated that the journey may have been connected with meeting a post office or railway informant. A male caller (thought to be Reynolds) had again contacted Midland Marts Ltd in Bicester (the agents for Leatherslade Farm) on 24 June using the name Mr Richards.
32

In Welch’s statement he explained the matter directly:

I want to state straight away that on 22 May 1963 I was one of five men at the Flying Horse at Nottingham, although I have not been identified and there is nothing sinister about this visit nor was it in any way connected with this case. We gave false names it is true because we were attempting to get black market Cup Final Tickets, and had already got some from Manchester the day before.
33

DCS Butler was somewhat sceptical of Welch’s story, particularly on the matter of the black market FA Cup Final tickets for the Manchester United v Leicester City game.
34

When Welch had been interviewed back in August he had given a detailed statement of his movements on the 7-8 August, and named Charles Lilley
35
and Jimmy Kensit
36
as being with him on those two days. While Lilley had confirmed this in a separate statement made after he had been taken to Scotland Yard for questioning, police had not been able to locate Kensit. However, two weeks after Welch’s arrest, DI Frank Williams finally succeeded in making contact with Kensit:

At 12.05 pm on the 7 November 1963 I received a telephone call at New Scotland Yard from James Kensit. I know Kensit and recognized his voice. He said to me, ‘I understand you wish to see me because Robert Welch has said he was with me about the time of the train robbery.’ I replied, ‘Yes, I do’. He then said, ‘This is not true, he is taking a liberty, but you must see my point that I cannot make a statement about it and I am not willing to see you. I have been in touch with Lincoln and Lincoln and told them what I have told you. They are upset because I will not support Welch.’ I tried to persuade Kensit to see me about this matter but he absolutely refused to meet me. I then recorded my conversation with him as a message.
37

For much of the previous week, Flying Squad officers had been carrying out observations on a property where they were assured they would find Harry Smith. DS Slipper recorded that:

Enquiries led me to 496 Barking Road, Plaistow. Numerous observations were kept on the house, even to the extent of borrowing a GPO hut and van which were placed opposite the premises for two days, but Smith was not seen, although Mrs Wade and the children were seen on many occasions. It was then considered that Smith might be on the premises and afraid to go out. As a result, a search warrant was applied for and executed on 4 November 1963 but again proved fruitless.

Mrs Wade, who was at home, was very abusive and stated that she had no money and Smith was living rough, but in her purse was found ninety-three £1 Bank of England notes. When questioned about this money she claimed to have won it at a local Bingo Hall, which she refused to name. This money was taken possession of and the numbers checked against the stolen notes, but none was found to be identical. In a pram was found the Deeds of the house. These showed that on 7 October 1963 it was sold to Daniel Patrick Regan, CRO No 217/47, an associate of Smith.
38

Throughout this period, Frank Williams was also liaising on a regular basis with contacts of Buster Edwards, who he thought might be persuaded to give himself up.

Edwards had not returned to his home at 214 St Margarets Road, East Twickenham, where after the robbery he and his wife June lived under the aliases of William and June Green. Edwards instead went to a Richmond hotel; his wife stayed on at the St Margarets Road flat for a few days while she sought out a new home. On Monday 12 August, Edwards telephoned Philip Tookey, the estate agent for the property. Tookey recalled that Edwards:

Said that he wanted to give a month’s notice and wanted an inventory checked out at 11.00 am on Thursday 15 August 1963. I told him that it was by far too short notice and that I could not let him have the key as he wished after the inventory had been taken. I asked him what the panic was over and at first he said that he was going on holiday and then that he was leaving the country and going to Persia.
39

When Tookey visited the flat on 19 August he found that the family had ‘moved out with all their possessions, leaving the flat fittings and furnishings in good and clean order’.
40

The couple and their daughter Nicolette (Nikki) had by now moved to Old Forge Crescent, Shepperton, where they rented a house from a geologist for twelve guineas a week. Not long after they had moved in, a neighbour’s babysitter locked herself out of the house, along with the 3-year-old child she was looking after, and went to the Green’s home for help. Edwards used a stepladder to try to open the neighbour’s first-floor window, but the ladder was too short. The neighbour later knocked on their door and asked Mrs Green if she could personally thank Mr Green. She was told, however that Mr Green was out.

On 12 September, a police poster showing a photograph of Buster and June Edwards was published. Within twenty-four hours the police had received a phone call from a neighbour in Old Forge Crescent who gave them the address of Mr and Mrs Green, who so much resembled Mr and Mrs Edwards.

