The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Biggs in V-sign parting shot at funeral
Farewell: Floral wreath in shape of two fingers
Some of Britain’s most notorious criminals paid tribute to Ronnie Biggs as the Great Train Robber’s funeral took place, his parting message being a floral wreath in the shape of a Vsign.
When he was last seen in public, at the funeral of robbery mastermind Bruce Reynolds, Biggs had stuck two fingers up at journalists. The same salute was immortalised in white flowers laid at the back of his hearse, alongside a Union flag and the flag of Brazil, where Biggs spent many years as a fugitive from British justice.
Ronald Arthur “Ronnie” Biggs, who spent more than three decades on the run, was cared for at Carlton Court Care Home in East Barnet, north London, after suffering several strokes in recent years. It was there that he died last month, at the age of 84, and carers joined mourners for the service.
His funeral procession, with a guard of honour formed by 13 Hell’s Angels bikers, travelled from his son Michael’s home, through the streets of north London and finally finishing at Golders Green crematorium.
There, relatives and friends including former gangstersFreddieForeman and Dave Courtney, gathered in the pouring rain to say their own farewell and watched as the hearse entered the gates accompanied by the London Dixieland Jazz Band.
Some sent flowers, including Charles Bronson, one of t he country’s longest-serving prisoners, who sent a bouquet containing an old 10-bob note with the words “Ronnie Biggs RIP” scrawled across it.
Biggs’s remains were brought into a packed-out chapel as the band played slow tunes, mourners clapping and reaching out to touch the coffin, which was topped with a hat and a red- and- white Charlton Athletic scarf, as it went down the aisle.
His son Michael cried as he paid homage to his father, during the service, saying: “Dad always had a way of looking at things and saying something that was fair and often funny, nevermadeenemies and in Brazil he embraced the culture and became a carioca, someone from Rio.”