The Great Train Robbery (38 page)

Percy Hoskins, the crime editor of the
Daily Express
, also later recalled that a certain senior Scotland Yard officer had called at his Park Lane apartment and over a drink divulged off-the-record that a senior Royal Mail officer was strongly suspected of being the man mentioned in Hoskins’s 20 April 1964 story speculating about the ‘inside man’. According to the information given to Hoskins:

The man had joined Royal Mail in Belfast twenty or so years before, had worked his way up through the ranks and eventually moved to England after the war where he settled into a quiet middle class suburb in south London.
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Hoskins’s informant had added that the man now held a key post in Royal Mail security, and had written down his name and address on the strict understanding that the brief background information he had given Hoskins would only ever be used in a story if the man in question were to be arrested. Hoskins knew that he had no legal grounds for a story of any kind, but his curiosity, if nothing else, had to be satisfied.

One Wednesday a few weeks after his conversation with the Scotland Yard officer, Hoskins took the train to Beckenham Junction and walked a short distance to the ‘pleasant tree lined road of spacious semi-detached houses’ where the man lived with his wife and mother. It was the middle of the day and Hoskins (rightly) sensed that the man would be at work. When he knocked at the smart bay-windowed house, the wife opened the front door and Hoskins spoke to her for a few minutes on a pretext.

This man certainly fitted the bill in every sense, but was he really the man who had, on several occasions, supplied top-grade information to a gang of criminals, albeit through an intermediary? He was apparently a popular and outwardly honest man who was spoken of most highly by his superiors and colleagues.

One mystery surrounding Brian Field was eventually solved by Tommy Butler. While the appeal hearings were in progress he had received information suggesting that:

... the persons who deposited the bags and the cash at the spot were Brian Field and his father. We were informed that this action had been taken because (a) Wheater’s (and therefore Field’s) part in the affair was under active investigation, and (b) because Karen Field insisted upon its removal from her house, where Brian Field had taken it. Therefore, at the Appeal Court, shortly after the conclusion of that part of the proceedings involving Brian Field, I saw Field senior and inferred in general terms that he might have something to impart to police concerning the money found in the woods. He declined to discuss the matter, but was patently fearful.
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Six months later, Butler received further information to the effect that a visit to Brian Field’s father, Reginald Field, in the near future would probably lead to a full disclosure of what had happened. Butler therefore visited Reginald Field’s home at 141 Constance Road in Whitton, Middlesex on 9 February 1965 with DS Nevill. Apparently, after some hesitation, Field made a full written statement:

I Reginald Arthur Field wish to make a statement. I want someone to write down what I say. I have been told that I need not say anything unless I wish to do so and that whatever I say may be given in evidence.

I am the father of Brian Arthur Field who is at present serving sentence. I can’t be certain of the exact date but one day in August 1963 I came home from work sometime about 6.30 pm and went into my garage. There are two doors but I do not use a padlock on them. I keep the doors shut with a bolt. I don’t know exactly when it was but on the weekend before the Bank Holiday Monday my car was struck by another vehicle whilst I was stationary in the kerb. It was somewhere the other side of Guildford. There was a lot of damage to the car and I could not drive it away. It was towed to a local garage the name of which escapes me. The matter was reported to the police because my wife had to be taken to hospital as she had slight concussion. My car was a Hillman index No MP 4393. Because of this fact when I came home on the night I have mentioned there was no car in my garage. The garage is normally kept in a very tidy condition because I like to put my hands on anything I want.

