With little more than the ‘30-Minute Clue’ to go on, the task facing the police investigation seemed a daunting one, but thanks to the fingerprint evidence left at Leatherslade Farm the prospects for early arrests seemed more promising. While it took some ten days to complete the challenge of dusting down the entire farm, outbuildings and vehicles left behind, the first arrests were down to pure luck (or bad luck from the point of view of those arrested).1
Roger Cordrey had left Leatherslade Farm on Saturday 10 August, met up with an old friend, Bill Boal, in Oxford, and together with his family and Cordrey’s share of the robbery money had gone down to Bournemouth. Cordrey’s immediate plan was to hide the money in two second-hand cars they had bought and secure them in two rented garages. Boal apparently saw an advert in a newsagent’s window for a rented garage and, along with Cordrey, set off to meet the owner, 67-year-old Emily Clarke, who unbeknown to them was a policeman’s widow. She immediately became suspicious when the pair offered to pay the garage rent three months in advance in cash. Mrs Clarke accepted the money, gave them the key and phoned the police the minute they left her house:
They were both arrested at just after 9 pm on 14 August by Detective Sergeant Stanley Davies and Detective Constable Charles Case of the Bournemouth Police, following on information given to the police by Mrs Emily Clarke of 45 Tweedale Road, Bournemouth. Keys found in the possession of Boal were used to unlock an A35 car UEL 987, in the garage at 45 Tweedale Road, and a suitcase in the car which contained a quantity of banknotes. The amount of money found in the car was £56,047.
Another car TLX 279 was found in a garage at 59 Ensbury Avenue, Bournemouth. The garage was opened with a key found in Boal’s possession. Six suitcases were found in the boot of the car. These contained £78,982.
At 3 am on 15 August 1963, a flat was searched at 935 Wimborne Road, Bournemouth. In a bedroom there was found a briefcase containing banknotes and under a pillow on the bed was £840. The total money recovered from the flat was £5,910, giving a grand total recovered of £141,017. Both Boal and Cordrey admitted that the monies found had come from the train robbery.2
On arrest, Cordrey had resourcefully hidden the car key in his rectum. After a few hours in custody, acute discomfort and panic at being unable to remove it had led to an anguished admission to the custody sergeant, who immediately summoned a local GP:
I am a registered medical practitioner residing at 61 Grove Road, Bournemouth. On the 15 August 1963 at 1.15 pm I removed a Yale type key from the rectum of Roger Cordrey and handed it to a police officer.
M.J. Saunders3
The London addresses of Cordrey and Boal were searched by Flying Squad officers, which resulted in the arrest of Mrs Rene Boal (wife of Boal), and Mr Alfred Pilgrim and his wife May Florence Pilgrim, brother-in-law and sister of Cordrey, for receiving part of the stolen money.4 Cordrey and Boal each made statements under caution to DS Fewtrell and DSgt Pritchard, giving their version as to how the money came to be in their possession and their activities since the day of the train robbery.5
On 14 August the Daily Mirror reported that names and information from underworld informants was coming in thick and fast. Under the headline ‘The Squealer gives Yard 10 Names’ it was suggested that a ‘snout’ had also tipped off the police about Leatherslade Farm. Members of the public were also sending in letters to the police and the GPO in record numbers.
In the early hours of 14 August, Flying Squad officers had raided the home of Robert Welch at 30a Benyon Road, London N1. Welch was not at home, although his wife was, and a search was made of the house. On 16 August Welch was interviewed at Scotland Yard by Inspector Reginald Roberts, to whom he gave a written statement of his whereabouts on 7-8 August. According to Welch, he had met two friends, Jimmy Kensit and Charles Lilley, in the Express Café at the Elephant and Castle at 10.30 a.m. on 7 August. He was there for about an hour and then went to a betting shop in Aldgate, where he claimed the proprietor, Len Rose, had seen him. He left the shop around 5 p.m. and spent the evening with Charles Lilley at Wimbledon greyhound track. The pair left the track at 9 p.m. and Welch states he then went home and spent the night with his wife. The following day, Welch and Lilley met at the Express Café at 9 a.m. and then proceeded to Beckenham golf course.
Following this interview, Inspector Byers sent out officers to bring in Lilley and Kensit, two of Welch’s three alibis. Kensit could not be found, but Lilley was brought in and interviewed by DI Roberts. In his statement Lilley confirmed that he was with Welch at the times and locations mentioned in Welch’s statement. According to DS McArthur’s report to CS Millen:
Charles Gervaise Lilley, CRO No 27967/42, born 11 January 1921, a printer of 112 Knapmill Road, Bellingham, London SE6, has made a statement in which he supports, in the main, Welch. This is not surprising as Lilley and Welch are, I understand, firm friends. However, he is unable to say what Welch did between 10.00 pm, 7 August and 9.00 am, 8 August 1963.6
Two days after the Daily Mirror report, Tommy Butler sent the Post Office Investigation Branch a list of the eighteen names on his ‘suspects list’,7 which included the ten names referred to by the Daily Mirror. This list appears to be somewhat of a ‘pick and mix’ that drew together information from a number of sources, some reliable and others not. Indeed, as the Flying Squad began working through the list, nine of the ‘suspects’ were found to have cast-iron alibis – indeed, one had even been dead for nine months:
Mr Butler’s Confidential List 16/8/63:
Douglas Goody |
Michael Kehoe9 |
Hayden Smith14 |
Charles Wilson |
Terry Sansom10 |
Charles Lilley |
Bruce Reynolds |
George Sansom11 |
Roy James |
James White |
Frederick Robinson12 |
Billy Ambrose15 |
Robert Welch |
Jack Cramer13 |
Kenneth Shakeshaft16 |
Harry Pitts8 |
Henry Smith |
John Daly |
On Tuesday 13 August 1963, Mary O’Rourke, a sales assistant at Coronel, a lady’s dress shop in Church Street, Reigate, Surrey, became suspicious of a woman customer who bought a quantity of clothing and paid in twenty-six dirty £1 notes. When Miss O’Rourke asked the customer for her address, she refused to give it and left the shop.
