The Great Train Robbery Read Online Free

along the corridor and were joined by two more waiters. But the six bandits barred the way to the guard’s van at the rear where two accomplices were steadily going through the mail. Bags were ripped open. A detective said: ‘They obviously knew what they were looking for.’
    Then the communication cord was pulled at Boxmoor. Night duty porter Peter George, of Ridgeley, Hemel Hempstead, said: ‘I had the shock of my life when I saw the Irish Mail train pulling up. There was a terrible hollering and shouting. I ran across the line and the guard, ticket collector and dining car men were tumbling out of the train. A couple of them had blood streaming down their faces and one yelled to the foreman to call the police.’
    Five of the train crew had cuts and bruises, but refused to go to hospital for treatment. Police sealed off surrounding roads. Patrol cars throughout the area – West Herts, Beds and Buckinghamshire – were alerted by radio. The mail van was taken off the express at Bletchley. After an hour’s delay the Irish Mail continued on to Holyhead – with Guard Owen, the dining car men, and local detectives. 14

    Was this the work of the same gang that had been planning the Woking hold-up? Was the Boxmoor raid carried out because it was obvious to the gang that the police were aware of their plan, or was it a completely different gang and its close proximity to the Woking tip-off a complete coincidence?
    C11 and certain Flying Squad officers were also, at this time, beginning to pick up word that a ‘big job’ was being planned by a specially assembled gang. Other than that, they had little to go on and resolved to keep their respective ears to the ground.
    As bold, calculating and successful as this raid was, sceptics at Scotland Yard doubted that this was the ‘big job’ that was apparently in the offing. While the Daily Express crime team were later told by the Flying Squad’s Peter Vibart that one of the mail crime gangs might be responsible for the Paul Street bullion job, so far as the paper was concerned it was only a theory and, if true, might suggest that this particular gang were now moving on to bigger things away from mail crime. However, the Daily Express , the rest of Fleet Street and, indeed, the general public were - unlike the Post Office IB and Royal Mail security - blissfully unaware of how much money was actually being transported around the country by the Post Office, particularly by train. According to the IB’s own official figures, the Post Office was carrying over £4,000 million a year at this point in time. 15
    The Brighton line raids, while being characterised by cunning, boldness and a good degree of technical know-how, seemed somewhat hit-and-miss in terms of sums stolen, which tended to suggest that the inside knowledge they had was not so precise as to be able to target trains carrying the major sums of money. If the Brighton line gang was behind the aborted Woking job, this at least suggested that they were now, by early 1963, better able to identify targets. However, at this stage there seemed to be little awareness by Scotland Yard, the British Transport Police or the IB as to the identities of those who had taken part in any of the hold-ups or attempted hold-ups. Although a number of individuals had been brought in for routine questioning over a three-year period, nothing conclusive was ever discovered. 16 Despite previous IB warnings, and indeed the Woking tip-off, TPO security was still somewhat lacking to say the least. For the likes of C11’s Chief Inspector Walker and George Hatherill, head of CID, the question now was whether or not one of the mail crime gangs was planning the ‘big job’ and, if so, where and when they would strike.
    Notes
       1 .  POST 120/95 (originally closed until 2001; opened 2002).
       2 .  POST 120/90 (originally closed until 1985; opened 1986).
       3 .   Ibid .
       4 .  POST 120/93 (originally closed until 1985; opened