by Andrew Cook
TPO SECURITY
(1) It was reported last night that a passenger train London to Brighton was brought to a halt by thieves who interfered with the railway signals and who stole six bags of mail containing HVPs valued about £9,000 together with a large number of registered letters. It is alleged that the thieves left the train after attacking the guard and escaped by car which was waiting for them at a predetermined spot.
(2) The full facts are not yet available but whether or not they turn out to be as stated I am most anxious that urgent attention should be given to a further review of security precautions that are taken generally on each TPO and sorting carriage particularly when the train is brought to a halt (genuine or otherwise) outside a station. The IB is aware that these are overhauled from time to time.
(3) The IB considers that this exercise could be confined to TPOs and we would be ready to have any discussion on the matter or give any security advice that we might be in a position to offer on TPO routine security measures.1
Despite such high-level attention, it seems that nothing much in reality was done to review, let alone improve, TPO security on the Brighton line and, in April 1961, the Express told its readers of a further audacious robbery not far from the scene of the Patcham Tunnel hold-up, in which, ‘Bandits disguised as railwaymen walked on to the platform at Brighton and got away with a registered bag containing £15,000.’
Bearing in mind that, to the uneducated eye, mailbags containing money in High Value Packets were indistinguishable from regular mailbags, Hoskins became convinced that the men behind these precision raids must have a good deal of knowledge about post office and railway procedures.
A decade before, in May 1952, he had covered the Eastcastle Street robbery with fellow Express journalist Tom Clayton, and was sure that it too had resulted from inside information. Someone within the post office must have passed on details to the gang, a view that only hardened when he discovered from a police source that the mail van’s alarm bell had been disabled before it had set out to collect its payload. Returning to the City from London’s Paddington station, where it had collected High Value Packets from the Great Western Region Travelling Post Office, the van had been ambushed in Eastcastle Street by seven masked men in two stolen cars. At the time, the theft of these eighteen mail sacks, containing £287,000 (£6,150,000 in today’s money), was Britain’s largest ever robbery.
While the 1952 hold-up remained officially unsolved, Hoskins was led to believe that the police were reasonably sure who was behind it and knew the identity of the seven masked men. To their extreme frustration, a complete lack of tangible evidence that could be presented in court prevented them from making arrests.
Hoskins’s sources were proved correct five decades later when the extensive investigation files on the Eastcastle Street robbery were finally opened. In a detailed report dated 20 March 1953, Clifford Osmond, then deputy controller of the IB, noted:
Within a day or so Supt. Lee (Flying Squad) told me that as the result of information received he considered that the robbery had been planned and executed by the under mentioned team:
Billy Hill (organiser)
Jim Clark
Joe Price
Jock Gwillim
Michael Donovan
Patsy Murphy
George Chatham
George (Billy) Benstead
Teddy Tibbs
Teddy Machin
Sonny Sullivan
… of the six or seven men who were seen (by witnesses), the under mentioned criminals of the suspect team would fit the descriptions given: -
Jock Gwillim
Teddy Machin
Joe Price
Billy Benstead
George Chatham
Mike Donovan
Patsy Murphy2
While the investigation failed to identify the source of the inside information, Osmond addressed the matter of who he believed acted as the link man between the post office insider and the gang:
Inquiry and observation finally proved that Billy Howard is (a) a close associate of Billy Hill; (b) lives in the Walworth area where he meets Billy Benstead who also lives there; (c) was, for a time, running a gambling club in partnership with Billy Hill from the rear of canteen premises used by the Meat Porters Union of Smithfield Market and (d) frequents the Red Cow PH, a pub much used by post office staff. It is significant that PHG’s sent to the LPR School for training in all branches of registered letter work, sometimes use the meat porters’ canteen concerned. Billy Howard was therefore in a position to operate as a ‘contact man’ and I believe he did so.3
In another IB file on the Eastcastle Street robbery, which contains photographs and extracts from the suspects’ Criminal Record Office (CRO) files, Billy Howard is shown as residing in East Street, Walworth. Sixteen known associates of his are listed, several of whom will enter our story later in this book.4
While the Eastcastle Street robbery was very much seen as a one-off, these new raids on the Brighton main line seemed to fit a pattern and showed no sign of abating. Indeed, each successive incident seemed to be bolder and more lucrative than the last.
After some months, however, it seemed as though the Brighton line raids had petered out. By the late summer of 1961, the Daily Express crime team, and indeed the rest of Fleet Street, had become preoccupied by the police manhunt launched on 23 August for the A6 murderer who had shot dead Michael Gregsten and raped and shot his mistress, Valerie Storie. James Hanratty was eventually arrested and charged; his trial opened at Bedford Assizes on Monday 22 January 1962 amid a flurry of media coverage. In the early hours of Friday 26 January, the day the Hanratty case was adjourned for the weekend, an event occurred that caused the Daily Express to prematurely use what would, in a year’s time, become an iconic headline by presumptuously declaring …
GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY FOILED
A Jesse James-style mail train robbery by moonlight on a lonely stretch of track in Essex failed, it is believed, only because a delayed freight train came along first. The goods train exploded a military-type detonator placed on the line between Colchester and Marks Tey and jolted to an emergency stop. The detonator - the first of 14 found by the driver - was meant for the mail train, police think.