According to DS McArthur’s report:
The conduct of the woman was sufficiently suspicious to cause the shop assistant to follow her and note the number of a small grey sports car the woman got into as REN 22. On returning to the shop she immediately contacted the police. Police Constables 401 Donald Cooper and 183 Gerald Bixley located the car and kept observations on it and subsequently saw a man who gave his name and address as James Edward Patten of 66, The Woodlands, Beulah Hill, Croydon, SE19. He was accompanied by the woman who had been in the dress shop. After some conversation he satisfied the Police Constables and drove away.
Further enquiries were made by Reigate Police and it was learned the couple had been to a number of other shops and purchased goods. At one shop Patten had given his name as Mr Ballard, Clovelly Caravan Site, Bexhill Road, Boxhill, Surrey. This site was visited and it was learned that a man giving the name of Ballard had, on 11 August 1963, bought a caravan there. The caravan was searched and £136 in £1 notes was found in a jacket pocket.
Observations were kept on the caravan by Dorking police officers and on 18 August, Harry John Browne, CRO 32240/45, was stopped entering the caravan. He was interviewed but there was insufficient evidence to arrest him.17
During police questioning, Browne gave the following explanation for his presence at the Clovelly caravan site:
I am on sick benefit, but have worked for about 1½ years, on and off, in the Betting Office of M & M Regan, 38, Aldergate Street, EC1 (In their office).18 I have known Jim Bollard for about 2½ years. I think I got to know him in a pub or club in London. I met him casually in a number of Clubs and Pubs and he and his wife came to my home on a few occasions. He was betting at my shop before he took the café. Seven to eight months ago he took over an empty shop at 37, Aldersgate Street, EC1, and turned it into a café and he’s run it as such ever since.
I used the same Clubs, so I have met him on and off in such places over that period. I’ve met him in The Starlight Club; Stratford Place; Regency Club, Great Newport Street; and others. Last Friday evening, 16 August, 1963, I went to the Starlight Club, with Terrence Durnford, Mr Regan (John), Fred Allen, where we met some girls and had a drink. At about 10.15 pm I met Jim Bollard at the Club. He was with a friend, Bob. I don’t know his surname. We were all talking in general about holidays and Jim said that my wife, two kids and I could use his caravan at Boxhill for a week if we would like to. I had heard then that he had a caravan somewhere, but this was the first time he had one at Boxhill.
I said that if it was a nice day on Sunday I’d take the wife and kids down to see if she liked it and if she did we’d spend some time there (I intended going back on Sunday evening for clothes if we were to stay). I asked him for the key and he said that the lady on the site in the lodge had the key, and I could collect it from her. He asked me, that if I went on Sunday, I could save him a journey by collecting a refrigerator from the garage proprietor, Mr Collins at Boxhill.
I intended going into his café tomorrow morning to let him know whether we were staying or not. This morning, when I asked the lady for the key I told her Mr. Bollard had given me permission to use his caravan, and she said she only had the shed key. I said I had got the refrigerator I had collected from Collins, and would leave it in the shed. I’ve never been to Bollard’s home and don’t know where he lives except that its somewhere in Mitcham. I’ve gathered that much in conversation with him.
I describe Jim Bollard as aged 35-36 years, 5’ 11”–6’; medium build; dark brown hair, straight with a kink at the front, greased and smart; oval face; fresh complexion; clean shaven; I think grey eyes; no glasses; good teeth. I’ve noticed no marks, scars or tattoos; London man, London accent. I described Bob 30 years; 5’11”–6’; medium build; dark hair; clean shaven; no glasses; London accent.19
In McArthur’s report he confirms that:
Subsequent enquiries identified Ballard/Patten as being James Edward White, CRO 26113/55. A search of the paneling of the caravan revealed a large amount in notes which was counted by the manager and a clerk of the Midland Bank, Dorking. The amount was £30,440. Some of the notes were identified as being part of the money stolen by the robbery. It was all handed over to Detective Superintendent Fewtrell on 20 August 1963.
On 19 August 1963, Detective Sergeant Wright of C3 Department went to the caravan and examined it for fingerprints. He took possessions of a number of articles on which he developed finger marks which have since been identified as those of White, and Lily Mercy Price, alias Sheree White. A thorough enquiry was made respecting the address given to the two police constables at Reigate. It was learned that the Pattens took tenancy of 66 Woodlands, Beulah Hill, SE19 on the 25 March 1962, at £295 per annum and paid their rent quarterly in advance. No payment had been made since the last quarterly payment commencing on 24 June 1963. Mrs Patten was last seen at the flat on 27 July 1963. On Monday, 29 July 1963, Mr Patten telephoned the daily woman and said that his wife had gone away on holiday. Nothing has been heard of them since at 66 Woodlands.