I went into the garage to get a piece of wood I had left there. The garage lies to the back of the house and there is a driveway to the street. On opening the door of the garage I saw on the floor at the back of the garage one case and three bags. There was one holdall, an embossed leather case, a brief case and a round leathery sort of hat box. I had not been into the garage for several days so I don’t how long they had been there. I naturally went and looked into them and found that they contained money. The money was done up in separate bundles tied with brown paper bands. I immediately realized that this must be money to do with the train robbery which was reported in the papers at that time. I had no idea how it came to be in my garage. I decided that the best thing to do was to get rid of it as soon as possible. As I had no car I had to give the matter a lot of thought because there was too much to carry. Eventually I thought of Gordon Neal who lives in Blandford Avenue and who had grown up with my son. I told him that I had found some money in my garage which I felt sure had come from the train robbery and asked if I could borrow his car to go and get rid of it. Gordon volunteered to drive the car for me. I put the money in the car and we drove out to Dorking where I threw the money out of the car and we continued our journey and came home. I feel sure that I dumped the money at about 11 pm on the night before it was found at a place I know to be Leaf Hill, Dorking. I got out of the car and threw the money into the woods. I want to get this off my chest as it has been playing on my mind for a long time and it has been making me ill. Now I have told you about it I wish to God I had done so before. I feel as though I can have a good night’s sleep now it is over and done with.

I have read the above statement and I have been told that I can correct alter or add anything I wish. This statement true. I have made it of my own free will.

(signed) R A Field
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Butler and Nevill then sought out Gordon Neal who corroborated everything Reginald Field had said and made a statement as such. Butler’s conclusions, in light of the new disclosures, are outlined in a report to Commander Hatherill:

The amount found leads one to strongly suspect that it is not the total share awarded to Brian Field for his participation in the offence. It therefore follows that someone diverted a portion of it prior to dumping that found in the wood. Although there is no evidence to prove it, there are firm grounds for believing that Brian Field accompanied his father and Neal to Dorking. His presence would have probably been insisted on by both.
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When Brian Field was released from prison in 1967 he changed his name and identity and promptly disappeared without trace. A decade later he died in a motorway accident. The truth about the Ulsterman and Field’s other secrets died with him.
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So far as the legacy of the robbery and the sentences handed down to those involved was concerned, it undoubtedly contributed to an upsurge in armed robbery during the following decade. The net result is probably best summed up by
s
outh London gangland boss Eddie Richardson:

If they could be given thirty years for when they weren’t carrying guns, what was the point in not being armed? Guns reduced the risk of being caught, and if you did get caught, they couldn’t give you longer than thirty years. There was nothing to lose.
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Notes

  
1
.  POST 120/102 (originally closed until 1996; opened 1997).

  
2
.  POST 120/95 (originally closed until 2001, opened 2002); DPP 2/3735 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 22/9/10).

  
3
.  Percy Hoskins Papers.

  
4
.  MEPO 2/10571 (still closed at time of writing).

  
5
.  
Ibid.

  
6
.  
Ibid
.

  
7
.  Brian Field changed his name by Deed Poll to Brian Mark Carlton. He died on 28 April 1979 (Register of Deaths 1979, Registration District of Hounslow, Entry No 232).

  
8
.  Eddie Richardson,
The Last Word
(Headline, 2006), p. 108.

Sir, The sad death of Mr Mills, driver of the diesel in the Mail Train case, frees me from a promise I made to him some five years ago, of which the convicted men are fully aware. It also allows me to comment on the identity of the man who injured him.

When I interviewed Mr Mills on, I think, the actual diesel used in the raid, I asked him whether it was true, as the robbers maintain, that his worst injuries resulted from a fall and not from the blow to the head. To this he replied with some hesitation, ‘if I tell you something, will you promise not to write it in your paper? They hit my scalp and it bled a lot but when I stumbled, I caught my head
here
’ – and he indicated the curved steel dashboard which runs under the driver’s window. ‘They say this was the bad injury.’

I said: ‘Why did you not tell the court this and why did you not repeat what I believe you said early on to a reporter, that they treated you “like a gentleman”, which at least suggests that they had not meant so much violence? It would not have made any difference to their
guilt
but it might well have made a difference to their
sentence
. Why did you not tell the court the whole story?’

He became very agitated and said: ‘Oh, please do not ever repeat this as I have been warned that my pension would be affected if this came out.’ Well, I did not betray his confidence during his lifetime, though the robbers have often asked me to, since it corroborates the fact that they had not intended serious violence – something which could not be said in court because of their plea; and I did not, in view of my husband’s involvement in their defence, think it proper to ask by whom the threat about his pension had been made.

