Family of famous jailbird ask for release due to Epilepsy

The family of jailed Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs fear he is near death in prison, and have applied to care for him at home.

Biggs, 76, is in London's high security Belmarsh prison, and unable to talk or eat after suffering four strokes. He has also had two epileptic seizures and two heart attacks, The Mirror reported.
His 31-year-old son Mike told the newspaper Biggs is unable to walk and spends most of his time wired to a heart monitor and intravenous feeding drip.

"I visited him on Saturday but he quickly had to be taken back to his room because he was paralyzed with coughing fits," Biggs' son said. "His doctors think it's a matter of time before he has another fit and that could well be his last."

Biggs escaped in 1965 after serving 15 months of his 30-year sentence for the 1963 train robbery, and returned to Britain in 2001 and is not due for parole for another five years.

Last year, Home Secretary Charles Clarke ruled only a life-threatening illness could secure his release.