FORMER Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs should live the rest of his life in custody. Biggs, at 75 and with two debilitating strokes behind him, is clearly a sad and frail figure. The deterioration in his physical condition prompted Biggs' lawyers to launch a High Court legal bid yesterday to win his release on compassionate grounds. Solicitors asked for a judicial review of Biggs' detention at high-security Belmarsh prison in south-east London saying he has facial paralysis which means he cannot speak and can only be fed through a tube. A judge will consider the case and a court hearing may follow. It is hard not to feel some degree of sympathy with Biggs. It is 41 years since he participated in a violent and daring robbery and he is clearly no threat to anyone now. Yet one should never lose sight of what he did. Biggs was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment for his part in the raid on the Glasgow to London mail train when a gang stole £2.6 million in used bank notes. He escaped from jail after just 15 months and fled to Spain, Australia then Brazil. After 36 years on the run he gave himself up in 2001. He did so because it suited him to come back to Britain and enjoy excellent medical treatment in the country of his birth. Now because it suits him, he wants to be allowed out of jail. But however frail Biggs is, his hopes should be dashed. His plight will serve as a deterrent for all others who may seek to break the law then flout justice. Leave him in prison to die. | 