Nor can I say what was the medical view, other than what was given in evidence, of when his leukaemia developed. I did, however, offer him, through the then Public Relations Officer to Midland Region, a consultation with a leading neurologist and sufficient time in the National Hospital to ensure that everything possible had been done. This he refused, to my lasting regret. He was a brave and pleasant man and everyone is sad about his fate, including Parkhurst. But who struck the fatal blow? All those in the ‘know’ in the underworld (and certainly the convicted men themselves) maintain that it was a man who was never on trial but who slipped through the net. This they have never said openly during Mills’ lifetime, lest, if the man were charged, he might be recognised by the driver, who heard him speak. This, if true (and there is reason to think it is), is surely the supreme irony of the thirty-year sentences.

I am, Sir, yours sincerely

PETA FORDHAM

4 Paper Buildings, The Temple, EC4
1

‘Leukaemia with complications due to bronchial pneumonia was the cause of Jack Mills’ death. I am aware that Mr Mills sustained a head injury during the course of the train robbery in 1963. In my opinion, there is nothing to connect this incident with the cause of death.’
2

The three vehicles found abandoned at Leatherslade Farm were as follows:

A new Land Rover bearing false index plates BMG 757A. It was light blue in colour but over-painted khaki. The vehicle was later identified as having been stolen from Oxenden Street, London, WC1 between 7.30 pm – 11 pm, 21st July 1963. The vehicle when stolen was fitted with a radio set. The radio set was still in position, attached to the dashboard of the vehicle when it was recovered.

An ex-War Department Land Rover bearing index plates BMG 757A. This vehicle passed through the auction of ex-War Department Vehicles at Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, on 2nd July 1963, and was sold to a London motor dealer, trading in the name of Cross Country Vehicles. The Vehicle had been re-sprayed a deep bronze green [by] the purchaser. Cross Country Vehicles re-sell their vehicles to the public through the medium of advertisements in the Exchange and Mart. On 26 July, Cross Country Vehicles received a telephone call about the vehicle and as a result two men called at Cross Country Vehicles. One of them who gave the name Bentley agreed to purchase the Land Rover for £195. The vehicle was registered and allocated the number BMG 757A. On 1 August 1963, Bentley telephoned Cross Country Vehicles, was given the number, and called to collect the vehicle with the registration number plate on either 3 or 4 August 1963. He signed the duplicate receipt for the vehicle ‘F Wood pp C Bentley’. Bentley was later identified as James E White CRO 26113/55.

An Austin Goods Platform Truck bearing false index plates BPA 260. This vehicle when found was dark green in colour with the front and cabin crudely over-painted yellow. It was traced as having passed through the auction of ex-War Department vehicles on 24th April 1963, and was purchased by D A Mullard & Company Limited, Government Surplus Contractors of Edgware. They re-sprayed inside and out olive green. This vehicle was purchased from D A Mullard & Company Limited by a man giving the name of F Blake, 272, Kenton Lane, Middlesex (false), for £300. On 30 July 1963 Blake collected the vehicle, saying he had registered it. He had no index plate with him and chalked a registration number on the original blanks. This number could not be remembered. A man similar to Blake and referred to as ‘Jimmy’ by a second man was directed to Mullards by H & A Motors of Edgware. ‘Jimmy’ later returned to H & A Motors and said that he had bought a lorry at Mullards. ‘Jimmy’ has been identified as James E White, CRO 26113/55.

The false number BPA 260 referred to a Ford car. This vehicle was broken up by a scrap dealer in Gloucester two or three years ago. The Road Fund Licence displayed on the lorry relates to a vehicle VJD 35. The licence was stolen from this vehicle at Warner Place, London, E2 between 7.30 pm, 29 July 1963, and 2pm 30 July 1963 and was reported to police at Bethnal Green on 30 July 1963.
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