Armed robbery - crime v time

The decision to refuse parole to Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs has met with some criticism. How have other armed robbers been dealt with by the law?

Ronnie Biggs, 79, has been refused parole for his part in a 1963 train robbery that netted £2.6m, after the Justice Secretary Jack Straw said Biggs was unrepentant. Biggs's original 30-year jail term was part of a combined sentence of more than 300 years handed down to the gang he was part of. The Magazine has mapped several high-profile heists and the total prison terms imposed on those involved.

Click on the crimes below to see how each case was dealt with.

How did we compile the data for this graphic?

Figures for the sums of money stolen and jail terms were gathered by studying contemporaneous and other news reports of the various crimes and subsequent trials of those involved in these robberies. The prison terms cited represent the combined length of sentences handed down to those directly and indirectly involved in the crimes. The figures cited for the value of the various hauls are those used in reports at the time. They have been adjusted for inflation using the Bank of England inflation calculator which uses UK price index data.