Belfast-born postal worker named as the Great Train Robber

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Belfast-born postal worker is finally named as the Great Train Robbers' inside 'Ulsterman'


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Mastermind of famous heist Gordon Goody breaks 50-year silence
He reveals identity of 'Ulsterman' who gave key information on the trains
Says it was Patrick McKenna, Belfast-born postal worker living in London
Family of Mckenna were shocked and insist he never spent his share of cash
Believe he gave it to Catholic Church after his conscience got better of him

The identity of the Great Train Robbers' inside man, known as the 'Ulsterman', has finally come to light after 50 years of mystery surrounding Britain's most famous heist.

Mastermind of the heist, Gordon Goody, has revealed that the man who provided vital information about the train - the key piece in the puzzle - was postal worker Patrick McKenna.

Then a 43-year-old Belfast man living in Islington, north London, McKenna was introduced to Goody through a third party, reports the Observer.


The pair met four times in early 1963, with McKenna offering inside information on how the post train operated, enabling the gang to successfully stop the Glasgow-to-London Royal Mail train in the early hours of 8 August 1963.

It was McKenna who persuaded the group to change the date of the robbery from August 7 to August 8 - as he knew the next day's train would be carrying more cash.


The 15-man crew got away with more than £2.6m - the equivalent of £48m today - all in £5 and £1 banknotes.

Goody, 85, who served 12 years of a 30-year sentence, has decided to talk about the heist in a new book after keeping his silence for more than half a century.
His introduction to crime came when he begun smuggling cattle over the Northern Irish border to dodge customs.

Now living a simple life in the Spanish countryside with his girlfriend Maria and five dogs, the former crook is in fragile health and wanted to get his side of the story to the public before it was too late.

Goody only learned McKenna's name after seeing it scribbled on the inside of his glasses case.

The Ulsterman had accidentally dropped it in the grass while getting up to buy the plotters some ice cream in Kensington Gardens three months before the heist.


The name and the fact that, as Goody later recalled, McKenna resembled the comedian Frank Skinner were all Goody knew - but a documentary team have used those clues to find the Ulsterman.

Police never suspected McKenna - partly because his share of the cash seemed to disappear from history after it was stuffed into two holdalls and a mailbag and loaded into the boot of a grey Austin 10 following the heist.

His widow and children, living in Manchester, were 'shocked and flabbergasted' to learn of McKenna's role in the conspiracy, says Simon Howley, the producer of the documentary film A Tale of Two Thieves.

They said that the man they knew was quiet and lived a simple life - continuing his job at the post office until his retirement and never owning a car.
His family believe Mckenna may have donated the money to the Catholic Church after letting his conscience get the better of him - as it is clear he never spent it.

In Goody's book he also expresses regret over the coshing of the train driver, Jack Mills, claiming it was unplanned by the group who saw themselves as 'gentleman robbers'.

He said: 'The fact the driver was hurt, that's the thing I regret. Nobody was going to get hurt. We knew it changed everything. I was choked, choked.'
It is generally agreed it was either Buster Edwards or James Hussey who hit Mills over the head.

Three handcuffed men arrested in connection with the great train robbery have blankets draped over their heads as they leave Linslade Court where they were remanded in custody for eight days


Despite Hussey making a deathbed confession in 2012, Goody insists it was not him but has upheld a criminal code of silence over who the actual perpetrator was - refusing to confirm that it was Edwards.

During the recent interview Goody also speaks disdainfully of Ronnie Biggs, who died in December last year.

He said: 'Biggsy was an a***hole. I didn't like him, no one did. His one job was to bring a train driver and he brought a guy who couldn't do the job.
'They had to go and sit in the car. Even the ones who pulled him out of prison had brains way out of Biggsy's league.'

Goody insists that he would never have brought a gun to a robbery and says much has changed in the world of crime since the Great Train Robbery - with the stakes now much higher.

He believes the harsh sentences handed down to his crew members played a part in the change, setting a new precedent which meant criminals had a lot less to lose.

But he admits that back in the 60s he never had had any second thoughts about his choice of occupation.

This picture taken on August 8 1963 at Cheddington station shows the Glasgow-London Royal Mail train after it was robbed

He added:'My old man wanted me to be a plumber's mate. I wanted to be a criminal. You never have to work hard to be a criminal.

'You do something, see something, you've no money, you take it. I was always a thief, never a gangster.'

Like most of the robbers, the lion's share of his money was spent by the time he emerged from prison by a friend he had left it with.

He remains tight lipped about whether there is any cash left in the book - which he views as a chance 'to put a few things straight' - including dispelling the idea that he was ever a hairdresser, as many people believe.
The Great British Train Robbery: A Tale of Two Thieves will be in cinemas on Friday, and on DVD, Blu-ray and online from 6 October. It is produced by Simon Howley of Kowalski Media and directed by Chris Long, the producer of The Mentalist.

'CRIME OF THE CENTURY': WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERS?

Bruce Reynolds
Gang-leader and mastermind Reynolds was nicknamed 'Napoleon' and after the Great Train Robbery 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.