The Austin Healey car REN 22 was purchased by a man giving the name of John Steward, Rock House, Chaunston Road, Taunton, Somerset (false), at 5.30 pm, 9 August 1963, from Allery & Bernard Limited, 372/4, King’s Road, SW3, for £900. This was paid in cash in £5 notes. Steward has been identified as White. On Wednesday, 14 August 1963, a man since identified as White left the Austin Healey REN 22 at Zenith Motors Limited, 170 Aldersgate, EC1 for repair. He failed to collect it and on 21 August 1963, Police Constable C Bartlett, C10, New Scotland Yard removed the car to Chalk Farm Police Garage. James Edward White, CRO 26113/55 is still wanted for the robbery.20
By complete coincidence, Jimmy White was not the only robber who, on 9 August, decided to spend some of his new-found wealth on an Austin Healey sports car. Car salesman Dennis St John clearly recalled the chain of events:
I am a car salesman employed at the Chequered Flag Sports Car Specialists, Chiswick.
On Friday the 9 August, my attention was drawn to a man looking at an Austin Healey 3000.21 He returned later on that day. At a much later stage that day he went and fetched a woman. They both had a conversation with me. When he returned the second time I did not see what car he came in. He came into the showrooms alone the second time. I took him out for a demonstration run in a black Austin Healey 3000 index number NFC or NPC 222. After the demonstration run I had a further conversation with the man. He fetched a lady. I could possibly recognise the lady if I saw her again. The gentleman said they would buy the car. I believe the lady said to the man, ‘Have you driven it?’ I believe the man said, ‘No, but it will be all right’. I took them in to the office. I cannot remember whether either of them said anything to me.
I told them that the car was subject to a three month guarantee, but if, as they mentioned, they were going abroad the following day, we should like to service it before. I said, ‘Before you go, if you get time, at any time after 8 o’clock in the morning, bring it back to our workshop’. I cannot remember if I used the word ‘Abroad’. He said, ‘I will try’, when I mentioned bringing it in for service. I said, ‘Your name, Sir is?’ He said, ‘Would you invoice it to the lady’. I asked the lady for her name. She said, ‘Mrs Mary Manson’. She gave me the address 209 Mitcham Lane, Streatham, London, SW16. I wrote it down in the invoice book. The lady signed her name across a 6d stamp.
The price of the car was £835; it did not include anything in respect of insurance. The lady paid for the car. She paid for it in £5 notes. She took the notes from her handbag. They were in bundles of 100 with elastic bands round them. She handed me nine bundles. I counted them and returned some. I counted off seven £5 notes from the last bundle and then handed them back to her. I gave them the log book of the car and the signed stamped invoice. It is a copy of the invoice which I have produced. I made no arrangement for insurance for the car. The woman did not ask me to do so.22
Clearly suspicious, Dennis St John eventually decided to call the police the following week. Once they had had the opportunity to process the enormous number of leads and telephone messages that came in from the public during the days immediately after the robbery, it was decided that this was worth releasing to the media. The story about the black Austin Healey appeared in the press on the morning of 19 August and immediately brought forward several key witnesses. James Morris informed the police that a man answering to Reynold’s description had parked the car at the Cranford Hall Garage in Hayes, Middlesex. Leonard Robinson, a company director from Somerset, had spotted the car in Bristol at around 8.40 a.m. on 16 August.23
Even more significantly, a travelling salesman by the name of James Bryning, who lived at 12 Walpole Lodge in Culmington Road, Ealing, told the police that:
Since reading the ‘Daily Express’ this morning respecting the Black Austin Healey Sports car which was bought from the ‘Chequered Flag’ Chiswick, I am sure that this car has been parked outside my block of flats during the last week. I know for certain it was there Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I am almost certain the number of the Austin Healey was 222 NFC as stated in the newspaper.
I live in a third floor flat at Walpole Lodge. No 10 is opposite my flat on the same floor. I have seen the man who lives at No 10 Walpole Lodge, driving the car and putting it in his garage at the rear of the block of flats. I don’t know his name. He is about 5’ 7” tall, stockily built, with fair, short cropped hair and round face. He is well-dressed.
He has been in company with a woman, aged about 23 years, short, slim, dark hair, wearing coloured blouses and skirts. I have seen the man wearing dark glasses. I have not seen the Austin Healey during the week-end 17/18 August, 1963. I have seen the man in a green ‘Zodiac’ motor car. It looked like a new one.
