'Great Train Robber' dies

British criminal Ronnie Biggs, best known for his role in the 1963 Great Train Robbery, has died aged 84, the Press Association has reported.

Biggs was part of the gang which escaped with £2.6m from the Glasgow to London mail train on 8 August 1963.

He was given a 30-year sentence but escaped from Wandsworth prison in 1965.

In 2001, he returned to the UK seeking medical help but was sent to prison. He was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 after contracting pneumonia.

Biggs, who died early on Wednesday, was being cared for at the Carlton Court Care Home in East Barnet, north London.

He could not speak and had difficulty walking after a series of strokes.

He was last seen in public at the funeral of his fellow Great Train Robber, Bruce Reynolds, in March.

Biggs, who lived in Spain, Australia and Brazil while he was on the run, had been in prison for 15 months when he used a rope ladder to climb over the prison walls.

He had initially fled to Paris, with his wife Charmaine and two sons, Farley and Chris.