My dad left me a dirty surname...and a lot of love

Michael tells of life as Great Train Robber's son

- DAN WARBURTON

To many, Ronnie Biggs will be forever remembered as a notorious villain, but for son Michael he was a doting dad who showered him with love.

And although a decade has passed since the Great Train Robber's death Michael told how the agony of the loss has not faded in that time.

On the 60th anniversary of the heist, the 48-year-old said: "When my father died I heard something I will never forget and it has helped me a lot... the pain never diminishes, you just get used to it.

"I still feel the same pain now that I did the day I lost him. It's the same for everyone who loses a loved one.

"There's not a day I don't miss him like mad.

"Memories are all I've got. My dad left me no money whatsoever, all I got was a dirty surname and a lot of love. That's what I carry with me now."

Biggs died in December 2013, aged 84.

He had spent more than 30 years on the run since escaping from South London's Wandsworth prison in July 1965, by jumping over the wall. He had served 15 months of a 30-year sentence for his part in the Great Train Robbery on August 8, 1963. The raid landed the gang £2.6million, believed to be around £50million today.

Biggs fled to Belgium then France, where he had plastic surgery and acquired a false passport.