Bruce Reynolds
The gang leader, thief and antiques dealer who masterminded the robbery was nicknamed "Napoleon". Afterwards, he fled to Mexico on a false passport and was joined by his wife Angela and son Nick. They later moved on to Canada but the cash from the robbery ran out and he came back to England. Five years after the heist, in 1968, a broke Reynolds was captured in Torquay and sentenced to 25 years in jail. He was released on parole in 1978 and moved, alone and penniless, into a tiny flat off London's Edgware Road. In the 1980s he was jailed for three years for dealing amphetamines. Reynolds said he wanted to get rich but also to "make his mark" with a crime to go down in the history books. His memoirs, written in 1995, said the Great Train Robbery proved a curse which followed him around and no-one wanted to employ him, legally or illegally. "I became an old crook living on handouts from other old crooks," he said. Reynolds marked the 40th anniversary of the heist, in 2003, as guest of honour at a village fete in Oakley, Buckinghamshire, close to the farm where the gang hid after the crime.
There he was reunited with the policeman who found his hideout, shaking hands with retired constable John Woolley.