During the last week I noticed quite a few men visiting the flat in the evenings. Also, another woman has been staying at the flat during last week. She was about 30/35 years of age, well built, light blonde hair. I have seen her in the Austin Healey with the man from No 10.24
As a result of Bryning’s information, DC Frank Cowling of the local Ealing ‘T Division’ police, to whom Bryning had initially reported the matter, visited 10 Walpole Lodge:
On Sunday 18 August 1963, at about 8 pm, I called at No 10, Walpole Lodge, Culmington Road, Ealing W5, and saw Terrence Hogan. I said to him ‘I am making enquiries to trace the owner of an Austin Healey motor car, Registration No 222 NFC; this car is believed to have been outside this block of flats recently’. Hogan said, ‘I don’t know anything about it. I have never had a Healey; my car is outside, the Zephyr.’ At that time I had no reason to question Hogan further. Outside the flats in Culmington Road, I saw a Green Ford Zephyr motor car, Registration number 591 FGX, which Hogan had pointed out as being his.25
At Scotland Yard, Cowling’s investigation report was read by Flying Squad officers who immediately recognised the name of Hogan:
The occupier of 10 Walpole Lodge is Terry Hogan, a friend of Bruce Reynolds.26 Hogan was, on 19 August, in possession of a green Zodiac, index number 591 FGX. Reference to Mr Morris’s statement will show that when Reynolds parked the Austin Healey at Cranford Hall Garage, Hayes, he walked along the Bath Road and got into a Ford Zodiac or Zephyr of the latest model which was of a dark colour.27
Both Manson and Hogan were questioned on 21 August at Scotland Yard. Hogan, when interviewed about the Austin Healey, and indeed his whereabouts on 7-8 August by DI Frank Williams of the Flying Squad, claimed that he had been in Cannes, and returned to England on 9 August. He was released without charge.28
Williams also reported that:
At just before 12 noon on Wednesday, 21 August, 1963, in company with Detective Chief Inspector Baldock, I saw a woman I know as Mrs McDonald and her solicitor, Mr Stanley, at New Scotland Yard.29
Chief Inspector Baldock said, ‘As you probably know, we wanted to see you in connection with the train robbery at Aylesbury’, and following this, he put a number of questions which I recorded in writing, together with the answers she gave. Mrs McDonald signed the document after it had been read over to her in the presence of the solicitor. The solicitor then left.
At about 2.30 pm the same day, I left New Scotland Yard with Mrs McDonald, accompanied by Detective Sergeant Moore and Woman Detective Constable Willey, and went to Mrs McDonald’s address at 4 Wimbledon Close, The Downs, Wimbledon. During the journey in the Police car, Mrs McDonald said to me, ‘Do you remember me? I was at Judge in Chambers and saw you there when Billy Still applied for bail. Do you know that he’s applied two or three times and it was up again a few days ago? I’m glad he didn’t get bail otherwise I knew he would have been in the Aylesbury job with Reynolds. I cautioned her and she said nothing further.
We arrived at the address, and I searched the flat. During the course of the search I was in one of the bedrooms with Mrs McDonald when she said to me, ‘I’m scared stiff about this. I saw my solicitor on Monday first thing and he kept me there all day, and then advised me to hide until he’d sorted it all out’. I reminded her of the caution, and said to her, ‘What exactly do you mean by that remark?’ and Mrs McDonald said, ‘Just what I’ve said, now what is going to happen to me?’
I said to her, ‘Your shop and all your other accommodation is going to be searched, and then you will be taken to New Scotland Yard.’30 The search was completed at the flat and shop, and a warehouse at 18 Thornton Road nearby, and then we returned to New Scotland Yard, where she was detained. Later that evening Mrs McDonald was again seen by Chief Inspector Baldock and I. Mr Baldock said to her, ‘You will be detained overnight and tomorrow morning you will be taken to Aylesbury Police Station, where you will be charged with receiving the sum of £833, knowing the same to be stolen’. She was cautioned, and said, ‘I’ve got nothing to say.’31
With the results of the fingerprint work of DS Ray now becoming available, a debate began at Scotland Yard as to how to proceed.32 George Hatherill’s view, which was supported by Flying Squad chief Ernie Millen, was to immediately publish photographs of the wanted men and their wives via posters, newspaper releases and television news bulletins. However, other senior Flying Squad officers such as Tommy Butler and Frank Williams were opposed. They felt that such a move would drive the suspects underground, making it harder to track them down. Despite their objections, Hatherill and Millen decided to press ahead. On 22 August photographs of Bruce Reynolds, Charlie Wilson and Jimmy White (along with extracts from their CRO files) were published and the police manhunt began.33 This was an almost unprecedented move for the police and underlined the unchartered territory the investigation was now entering. There were also concerns at the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) that this move might be viewed in some quarters as prejudicing a fair trial.
The Flying Squad’s first target was Wilson, who, unlike Reynolds and White, was still going about his normal, everyday business. Wilson’s name had been one of the first that came forward from informants during the first forty-eight hours after the robbery. C11 believed that he had connections with a number of criminals in the East End of London, such as Harry Smith, whom he had worked with, as well as West London criminals that included Gordon Goody, Bruce Reynolds and Ronald Edwards. C11 believed that Wilson, Goody and several others had been involved in a robbery at the National Provincial Bank in Clapham on 14 August 1962. No evidence to prove Goody’s involvement had ever been obtained and Wilson, although charged, was found not guilty when the case came to court. Also found not guilty was a close associate of Wilson’s, Joseph Hartfield. The Flying Squad were therefore keen to interview Hartfield, a steel fixer, of 1 Isabella House, Cottington Street, London SE11 as part of their enquiries.
