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 May 2001, whereupon he was immediately arrested and re-imprisoned. His son Michael said in a press release that, contrary to some press reports, Biggs did not return to the UK simply to receive health care which was available in Brazil and he had friends who would have contributed to such expenses, but that it was his desire to "walk into a Margate pub as an Englishman and buy a pint of bitter". John Mills, son of train driver Jack Mills, was unforgiving: "I deeply resent those, including Biggs, who have made money from my father's death. Biggs should serve his