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The son of one of the
Great Train Robbers
has spoken about his life on the run while his father was one of the world’s most wanted men.
Living in Mexico in 1966, Nick Reynolds was unaware just how unique his life was, and how their seemingly comfortable life in South America was always under threat.
Speaking exactly 60 years after the raid on August 8, 1963, Nick said he thought the strange things he noticed were because his dad Bruce “was a heroic spy like James Bond”.
He has also released letters his father sent him while in jail following his capture after five years on the run. The Mirror reports that the pair discussed Nick’s schoolwork and being “kind” to his mum, as well as telling his son he was proud of him for a recent school report.
Now working as a musician and artist, Nick said: “I used to go and see my dad in prison. He’d send me these amazing letters which was a way of keeping this amazing bond that we had. We were so close because I had seen more of him in those years on the run than most kids get to spend with their dad up to their teens.
“When he was jailed I went to prisons all over the country. We used to travel five-and-a-half hours to get to Durham prison. It was like a horrible old castle… really scary. I remember the screw’s boots clanking on the floor and the keys rattling.”
Bruce was behind the plot which saw the robbers make off with £2.6million in cash from the Glasgow to London mail train – the haul equivalent to about £50m in 2023.
The train was stopped in Ledburn in Buckinghamshire, the driver was overpowered and then bags of cash moved by the gang into a lorry.
This was not simply a crime against Royal Mail and insurance companies, however. Train driver Jack Mills was hit on the head with an iron bar during the robbery, and died in 1970, having never recovered.
By the end of 1964, most of the 15 gang members had been jailed. Bruce had moved with wife Frances and Nick to Mexico. He was just 18 months at the time of the robbery.
He said: “I never picked up any vibes of stress or panic. But now I realise he was looking over his shoulder and was on high alert for any indication his identity might have been rumbled.
“But I never picked up on that. For the five years we were on the run it was like a long holiday. To make sense of it, I think I thought my dad was a spy. I had loads of different identities and my dad had loads of different passports. I had different names, there were five I can remember. I’ve got images of him diving in scuba gear through glass-bottomed boats – it was all very James Bond.”
He added: “Life in Mexico was good. I was extremely privileged. It wasn’t rare for my dad to say to my mum, ‘Do you fancy a steak?’, and they’d fly into Las Vegas for dinner.
“Or they’d go see Frank Sinatra in Vegas… in the front row. Sinatra dedicated a song to my mum, calling her the Green Hornet because she was wearing a green silk dress. Imagine going from a girl from a poor background on a council estate to being addressed by her favourite singer. It must have blown her mind.”
The family continued as fugitives of the law, going from South America to Canada, then into France, before returning to British soil for the first time since Bruce left as a wanted man.
They were at a hideout in Torquay, in 1968 when Bruce was finally arrested by Det Chief Supt Tommy Butler. Nick said: “I remember it clearly. It was about 7am and the doorbell went. Dad shouted, ‘Son, can you get that?’. I opened the door and about 30 policemen came crashing in… Then my dad came into my room with Tommy Butler.
“[My dad] told me that he had been a very naughty boy and he had to go away for a very long time.”
Nick, who is a member of the band Alabama 3, added: “When Tommy Butler arrested my dad he went into my dad’s bedroom and said, ‘Hello, Bruce, it’s been a long time’. My dad replied, ‘C’est la vie, Tom’.
“My dad said, ‘Any chance we can cut a deal?’. Tom said, ‘No, I’ve had so many holidays following tip-offs on places you’d been seen, if it comes out I’ve wasted taxpayers’ money chasing a lesser person I’ll get it in the neck.
“He said to my dad, ‘You’d have made a really good cop’. And my dad said, ‘You’d have made a great thief’.”
In 1969, Bruce was sentenced to 25 years’ jail, serving 10. Nick said: “He was treated like a superstar in prison. He was getting steaks sent in. He was eating better than the screws were.”
Bruce, died in 2013, aged 81. Nick said: “I never resented him for those 10 years in prison. They were tough, but it wasn’t too much of a price to pay for the life I’d lived before.
“I had a great relationship with my dad. He made a superhuman effort to maintain that relationship through these letters. That bond remained right up until he died.” Nick, who said the robbery had been an “albatross around my neck”, added: “I’m 61 and I’m still referred to as the son of Bruce Reynolds. It’s a little bit irksome at times.
“But it’s something I’ve just grown up with. I wasn’t really interested in the robbery when I was younger. It was only when my dad wrote his book… that I got involved. It’s greatly affected my life, not in a negative way. There have been ups and downs.”
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