DS McArthur’s report refers to Wilson’s arrest:
On 22 August 1963, Charles Frederick Wilson, CRO 5010/54, aged 31 years, a greengrocer of 45 Crescent Lane, Clapham, London, SW4, was arrested. At 12.55 pm Detective Sergeant Nigel Reid of the Flying Squad, New Scotland Yard, was waiting at Wilson’s home, when Wilson entered.34
According to Reid’s report, Wilson:
… came into the house shortly after we arrived. I told him that we were police officers. I asked him to wait in the sitting room of his house until Inspector Byers returned. At about 20 minutes past one, Inspector Byers came into the room. He said to Wilson, ‘Are you Charles Frederick Wilson?’ Wilson replied, ‘Yes that’s right.’ The Inspector then said, ‘I am Detective Inspector Byers of the Flying Squad and I want to see you in connection with the mail train robbery. You know the one the Press have been writing about which took place at Cheddington.’ Wilson replied, ‘I know what you mean. I’ve never been there. I understand about it.’ The Inspector then said, ‘Although you’ve never been there, I want to search your house. And I want you to accompany me to Cannon Row Police Station for further enquiries to be made’.
Inspector Byers and the other officer left the room and started to search Wilson’s house. Wilson remained with me in the living room at the front of the house. As we were there he switched on the record player and after a while he said to me, ‘Can you tell me the strength of this?’ I said, ‘I can’t as we are only carrying out instructions to bring you in for further enquiries to be made.’ He said, ‘You are taking me in then? It must be something strong for you to do that.’ He said nothing more which was relevant. Soon after that Inspector Byers and the other officers came back after having searched the house. I and the other officers took Wilson to the Police Station. Just as we were coming from the living room to the passage of Wilson’s house, he turned and shouted to his wife who was through in the kitchen, ‘Ring him won’t you’ and she answered, ‘You bet’. I got into a police car with Inspector Byers and Wilson and some other police officers. As we were on the way Inspector Byers said to Wilson, ‘You are going to Scotland Yard and not the local station because this is a big job.’ Wilson said, ‘What put you on to me? Not as though you would tell me.’ Inspector Byers did not reply. A short while afterwards Wilson said, ‘I didn’t think you would.’35
It is significant that this thorough search of Wilson’s home was carried out without a search warrant.36 Neither was Wilson cautioned, either at his home or in the police car taking him to Scotland Yard.37 The ‘other officer’ Reid referred to was DS John Vaughan. His statement gives precise details about the nature of the search carried out at 45 Crescent Lane:
In the first floor rear bedroom, from a wardrobe, I took possession of a pair of black crepe soled shoes ‘John White’ make, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of Police issue trousers. In the ground floor lounge, from the rear of a cushion where I had seen Wilson sitting, I took possession of a key. I also searched the garden at the rear of the house, and from the remains of a bonfire situated in the centre of the garden about eight feet from the rear of the building, I took possession of pieces of burnt cloth and also samples of the ashes and soil of the bonfire. The same day I handed the shoes, two pairs of trousers, pieces of burnt cloth, and the remains of bonfire to Dr Holden. I also handed the key to Chief Superintendent Butler.38
On arrival at Scotland Yard, Wilson was interviewed by DS Tommy Butler:
On the 22 August 1963, at 2.50 pm, in company with Chief Inspector Baldock, I saw Charles Wilson detained in the cells at Cannon Row Police Station. I said, ‘I’m Chief Superintendent Butler and this is Chief Inspector Baldock. On my instructions you have been brought here in connection with the mail robbery at Cheddington, Bucks, on the 8 August, 1963. From my enquiries I have reason to believe that you and other persons are responsible for this offence. Do you know Cheddington in Buckinghamshire? Wilson replied, ‘No, I have never been there in my life’. I said, ‘Do you know Leatherslade Farm, near Oakley, Buckinghamshire?’ Wilson said, ‘No, I have never been there in my life, but I have read about these places in the newspapers’. I said, ‘Would you care to tell me where you were on the morning of the 8 August, 1963?’ Wilson replied, ‘I was in Spitalfields Market. I left home about 5 am’. I said, ‘Have you any receipts or proof of business done?’ Wilson replied, ‘No, they don’t give receipts. I saw a few friends there though’. I pointed out the location of Leatherslade Farm and its surroundings. Wilson said, ‘Yes, I have seen it all in the papers. I’m telling you, I have never been there in my life. Nobody can say I have’. I said, ‘Are you quite certain that what you are saying is correct, because I have reason to think it is not’. Wilson replied, ‘You obviously know a lot; I have made a ricket somewhere, but I’ll have to take my chances’.
