Bruce Reynolds

Bruce Richard Reynolds ( born September 7, 1931 in London, † February 28, 2013 ibid ) was the leader of the gang of robbers, in 1963 the Great Postzugraub committed.

Life

Reynolds was born the son of a trade unionist and a nurse. He soon came into conflict with the law and had been the age of 17 for 18 months due to declines in jail. Over the years he rose because of its refined burglaries and assaults the leader of a " company " ( group of criminals ) and a small "star" in the London underworld. He led an increasingly complex lifestyle. Officially, he was usually as an antique dealer from Croydon to hide his life as a notorious criminal. His sporadic stays in prison in 1963 totaled almost a decade.

The raid on the mail train

On August 8, 1963 about Reynolds coincided with Ronald Biggs, Buster Edwards Ronald, Charlie Wilson ( " The Silent " ), Roy James ( " The Weasel " ), Thomas Wisbey, Robert Welch, Gordon Goody, James Hussey, Rodger Cordrey, James White and some unknowns at 3:10 clock in the morning the royal mail train from Glasgow to London. The train was brought to a halt at Sears Crossing in Ledburn, near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, by a manipulated train signal and 1.5 km further down to Bridego Bridge. One of the train robbers ( Edwards allegedly ) beat the train driver Jack Mills down that it was a concussion and a lasting trauma. Mills died seven years later from leukemia.

The booty consisted of 120 money bags with £ 2,631,684 (in today's value about £ 40 million or 48 million euros ).

While most participants were quickly caught and sentenced in 1964 to prison terms of up to 30 years, Reynolds appeared after the robbery under successful and fled through France to Mexico, where he also Buster Edwards and his family lived and to some extent for some years under a false name. On 8 November 1968 he was during a stay in Torquay, England, caught and sentenced in January 1969 to 25 years imprisonment. In 1978 he was released early. In 1984 he came again for alleged trafficking in hashish and amphetamines in jail, but was pardoned in March 1985.

Life after prison

Through his consulting work for the film Buster with Phil Collins in the title role (1988 ) Reynolds finally got access to the world of media and was soon popular guest on television. So he handed the 1998 TV Price Telestar Horst Tappert, who had 33 years before asking in The Gentlemen played it to the checkout. In addition, the well-read and cultured Reynolds operated as a lecturer, including the elite school Eton College and as a writer of movie reviews. In 1995 he published his autobiography ( Autobiography of a Thief ). He left in 2007 to conduct connected to a lie detector, in a series of Galileo Mystery to the mail robbery.

Reynolds last lived in modest circumstances in Croydon in South London and was supported by a charity. He died on the morning of 28 February 2013.

Quotes

"Crime pays? You must be mad. "

" Crime pays off? You have to be crazy. "