The gang is believed to have been poised to strike, grab mail bags containing thousands of pounds, and escape by car on the A12 London-Ipswich road. Yesterday, police were searching the area of Stanway Woods, alongside the line, for clues. Signalman George Drinkell, on duty at Marks Tey signal box at the time, said: ‘Just after 2.30 am Colchester rang to say the goods train had passed through. But it never reached me. Then I heard from Colchester that the driver had phoned to say he had been stopped by detonators. A few minutes later the train arrived at my box. The driver told me he was very frightened when he stopped the train - he thought he would be coshed as he got out’.
‘This was no hoax. Whoever put the detonators on the track was obviously after the mail train’.
Minutes after the goods train had gone on, the mail train from Peterborough and Norwich flashed by, unmolested, for London. Three of the ten coaches were travelling sorting offices. British Railways Police and Essex detectives met yesterday to discuss the Great Train Robbery that never was.5
Apart from failing in its objective, the Marks Tey incident differed in another significant way from the Brighton line hold-ups: it seemed that the gang responsible did not have the knowledge or ability to stop the train by manipulating the signals. Instead, they employed a rather clumsy and imprecise method of doing so, which had the added disadvantage of attracting unwanted attention. In spite of this, the hold-up location had been well chosen on a lonely stretch of the line, where the railway crossed over a country lane by way of a low bridge. From the lane, the main A12 trunk road was only a minute or two away, giving a fast and direct route of escape from Marks Tey into the heart of East London.
Although the overnight events at Marks Tey were covered in perfunctory fashion by other
Fleet Street papers, the Daily Express reported in greater detail, making it a major headline story. Uniquely, Express reporter Frank Howitt had been sent to Essex to get first-hand accounts from railway officials. Whilst the glare of the media spotlight was on the small Essex village between Braintree and Colchester, the Post Office Investigation Branch launched their own secret investigation:
SECURITY – TPOs
PSD/HMB
(1) In view of the publicity given in the press on the 27th January 1962 (particularly in the Daily Express) about a suspected attempt to hold up the East Anglia T.P.O, I think we should urgently ensure that TPO security is as good as it should be – particularly when the train is brought to a halt on some pretext.
(2) The question of access by corridor on part passenger part TPO trains and of window/door security on all TPOs are matters which might be reviewed. The IB would send a representative if required.
(3) It may well be that all reasonable steps have already been taken as the result of the IB minute dated 21 September 1960 (copy enclosed) – but risk now is, perhaps, sufficient to warrant this suggested review.
(C G OSMOND)
29 January 19626
Despite this second request to Royal Mail security, it seems that, yet again, no meaningful review of TPO security was undertaken. Four months later, Osmond fired off yet another missive to the PSD/PMB security department, this time as a result of a spate of robberies carried out on mail vans and sub-post offices, which again had all the hallmarks of inside information:
PSD/PMB (Security)
17 May 1962
SECURITY OF THE MAILS, AND OF POST OFFICE PREMISES, CASH AND STOCKS
Postal security arrangements have been under review following on the general intensification of attacks on post offices and on the mails which started just over a year ago. Many additional precautions have been and are being taken which, when fully implemented, should lead to a considerable improvement in our defences against thieves and robbers.
This circular:-
(a) Brings together information and instructions about security which have been issued in various ways but which have not yet been carried into the permanent rule book;
(b) Draws attention to points in the permanent rule books that are of special importance at the present time;
(c) Contains some new instructions, which are sidelined for ease of reference, and
(d) Makes proposals for obtaining, through discussion or local Whitley Committees, the fullest measures of staff co-operation in making local security arrangements effective.
Whilst it is not desired to disturb authorised and long-standing arrangements which are satisfactory and which may have been introduced to avoid irksome attendances, the position in such cases should be reviewed to ensure that the safeguarding arrangements are defensible and that the unavoidable ‘waiting period’ is as short as possible (POR B3 II 3(a)).
Branch and Sub Offices. Imposters, dressed as postmen, have presented themselves at Branch or Sub Post Offices as the official collector and have been given the registered despatch. Officers making up registered despatches at Branch or Sub Offices should, if the collector is not personally known to them, always insist on the production of one of the means of identification listed in POR B4 XIV 1 and B 4a I 9. They must not release the despatch before the appointed time.