I said, ‘You will be detained and taken to Aylesbury Police Station, where you will be charged in being concerned with others in robbing a Travelling Post Office train at Cheddington on the 8 August 1963. Wilson was cautioned, and he said, ‘I don’t know how you can make it stick without the poppy and you won’t find that’. Later, Wilson was charged and formally cautioned at Aylesbury Police Station, and replied, ‘Not guilty, that’s all’. Just prior to having his fingerprints taken, I said to him, ‘I understand that you have an interest in a greengrocery business at High Street, Penge, which is run for you by someone else; what do you sell there?’ I cautioned him and he replied, ‘Fruit and vegetables, of course’. I said, ‘Do you sell any tinned goods?’ He replied, ‘No, I don’t think so’. I said, ‘Don’t you know what you are selling at the shop?’ and he replied, ‘I think we sell a bit of tinned fruit, that’s about all’. I said, ‘Do you sell groceries of any type?’ He replied, ‘No nothing like that. Why are you asking me? You can go there and see for yourself.’39
Wilson flatly denied making the now famous quote about not knowing ‘how you can make it stick without the poppy’. This quasi-admission was certainly totally out of character for Wilson.40 So-called ‘verballing’ (i.e. fabricating quotes used in police statements) by police officers was relatively common at this time.41
This was not the first occasion on which a suspect’s home had been searched without a warrant. Although no fingerprint evidence had been found at the farm to incriminate Gordon Goody, and although his details were not included in the 22 August police media appeal, he remained on the suspects list due to his known association with some of the other suspects. The week before officers searched Charlie Wilson’s home without a warrant, they had searched the home of Goody’s mother, again without a warrant. Goody took this as a sign that the police were determined to nail him and dropped out of circulation. He moved into an old bolt-hole above the Windmill Public House in Blackfriars. On the day of Wilson’s arrest, Goody borrowed the landlord’s car and set off for Leicester, by way of the M1, to meet a girlfriend. Before leaving he wrote a letter addressed to a police officer who had been involved in the London Airport robbery the previous year:42
22/8/63
Dear Sir
No doubt you will be surprised to hear from me after my double trial at the Old Bailey for the London Airport Robbery.
At the time of writing I am not living at my home address because it seems that I am a suspect in the recent train robbery. Two Flying Squad officers recently visited my home address whilst I was out, and made a search of the premises and honestly Mr Osborne, I am now very worried that they connect me with this crime. The reason I write to you now is because you always treated me in a straight forward manner during the Airport Case. I will never forget how fair and just yourself and Mr Field were towards me.
That case took nearly eight months to finish and every penny I had, and to become a suspect in the last big robbery is more than I can stand.
So my intentions are to keep out of harm’s way until the people concerned in the train robbery are found.
To some people this letter would seem like a sign of guilt, but all I am interested in is keeping my freedom.
Hoping these few lines find you and Mr Field in the best of health.
Yours faithfully
D G Goody43
The car broke down in Cranfield, near Bedford, but Goody eventually got to Leicester in a hire car. While staying at the Grand Hotel, he was ironically mistaken for Bruce Reynolds (whose photograph had been in the papers that morning) and the Leicester police were called. Goody was taken to Leicester police headquarters to await the arrival of Chief Inspector Peter Vibart of the Flying Squad, who reported:
At 3.15 pm on Friday, 23 August 1963, in company with Detective Sergeant Read, I went to Leicester City Police Headquarters where I saw Douglas Gordon Goody. I said to him, ‘I am assisting in enquiries regarding the mail robbery which occurred at Cheddington, Buckinghamshire, on 8 August 1963. Where were you at about 3.00 am on that night?’ He replied, ‘I was about’. I said to him, ‘Have you ever been to Leatherslade Farm at Brill in Buckinghamshire’, and he replied, ‘That’s a funny old question, is he (pointing to D/Sergeant Read) all right, have you been to the Windmill and seen Alexander because it was his car I had when I was having it away. I have been staying there since they turned the “Old Lady” over’. I then said to him, ‘I know you were using his motor car when it broke down in Bedford and that you later travelled to Leicester by hired car to meet a Miss Perkins but why were you using the name of Alexander and his vehicle? You have two motor cars, a Jaguar and a Ford Zodiac of your own’. He replied, ‘Did you see the smudges in the paper? I wouldn’t have got a hundred yards in mine. I thought if I was with the bird it would take the dairy off’. I said, ‘Are you telling me you were implicated in the mail robbery because known associates of yours are now wanted for interview?’ He replied, ‘Look. I was away out of it over the water on the Green Isle so you can’t fit me in’. I said, ‘Do you mean you were in Ireland on the 8 August 1963?’ He replied, ‘I am not trying to be awkward but I am not saying where I was as alibis are alibis, Mr Vibart.’ I then said, ‘Would it not be a simple matter to tell me where you were on the 8 August as you are aware a great deal of publicity has been given to the mail train robbery’. He replied, ‘I had to get away for a month or two as the smokes empty. They’ve all had it away so what could I do? - stand around and mow the lawn till you came and laid bands on me, so I borrowed the car and phoned the bird; I borrowed a “flim” from her. I am skint, what do you think I buried it?’ The interview was then concluded.
At 6.00 pm the same day I again saw Goody and said to him, ‘I have seen Miss Margaret Perkins and although you have not seen her since last July you had arranged to send her some postcards from Ireland to an address of a friend nearby. These have now been destroyed but according to Miss Perkins the last card was received on Thursday, the day of the robbery’. He replied, ‘That puts me there doesn’t it’. I then said to Goody, ‘I am not satisfied with your explanation and you will now be taken back to Aylesbury Police Station pending further enquires’. He replied, ‘My brief will be there, I have arranged if I don’t turn up for the necessary to be done’. I then returned with him to Aylesbury Police Station where he was detained.
