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Blake, 2008), p. 130 ff .
4 . MEMP*
5 . Malcolm Fewtrell, The Train Robbers (Arthur Barker Ltd, 1964).
6 . George Hatherill, A Detective’s Story .
7 . According to Williams, it was not until 1970 that he discovered Butler had not, after all, kept Millen and Hatherill informed of his activities nor passed on his reports regarding those robbers still at liberty. See Williams, No Fixed Address , p. 74.
8 . MEPO*; Foreman, The Godfather of British Crime , p. 131 ff .
9 . See Foreman, The Godfather of British Crime , p. 130 ff ; Williams, No Fixed Address , p. 78 ff .
10 . POST 122/15959 (opened 2011).
11 . Ibid .
12 . A possible Weybridge-Woking TPO robbery planned around February 1963 was eventually aborted (see Chapter 1; Chapter 1, notes 15 and 16).
13 . Ibid .
14 . POST 120/95 (originally closed until 2001; opened 2002); DPP 2/3718, 2 of 6 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).
15 . POST 122/15959 (opened 2011).
16 . Ibid.
17 . Ibid .
18 . The name chosen for the operation, ie ‘Primrose’, seems from police files to be derived from the activities of a group of suspects whose common denominator was 69 Belsize Park Gardens, London NW3, where the phone number was ‘Primrose 0218’ (see Chapter 7).
19 . POST 122/15959 (opened 2011).
20 . Ibid .
21 . Ibid .
22 . Daily Express (20 April 1964, p. 4). It seems likely that DCI Peter Vibart was Hoskins’s source for the story.
23 . POST 122/15959 (opened 2011).
11
FISH ON A HOOK
T he English court system under which the train robbers were tried in 1964 had hardly changed since the Middle Ages. Until 1967, committal proceedings were heard in order to determine whether criminal offences should be dealt with by the Quarter Sessions or referred to the Court of Assize.
The Courts of Quarter Sessions were local courts that were held at four set times a year. 1 They did not have jurisdiction to hear the most serious crimes and were usually held in the seat of each county or county borough. They were named after the four meetings held at Epiphany, Easter, Midsummer and Michaelmas each year from 1388 onwards. The Courts of Assize heard the most serious criminal cases that were committed to it by the Quarter Sessions. 2 Both Quarter Sessions and Courts of Assize were abolished in England and Wales by the Courts Act of 1971, which replaced them with a single Crown Court.
At the committal proceedings it was generally only the prosecution that would give evidence, with the defence reserving its case. Until 1967 these proceedings were often reported in the press, so that it was virtually impossible to find an unbiased jury for the Assize trial. This indeed was one of the key reasons for the 1971 reforms.
Despite the 1,700 exhibits that were to be produced in court, along with 2,350 witness statements and 209 witnesses, 3 the Crown was unable to bring before the court one single witness or piece of forensic evidence to identify any of those in the dock as being present at the scene of the crime in the early hours of 8 August 1963.
Was the political establishment out to make examples of the robbers whose actions it perceived to be a direct attack on the very fabric of the state? Were the police encouraged to get convictions at any price, and did the judge allow flagrant abuses of the judicial process in order to facilitate this? Immediately after the trial, the Conservative Attorney-General Sir John Hobson MP, 4 wrote personally to Judge Edmund Davies:
You must be thankful that the trial is over as it must have been an appalling burden on you. Nobody can congratulate or thank a Judge for administering justice in the way it is expected to be administered, but I think it would not be improper for me to say that no single word of criticism from any quarter (whether connected with the law or not) has been heard over the conduct of this trial, and all
4 . MEMP*
5 . Malcolm Fewtrell, The Train Robbers (Arthur Barker Ltd, 1964).
6 . George Hatherill, A Detective’s Story .
7 . According to Williams, it was not until 1970 that he discovered Butler had not, after all, kept Millen and Hatherill informed of his activities nor passed on his reports regarding those robbers still at liberty. See Williams, No Fixed Address , p. 74.
8 . MEPO*; Foreman, The Godfather of British Crime , p. 131 ff .
9 . See Foreman, The Godfather of British Crime , p. 130 ff ; Williams, No Fixed Address , p. 78 ff .
10 . POST 122/15959 (opened 2011).
11 . Ibid .
12 . A possible Weybridge-Woking TPO robbery planned around February 1963 was eventually aborted (see Chapter 1; Chapter 1, notes 15 and 16).
13 . Ibid .
14 . POST 120/95 (originally closed until 2001; opened 2002); DPP 2/3718, 2 of 6 (originally closed until 2045; redacted version opened 25/6/10).
15 . POST 122/15959 (opened 2011).
16 . Ibid.
17 . Ibid .
18 . The name chosen for the operation, ie ‘Primrose’, seems from police files to be derived from the activities of a group of suspects whose common denominator was 69 Belsize Park Gardens, London NW3, where the phone number was ‘Primrose 0218’ (see Chapter 7).
19 . POST 122/15959 (opened 2011).
20 . Ibid .
21 . Ibid .
22 . Daily Express (20 April 1964, p. 4). It seems likely that DCI Peter Vibart was Hoskins’s source for the story.
23 . POST 122/15959 (opened 2011).
11
FISH ON A HOOK
T he English court system under which the train robbers were tried in 1964 had hardly changed since the Middle Ages. Until 1967, committal proceedings were heard in order to determine whether criminal offences should be dealt with by the Quarter Sessions or referred to the Court of Assize.
The Courts of Quarter Sessions were local courts that were held at four set times a year. 1 They did not have jurisdiction to hear the most serious crimes and were usually held in the seat of each county or county borough. They were named after the four meetings held at Epiphany, Easter, Midsummer and Michaelmas each year from 1388 onwards. The Courts of Assize heard the most serious criminal cases that were committed to it by the Quarter Sessions. 2 Both Quarter Sessions and Courts of Assize were abolished in England and Wales by the Courts Act of 1971, which replaced them with a single Crown Court.
At the committal proceedings it was generally only the prosecution that would give evidence, with the defence reserving its case. Until 1967 these proceedings were often reported in the press, so that it was virtually impossible to find an unbiased jury for the Assize trial. This indeed was one of the key reasons for the 1971 reforms.
Despite the 1,700 exhibits that were to be produced in court, along with 2,350 witness statements and 209 witnesses, 3 the Crown was unable to bring before the court one single witness or piece of forensic evidence to identify any of those in the dock as being present at the scene of the crime in the early hours of 8 August 1963.
Was the political establishment out to make examples of the robbers whose actions it perceived to be a direct attack on the very fabric of the state? Were the police encouraged to get convictions at any price, and did the judge allow flagrant abuses of the judicial process in order to facilitate this? Immediately after the trial, the Conservative Attorney-General Sir John Hobson MP, 4 wrote personally to Judge Edmund Davies:
You must be thankful that the trial is over as it must have been an appalling burden on you. Nobody can congratulate or thank a Judge for administering justice in the way it is expected to be administered, but I think it would not be improper for me to say that no single word of criticism from any quarter (whether connected with the law or not) has been heard over the conduct of this trial, and all
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