After his second release, Reynolds went on to work briefly as a consultant on a film about the robbery, Buster, and published the Autobiography of a Thief in 1995. His son Nick said his father had died in his sleep in the early hours of February 28 2013
Great Train Robbers all together at the launch of a book. (L-R) Buster Edwards, Tommy Wisbey, Jim White, Bruce Reynolds, Roger Cordrey, Charles Wilson and
Ronnie Biggs

Ronald Arthur 'Ronnie' Biggs played a minor role in the robbery, but his life as a fugitive after escaping from prison gained him notoriety. He was given a 30-year sentence in 1964, but he escaped after 15 months by fleeing over the walls of London's Wandsworth prison in April 1965.
After having plastic surgery, he lived as a fugitive for 36 years in first Australia then Brazil, where he fathered a son Michael.
His health deteriorated in 2001 and he returned to the UK voluntarily where he was sent back to prison.

He was finally freed in 2009 on 'compassionate grounds' by then Justice Secretary Jack Straw who said he was not expected to recover.

Ronald 'Buster' Edwards
An ex-boxer, club owner and small-time crook who fled to Mexico after the heist but gave himself up in 1966.
Edwards is widely believed to be the man who wielded the cosh used to hit train driver Jack Mills over the head.
Mills' family say he never recovered, and he died seven years later.
Edwards served nine years in jail and then became a familiar figure selling flowers outside Waterloo station in London.
He was the subject of the 1988 film Buster, in which he was played by Phil Collins.Edwards was found hanged in a garage in 1994 at the age of 62. Two wreaths in the shape of trains accompanied his funeral cortège.

Charlie Wilson
Wilson was the gang's 'treasurer' who gave each of the robbers their cut of the haul.He was captured quickly and during his trial at Aylesbury Crown Court in 1964 earned the nickname 'the silent man' as he refused to say anything.

He was jailed for 30 years but escaped after just four months.

He was captured again in Canada after four years on the run and served 10 more years in jail.

He was the final train robber to emerge from prison in 1978.

Wilson moved to Marbella, Spain, where he was shot and killed by a hitman on a bicycle in 1990.

Roy James
A silversmith and racing driver, James dreamed of investing his share of the loot in new car technology.
He was nicknamed 'Weasel' and was the chief getaway driver.

James left a tell-tale fingerprint at the gang's farm hideout after the heist and was caught following a chase over rooftops in London.
Jailed for 30 years, he served 12 and later sold silver from a market stall before moving to Spain.

James was jailed again for six years in 1993 after shooting his wife's father and hitting her with a pistol.

He died at the age of 62, soon after getting out of prison.

Brian Field
A crooked solicitor who the gang used for the conveyancing when they bought the farm hideout used after the heist.
Field was arrested and sentenced to 25 years, which was later reduced to five.
He died in a motorway crash in 1979.

Bill Boal
An engineer who was arrested with Roger Cordrey in possession of £141,000.Reynolds said he had never heard of Boal. He claimed Boal was not involved in the robbery and was "an innocent man".

Boal was charged with receiving stolen goods and jailed for 24 years, which was reduced to 14 on appeal.
He died of cancer in jail in 1970.

Tommy Wisbey
A bookie and self-confessed 'heavy' whose job in the heist was to frighten the train staff.

Wisbey was sentenced to 30 years and released in 1976.

He was jailed for another 10 years in 1989 for cocaine dealing and later ran a flower stall.

On release from prison he went to live in north London and suffered several strokes.

Bobby Welch
A nightclub owner who was sentenced to 30 years in jail and was released in 1976.

He was later left crippled after an operation on his leg went wrong.

After jail he became a car dealer and gambler in London. He attended Bruce Reynolds' funeral earlier this year.

Gordon Goody
He was jailed for 30 years and released in 1975. Goody moved to Spain to run a bar.
James Hussey

A decorator known as 'Big Jim' who was sentenced to 30 years and released in 1975.

Hussey later worked on a market stall and then opened a Soho restaurant.

He notched up a conviction for assault in 1981 and in 1989 was jailed for seven years for a drug smuggling conspiracy with fellow train robber Wisbey.
He died in November 2012, aged 79, from cancer.

Leatherslade Farm Oakley, the gang's hideout - the group consisted of 17 full members who were to receive an equal share, including 15 people who were at the actual robbery and two key informants


Roger Cordrey
Part of the South Coast Raiders gang, Cordrey was a florist.
He was arrested in Bournemouth after having the bad luck to rent a lock-up from a policeman's widow.
He was jailed for 20 years, which was reduced to 14 on appeal.
When he was released in 1971 he went back to the flower business and moved to the West Country. He has since died.

Jimmy White
A former Paratrooper described as 'quartermaster' for the robbery.
White was on the run for three years before being caught in Kent and sentenced to 18 years.
He was released in 1975 and went to live in Sussex. He has since died.

Leonard Field
A former merchant seaman, Field was sentenced to 25 years, which was later reduced to five.
He was released from jail in 1967 and went to live in north London. Believed to be dead.

John Wheater
A solicitor who was sentenced to three years for conspiring to pervert the course of justice. He was released in 1966 and went to live in Surrey. Believed to be dead.