Bruce Reynolds, the mastermind of the “Great Train Robbery” in Britain that brought its perpetrators cash, incarceration and pop-culture fame, died on Thursday. He was 81.
Reynolds was part of a gang that stole sacks containing 2.6 million pounds from a Glasgow-to-London mail train in August 1963. The haul would be worth more than US$60 million today, and was then Britain’s biggest-ever robbery.
Reynolds escaped to Mexico, where he lived the high life and evaded capture for several years, but returned to England when his money ran out. He was arrested in 1968 and sentenced to 25 years in jail. He was released a decade later and produced occasional pieces of journalism and a well-regarded crime memoir, The Autobiography of a Thief.
Son Nick Reynolds said his father died after a brief illness.
Reynolds also performed from time to time with the rock band Alabama 3, of which his son is a member.
The audacious heist has been the subject of many books and films, including Peter Yates’ Robbery and Buster, starring Phil Collins as gang member Buster Edwards, who ended up running a flower stall outside London’s Waterloo Station.