Ronnie Biggs time from first meeting to Biggs's flight to Brazil. In 1970, when Biggs arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil did not have an extradition treaty with the United Kingdom. In 1971, Biggs's eldest son, Nicholas, aged 10, died in a car crash in Melbourne. In 1974, "Daily Express" reporter Colin MacKenzie received information suggesting that Biggs was in Rio de Janeiro; a team consisting of MacKenzie, photographer Bill Lovelace and reporter Michael O'Flaherty confirmed this and broke the story. Scotland Yard detective Jack Slipper arrived soon afterwards, but Biggs could not be extradited because his girlfriend, nightclub dancer Raimunda de
Ronnie Biggs day by his son Michael, who said Biggs had serious pneumonia but was stable. News of his condition prompted fresh calls from Michael Biggs for his release on compassionate grounds. On 23 April the Parole Board recommended that Biggs be released on 4 July, having served a third of his 30-year sentence. However, on 1 July Jack Straw did not accept the Parole Board's recommendation and refused parole, stating that Biggs was 'wholly unrepentant'. On 28 July 2009, Biggs was readmitted to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital with pneumonia. He had been admitted to the same hospital a month earlier