The police immediately raided the house, only to find that ‘the Greens’ had hurriedly moved out only hours before the publication of the photographs. They had apparently left in a red Morris 1100 that was found abandoned by the police in Ealing the following day. It seems highly likely that a police officer had tipped off Edwards, thus allowing him to escape.
41

So far as the police and IB were concerned, the trail now went cold. As they would discover over two years later, the ‘Greens’ had in fact moved a comparatively short distance to ‘Sunnymede’, a house in Wraysbury, Buckinghamshire, which they rented for £20 per week and which backed on to the River Thames.
42

Within two months of the move to Wraysbury, an incident occurred that police later believed had been a blind to convince the authorities that Edwards had already successfully managed to flee the country. Since the date of the robbery, the police and the coastguard had been observing sea ports for any suspicious activity or vessels. During December, their attention was directed towards a 5-ton motor yacht named
Christine
, which was owned by a 30-year-old
s
outh London garage proprietor, Edward Anderson, who was thought to be an associate of Buster Edwards. When the yacht was reported missing at sea on 3 January 1964 after sailing from Ramsgate, there was immediate concern that its disappearance had something to do with the train robbery money.
43

According to police observation reports, Anderson had taken the yacht down the Thames on 18 December to Margate, where he discovered it was taking on water. He therefore sought out John Halmes, a marine engineer, who took it to his yard in Ramsgate for temporary repairs. When Anderson said he intended taking the yacht back to London for permanent repair, Halmes strongly advised him not to and loaned him a large barge motor pump in case he got into any further difficulties prior to seeking a permanent repair.
44

Immediately the yacht was reported missing, helicopters, planes and lifeboats searched relentlessly off the south-east coast but the only trace of the vessel found was an empty rubber dinghy tied to a buoy 7 miles north-east of Broadstairs. Edward Anderson, like
Christine
, had also disappeared.

Percy Hoskins of the
Daily Express
had picked up the story from Scotland Yard sources at the outset and immediately went about investigating the lead and the fate of Anderson. Three weeks later, on 24 January, Anderson was found by
Daily Express
reporters in Dublin. Somewhat tight-lipped, he said that he had not sailed with the yacht but that his friend Dennis Bassett had gone to sea in her with two other men. He also implied that the disappearance of the boat, and indeed his flight to Dublin, was in some way connected with the train robbery.
45
Three days later, Bassett’s body was washed up off the Belgian coast. It was identified and brought back to England, where notice of an inquest was immediately given. Despite being tracked down by the
Daily Express
, Anderson gave an exclusive interview to
The People
newspaper shortly after.

On Sunday 1 March, Ken Gardener of
The People
printed a full statement given to him by Anderson. The newspaper apparently considered the story so important that it took the front page, taking precedence over the previous day’s Innsbruck air disaster in which eighty-three Britons were killed.

According to Anderson’s statement, the yacht was carrying two of the train robbers and £1 million in banknotes. He had only broken his silence because he was in fear of his life. ‘I am dead scared that my fate will be the same as Danny Bassett’s,’ he said,’I know too much.’ Anderson claimed that a few days after Christmas a friend phoned and asked to see him urgently. When they met he asked Anderson if he would like to earn £5,000 by taking a few parcels over to France. The yacht was to cross the
c
hannel and rendezvous off the coast with another boat that would take the parcels.

He was later told that he would take two passengers who would bring the parcels and transfer with them to the other boat 8 miles off Dunkirk. After various delays for repairs to
Christine
, he fixed the sailing day for 2 January. Shortly after 11 p.m. that night, a man came aboard carrying two large suitcases. A second man, carrying a large canvas holdall, arrived shortly thereafter.

Anderson at once recognised them from police posters. One of them said to him, ‘I suppose you know all about it, Eddie. I’ll be glad when all this is over and done with.’ He said that his wife was ‘on the other side’ and indicated that a car would be waiting to take him to her when he landed in France at dawn. Anderson asked if he had the money. The man replied by bending down and snapping open the fasteners on one of the suitcases. The lid flew back to reveal a case tightly packed with £5 notes. Anderson asked if the other bags were also packed with notes. He had responded: ‘What do you think?’

Ken Gardener reported that Anderson then apparently made a sudden decision to back out. ‘Well, I’m not coming with you,’ he said to Bassett. Then he grabbed his holdall of personal belongings and jumped from the yacht on to the quay. Bassett and the others shouted after him but nobody attempted to follow. ‘That was the last I saw of my yacht the
Christine
,’ said Anderson.
46

The police were by no means convinced that his story held together. How, for example, could two men have carried £1 million worth of notes aboard in two suitcases and a canvas holdall? Such an amount of money would have weighed between 400lbs and 500lbs. When the inquest on Bassett began at Dover, Anderson gave a more detailed account. He claimed that the passenger he recognised as being one of the men wanted in connection with the train robbery was Buster Edwards. ‘I recognised him straight away,’ he told the coroner. ‘I have met him in the past. He was wearing dark glasses as a disguise and he had lost a lot of weight. He went below and Bassett poured him a drink.’ Edwards told me, ‘You know what it’s all about Eddie. We are the package.’ Anderson described how Edwards opened one of the suitcases and produced a large wad of notes, mostly in £5 notes. But when the coroner asked him if Edwards had told him some of the money was for him, he refused to answer on the grounds that he might incriminate himself. While the story seemed plausible on the surface, the coroner was sceptical. The police eventually took the view that it was a well-planned decoy.
47

On 3 December, as a result of information received, Flying Squad officers raided flat 65a Eaton Square, where they found and arrested John Daly. Frank Williams had been aware for a few weeks that Daly was holed-up in a flat somewhere in Belgravia. He hardly left the address, apparently, and on the rare occasions he did, he was disguised as a City gent. When the definitive information as to Daly’s address was received, DCS Tommy Butler and DI Frank Williams were deputed to carry out the arrest. Other officers were brought in for support and to cut off possible lines of escape in the back garden and surrounding streets.