Victims of the Great Train Robbery

August 8 1963 — Jack Mills (far left), the driver of the Glasgow to London Royal Mail train, and his secondman (assistant) David Whitby (left), both from Crewe, are brutally attacked by members of the 15-man Great Train Robbery gang. Just after 3am, Mills stops the train on the West Coast Main Line at an unexpected red signal light — the robbers had covered the green light and connected a battery to power the red light — at Sears Crossing, Ledburn. Whitby climbs down to call the signalman from a line-side telephone, but finds that the cables had been cut. As he returns to the train, he is overpowered by one of the robbers. Other gang members enter the engine cabin from both sides. Mills puts up a fight, but is struck from behind with a cosh and left semi-conscious. The robbers get away with £2,595,997. A reward of £260,000 is offered for the detection of the gang. A tip from farm worker John Maris leads police to Leatherslade Farm near Oakley, Buckinghamshire, where they find mail bags and … several fingerprints, including some on a Monopoly board and a ketchup bottle. Most of the offenders and their accomplices, aged between 27 and 69, are tracked down and brought to book. Trials, escapes and pursuits make headlines for many years. Less than £400,000 is recovered. Mills is unable to return to work and suffers constant trauma headaches until his death of leukaemia on February 28 1970 at age 64. Whitby is able to resume his job, but never recovers from his ordeal and dies from a heart attack on January 6 1972, 18 days before his 35th birthday.