At about 12 midnight on the 23 August 1963 with D/Chief Superintendent Butler, I again saw Goody at Aylesbury Police Station. Superintendent Butler said to him, ‘I understand you were detained at Leicester having travelled as far as Bedford in a motor car belonging to someone else and you were using the name of Alexander. Would you care to explain these facts?’ He replied, ‘I was going to keep out of the way until things died down. Them blokes who are all in the paper are friends of mine and that puts me in it and all according to you’. Mr Butler then asked, ‘What do you mean by that?’ He said, ‘Because of the aggravations over the Airport job and I had to sweat for eight months.’ Mr Butler then said, ‘That matter is over and done with. I would like you to tell us what your movements were on the 7/8 August, as that is the reason for your being brought here, as you well know’. Goody was silent for a few moments and then said, ‘Look, I want to think about that; I am tired because I didn’t have much sleep last night what with these aggravations and all.’ He was then informed by the Superintendent that he would be detained and he replied, ‘So I’ll be detained, see you later’.
At about 1.00 pm on the 24 August I was present when Goody was seen by Superintendent Butler at Aylesbury police station, Mr Butler said to him, ‘You have had ample time to think about the matter we discussed last night. Would you now tell us of your movements and your location on the 7/8 August?’ He replied;,’I was touring Ireland doing a bit of fishing and shooting’. He was then asked, ‘Where did you stay whilst you were there?’ He replied, ‘I can’t tell you that; if I am charged it will be part of my defence’. Mr Butler then said, ‘If you were in Ireland as you say then it follows you were not at Leatherslade Farm that night doesn’t it?’ He replied (indicating myself), ‘He mentioned that yesterday; I don’t know the place. What would I be doing on a farm?’ The Superintendent then said, ‘You could be there preparing for the commission of this very serious offence or taking part in the division of the proceeds of it’. He replied, ‘You don’t expect me to admit that do you?’
Superintendent Butler then said to him, ‘I suspect you were at Leatherslade Farm at the time already mentioned’. He replied, ‘Nobody saw me there; I’ll stand on any ID parade you like to put up.’ Mr Butler then said to him, ‘It may come to that. In the meantime enquiries are still in progress and we will see you later in the day.’ The interview was then concluded.
At 11.45 pm on Saturday 24 August 1963 with D/Chief Superintendent Butler I again saw Goody and Mr Butler said to him, ‘It has been said by you that on the 8 August 1963, the date of the mail robbery, you were in Ireland. I have now ascertained that you travelled by air to Belfast on the 2 August 1963 with your mother and a man named Knowles and stayed with a relative, but you returned alone on Tuesday 6 August 1963 leaving Knowles and your mother there. These two persons returned home on Wednesday 7 August 1963 and both travelling in the name of Goody’ – Goody interrupted and said, ‘Look, I am saying nothing more; I’ll have to see my mouthpiece; he will fit me up with something else’.
At 12.15 am on 25 August, 1963, Goody was released on the undertaking that he again returned to Aylesbury police station on Saturday 7 September 1963. He was taken to his home by police transport.44
With apparently no fingerprint evidence against him, Goody was optimistic that his luck would hold. However, the police were convinced that he was not only involved but had played a major role in the commission of the crime. A key police informant had come forward and mentioned Goody by name, and had also given groundbreaking new information which was to open up a whole new angle for the investigation.
Notes
1. For Roger Cordrey it was a double irony, for he was one of the few robbers at Leatherslade Farm who had kept his gloves on for the full duration of the three days he spent at the farm. Indeed, when the exhaustive fingerprint search was completed by the police, no trace of any print belonging to Cordrey was found at the farm. Had it not been for his chance encounter with Emily Clarke he would most likely have evaded detection and arrest; DPP 2/3723, part 2 of 3 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).
2. HO 287/1496 (originally closed until 1995; opened 1996).
3. DPP 2/3718, part 2 of 6 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).
4. Before his arrest, Cordrey had given the Pilgrims £860 in £5 notes and Rene Boal £330 in £5 and £1 notes from his share of the stolen money.
5. HO 287/1496 (originally closed until 1995; opened 1996).
6. DPP 2/3717, Report 11(originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened on 25/6/10); DPP 2/3718, 1 of 6, part 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10); Inspector Roberts’s report appears on p. 258 of this file – the whole of the following page, 259, remains closed until 2045. McArthur’s report in DPP 2/3717/1 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10) is also redacted in respect to Charles Lilley, although an unredacted copy is to be found in POST 120/96 (closed until 1993; opened 1994).
7. POST 120/95 (originally closed until 2001; opened 2002). Without a definitive fingerprint report, a theoretical compilation list was the best that could be done at this stage of the investigation.
8. Henry George Pitts, of East Lane, Walworth, London SE, (CRO File 30286/51) – sentenced to an eight-year jail term in 1958, Pitts died of tuberculosis, aged 51, at Parkhurst Prison, Isle of Wight on 10 November 1962.
9. Michael David Kehoe, a car hirer of Barry Road, East Dulwich, London SE, (CRO File 20937/54) – eliminated as a suspect. A known associate of Anthony Thomas Lucraft (see note 16, Chapter 3), whose name had been mentioned by another informant in connection with other mail offences.
10. Terence Michael Sansom, a car dealer of Leighton Gardens, Kensal Rise, London NW (CRO File 34126/52) – eliminated as a suspect. Was found not guilty of the non-capital murder of James Hawney, a guard, after a £9,400 bus payroll hold-up in Wimbledon on 26 January 1961.
