Just in case anyone was in any doubt as to whether the famous train robber Ronnie Biggs had grown repentant of a crime that saw him and a group of men make off with £2.6 million in 1963, they were given a swift confirmation that he hadn’t, when the now 83 year-old criminal stuck two fingers up to the cameras and called the heist an “adventure”, at the funeral of fellow train robber Bruce Reynolds.

The 81 year-old died in his sleep last month, and a mob-heavy 300 strong mourners attended his funeral in East London. Biggs was the only other train robber there, and wrote a eulogy for Reynolds, which was read out on his behalf. “Bruce was a true friend. A great friend. A friend through the good and the bad times, and we had many of both” it read. “He was a good friend to me and my family. My thoughts are with Nick, his son.” Nick Reynolds played at the event with his band Alabama 3, as well as speaking. Biggs message continued “It was Bruce who set me off on an adventure that was to change my life, and it was typical of Bruce that he was there at the end to help me back from Brazil to Britain. I am proud to have had Bruce Richard Reynolds as a friend. He was a good man. I miss him already.”

Biggs managed to avoid jail by going on the run for 36 years before eventually being jailed in 2001 after returning to Britain to seek medical health. He was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 after contracting pneumonia. Reynolds meanwhile was captured in 1968 and sentenced to 25 years in jail, though he only served 10 of it. Nevertheless he was broke for much of his subsequent life, before writing his memoirs on the robbery that were also unrepentant.

Ronnie Biggs

Ronnie Biggs gave two fingers to the press at fellow train robber Bruce Reynolds funeral