I still fear for my life
FARMER WHO HELPED CATCH THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERS:
THE farmer who helped to nail the gangsters behind the Great Train Robbery still fears for his life 55 years on.
John Maris, 89, revealed his family received death threats for years.
The dad of two said: “From the day after my face was on the front page of every newspaper I had letters threatening me and some of them were definitely from the robbers themselves.
“My wife received a letter with my name on and a picture of a coffin on it.
“My children had to travel 16 miles to school so it was quite a traumatic time.”
The Maris family had their lives turned upside down when John became a key witness in bringing to justice the 16-strong gang.
They had escaped with £2,595,997 of cash from a mail train in August 1963. Today, the haul would be worth £50m.
Heist mastermind Bruce Reynolds referred to the attempt as his Sistine Chapel ceiling, but he hadn’t accounted for alert John.
As soon as police asked the public for information on the runaway gang’s whereabouts, John grew suspicious of activity at nearby Leatherslade Farm near Oakley in Buckinghamshire, inset, five days after the crime.
He reported unusual vehicles coming and going to the police. Evidence found at the farm helped pin down the men responsible and John’s witness statement in court was key to the final sentencing. But his good deed, which saw him hailed a national hero, backfired.
Along with sending him death threats, supporters of the robbers tricked their way into his home and recorded an interview with him in an attempt to undermine his testimony. The plot resulted in him being arrested for perjury but he was eventually cleared.
The retired herdsman said: “For 18 months I was under constant pressure. Every time the train robbers were mentioned, my wife became ill over the shock.”
John wrote My Encounter With The Great Train Robbery: How I Became A Marked Man in the early 1970s but has only now given publishers the go ahead to release it – two years after his wife Grace died. He said: “My wife had suffered enough with trauma without me putting the book out. “It’s been a case of keeping a low profile for 55 years. There’s a possibility if my wife was still alive the book would never get published.” John said the ordeal was also tough on his children but he has never regretted going to the police.
He added: “They were 11 and 12 at the time – it must have been terrible for them to think Dad’s gone off to work and we don’t know if he’s coming back.”
Twelve men were convicted for robbing the mail train travelling from Glasgow to London and were given a combined sentence of 307 years behind bars. Bobby Welch, 89, is now the only surviving train robber.