11. George Sansom (CRO File 10076/60), brother of Terence Michael Sansom – eliminated as a suspect.
12. Frederick Robinson, a car dealer of Holland Road, Willesden, London NW (CRO File 24078/39) – a string of robbery convictions stretching back to 1939. In January 1962 he was sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment for receiving money from a wages robbery at Lots Road Power Station, Chelsea on 17 August 1961 – eliminated as a suspect.
13. John Charles Cramer of Camgate Mansions, Camberwell Road, London SE (CRO File 21846/47) – eliminated as a suspect.
14. Hayden Francis Smith (CRO File 15918/58) – younger brother of Henry Thomas Smith – eliminated as a suspect.
15. William David Ambrose, a car salesman of Stepney, London – eliminated as a suspect.
16. Kenneth Shakeshaft, a club owner of Essendine Mansions, Maida Vale, London W (CRO File 15847/42) – eliminated as a suspect.
17. POST 120/96 (originally closed until 1993; opened 1994).
18. Michael (Mick) Regan was an associate of south London bookmaker and publican Frederick Foreman. See Freddie Foreman: The Godfather of British Crime (John Blake, 2008), chapter 7 ff for references to Regan.
19. DPP 2/3919, part 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).
20. POST 120/96 (originally closed until 1993; opened 1994) and DPP 2/3717, Report 16 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).
21. The prospective buyer was Bruce Reynolds (see ‘Reynolds, p. 200 ff).
22. DPP 2/3718/1 and DPP 2/3718, 1 of 6, part 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).
23. DPP 2/3713, Report 16 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).
24. DPP 2/3719, part 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).
25. Ibid.
26. Terence Hogan (CRO File 38593/45) was a close friend of Bruce Reynolds over many years (see Reynolds p. 47ff). Both Reynolds and Piers Paul Read use the alias ‘Harry Booth’ when referring to Hogan in their respective books. See also ‘Crime paid for my privileged childhood’ by Karen Hogan (Daily Mail, 15 May 2011).
27. DPP 2/3717, Report 16 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).
28. DPP 2/3718, 1 of 6, part 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).
29. George Stanley was in fact born George Albert Sturley in Stepney, London on 11 July 1911 (Volume 1C, p. 645, Register of Births, Stepney Registration District, County of London). His role in these events will be explored later in this book.
30. Mac’s antique shop in Portobello Road, London W11 was owned by her husband. Both Bruce Reynolds and his brother-in-law John Daly claimed to be antique dealers operating from this address.
31. DPP 2/3718, 1 of 6, part 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).
32. DPP 2/3723, 2 of 3 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).
33. DPP 2/3723, 1 of 3 (originally closed until 2045, redacted version opened 25/6/10).
34. DPP 2/3717, Report 2 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10.
35. DPP 2/3718/1 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).
36. Ibid; DSgt Nigel Reid admitted under cross-examination by Mr J.C. Mathew, Wilson’s counsel, that the officer did not have a search warrant. He justified this by stating that Wilson ‘had no objection to the search’.
37. Ibid.; Reid, however, perjured himself at the trial by stating under cross-examination by Mr Mathew that, ‘up to the time we arrived at Scotland Yard there was no decision to arrest Wilson otherwise he would have been cautioned’. Wilson’s fingerprints were the first to be identified and this in itself was the basis for publicly naming Wilson, Reynolds and White on 22 August. It is equally clear from DPP files that all three men were arrested on the strength of the recovered prints and not on an ad-hoc decision made as the result of searching his home. This is also confirmed by Commander George Hatherill. See George Hatherill, A Detective’s Story (Andre Deutsch, 1971), p. 202.
38. Ibid.
39. Ibid.; Butler’s report essentially confirms that Wilson was arrested on his instructions, which were issued before the Flying Squad officers left Scotland Yard. By Butler’s own admission, Wilson was not cautioned until the end of the interview.
40. Wilson was dubbed ‘the silent man’ on account of his reputation for saying little or nothing when under arrest. This was certainly borne out in the two robberies with which Wilson was charged prior to the train robbery, i.e. the London Airport robbery (November 1962) and the National Provincial Bank robbery in Clapham, London (August 1962) (DPP 2/3588, closed until 2045 at the time of writing). He was discharged on both counts. Lord Justice Edmund Davies commented on Wilson at the train robbery trial that, ‘No one has said less than you throughout this long trial. Indeed, I doubt you have spoken half a dozen words.’
41. The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) was specifically introduced to tackle police abuses, especially the practice of verballing, i.e. officers saying that a suspect had made some kind of admission when in fact no such conversation took place. PACE introduced a number of Codes of Practice: Code C governs the detention, treatment and questioning of persons by police officers. The code provides at C11.7 (a) that an accurate record must be made of each interview; in practice this means that interviews are now recorded.
42. Goody had been acquitted of the London Airport robbery by jury tampering (to ensure a failure to agree at the first trial) and by bribing a police officer to switch a key piece of evidence at the retrial (DPP 2/3588; closed until 2045 at the time of writing).
43. DPP 2/3717, Exhibits (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).
44. DPP 2/3718, 2 of 6 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).