Collections. Where it can be arranged without disproportionate cost, steps should be taken to avoid important collections of registered mail from Branch and Sub Branch Offices or private firms being followed by ordinary collections from firms’ or public posting boxes.7
As a result of follow-up enquiries, the Express men established that there had indeed been a dramatic escalation in post office crime during the past two years, as can be seen from the statistics they obtained:
1955-56
17 offences
1958-59
67 offences
1959-60
76 offences
1961-62
91 offences
It seemed that inside information on when post office vans would leave certain sorting offices, their routes and the amounts of money on board was being supplied to criminals, along with knowledge to assist them in identifying the High Value Packet mailbags from regular ones. In addition to cash, hauls included bulk supplies of postage and National Insurance stamps, which could be sold on in pubs, clubs and indeed to business firms for considerably less than their face value.
A source within the Flying Squad, Chief Inspector Peter Vibart, told the Express team, off the record, that the criminals concerned almost certainly had the advantage of floor plans and security details of certain post offices and sorting offices, and knew the location of strongrooms. It was also apparent that keys or copy keys were being used in such raids, as there was never any sign of forced entry. Vibart was an important source, as most Flying Squad detectives (especially Tommy Butler, who would eventually be promoted to lead the squad the following year) had a reputation of remaining tight-lipped.
Vibart had apparently been grateful to the Express for not using a story that came their way concerning a highly embarrassing situation he had found himself in not long before. He believed that there were several gangs at work specialising in mail crime, all benefiting to a greater or lesser extent from inside information. Furthermore, he indicated that one James Bryan, who was renowned in the criminal underworld as one of the best ‘locksmiths’ in the business, was believed to be making and supplying keys for post office jobs to at least one of these gangs, if not more.8
Sources on the court circuit also proved useful. Convictions for mail crime were rare, although on 7 July 1962, three men - William Robertson, Michael O’Leary and Arthur Atkins - were remanded at Bow Street Magistrates’ Court in connection with receiving £3,740 19s 2d of stolen National Insurance stamps and £1,540 16s of postage stamps. Whether these men were part of a mail crime gang or merely receivers was not apparent at the time. Suspicions remained, however, that at least one of them had a deeper involvement.9
At the end of August 1962 the mail crime spree took a more dramatic turn. Even The Times began to take more notice, although its coverage was invariably buried deep within the paper:
MAILBAG ROBBERY IN TRAIN FIRE
A mailbag robbery which appeared to have been carried out under cover of a fire in a Victoria to Brighton train on Wednesday evening was being investigated last night by Sussex Police and British Transport Commission officers. Two mailbags, one of them containing more than 20 registered packets, were missing from the train.
The fire, in an empty compartment, was noticed when the train reached Preston Park Station, two miles from Brighton. A porter attempted to control it with a fire extinguisher, but was unsuccessful and the fire brigade was called. The robbery is believed to have taken place when the guard left his van to fight the fire. The value of the contents of the bags was not known last night.
In April this year five men in railway type peaked caps made a £15,000 mailbag haul in Brighton as a train was being unloaded just before midnight.10
Once more the Daily Express crime team were at the forefront of the story. Unlike The Times and other press reports that day, theirs was a front page story that was again derived from on-the-spot interviews at the scene:
MAIL BANDITS START LONDON TRAIN FIRE
The mailbag bandits operating on the Victoria to Brighton Line have pulled off a brand new kind of snatch, it was discovered yesterday.
To get at the van carrying the registered mail they set the train on fire. Coshing a lone, unprotected guard is out. It is old hat to dress up as a railwayman to rob the mails. Tampering with the signals to hold up the train – a technique used twice before – is more complicated than luring the guard away from his van by setting a compartment alight with petrol soaked rags. That was what they did on the 10.28 pm train arriving just on midnight at Preston Park on the outskirts of Brighton from Victoria. Old style bandits over the last two years have got away with a
total of £32,000.
The post office could not estimate last night the value of the registered mail in two bags now missing. Railway porter George Kay was standing in the booking office at Preston Park when the 10.28 pulled in 18 minutes late. He said last night: ‘I saw smoke coming from an empty carriage and ran the length of the platform to warn the motorman. He jumped from the engine and came to help and at the same time the guard came running from his van as the platform roof was getting scorched. I thought the fire was getting worse so I called the fire brigade. I had no idea that while all this was going on somebody was getting at the mail.’
The guard, Mr Thomas Guile, said: ‘It seems obvious that one of the gang set a compartment ablaze at Haywards Heath, jumped out and got into another. At Preston Park a porter told me that there was a compartment on fire. I grabbed an extinguisher and ran. There was a small fire in the corner but as soon as I pulled the door open it blazed up and out of the compartment. The top of the station canopy started to catch fire and I shouted to my driver, Percy Shepherd, to pull the train out of the station. I would think that the gang then got into my carriage while I was fighting the fire and grabbed the mailbags. I was out of my van for about eight to 10 minutes.’11
So far, no clues had been found that might provide any lead whatsoever on any of the mail hold-ups. None of the raiders had ever been seen without masks and no informants had come forward with names or even the merest of possibilities. However, in January 1963 an informant began passing on a series of snippets to Chief Inspector Walker of Scotland Yard’s Criminal Intelligence Branch (C11). Early the following month, Walker received information that a big robbery was imminent and a train leaving Weymouth was the target: