Was Biggs paid for allowing his kidnapping?

Press, 27 March 1981, Page 5

Was Biggs paid for allowing his kidnapping?

NZPA London As lawyers for the British great train robber, Ronald Biggs, prepared yesterday to test the legality of his detention in Barbados, the man thought to be behind Biggs’ abduction from Brazil denied reports that Biggs was paid for being kidnapped. John Miller, who is alleged to have masterminded the kidnap, dismissed as “rubbish” reports in two London tabloid newspapers that Biggs was promised payment if he allowed himself to besnatched from freedom in Rio de Janeiro, where he has lived for 11 years. Biggs is still wanted in Britain for escaping from prison in 1965. He had served 15 months of a 30-year sentence for his part in stealing about $7.2 million from a mail train in 1963. The “Daily Star” newspaper reported details of what it claimed was a secret

tape-recording to a telephone call between Miller and an unidentified “wealthy Brighton businessman” which it said had come into its possession. The tape-recording reveals that Biggs would have been paid about $24,400 for every year he served in a British jail should he be forced to return to Britain, the paper said. British authorities said yesterday that fingerprints confirmed Biggs’ identity and they had started the legal moves necessary to get him back to Britain. Biggs has retained two local lawyers, including a former Barbados AttorneyGeneral, Ezra Alleyne, to fight the proceedings, which a Scotland Yard official said will “be prolonged” unless Biggs gives up his fight. He will appear in court today. NZPA-Reuter reported from Brasilia that Brazil

says it too, will ask Barbados to return Biggs and extradite five men who took him there on a chartered yacht. The move, announced by Government authorities yesterday, could produce an international legal tug-of-war over Biggs. The Brazilian Foreign Ministry announced that* it was seeking Biggs’ return on the recommendation of the Justice Ministry, along with the men who had taken him to Barbados on the grounds that they were his supposed kidnappers. The Foreign Ministry said it was also seeking the extradition of a sixth man it named as Patrick Anderson but gave no reason. Mr Anderson is 29-year-old heir to a carpet fortune and some reports have said he financed the kidnap. The Barbadian police haye told the five from the yacht that they are free to leave Barbados.