Brian Field

The robbery was planned by several parties with no overall mastermind, although the robbery operation itself was planned and executed by Bruce Reynolds, the target and the information on the timing of the train and the amount of cash being carried, came from the unknown individual dubbed the "Ulsterman". The key field organisers were Gordon Goody, Buster Edwards, and Charlie Wilson, with Brian Field being the key link between the robbers and the informant.

According to one account by Piers Paul Read (1978), in January 1963, shortly after the furore of the Airport Job had died down, Brian Field called Gordon Goody to a meeting at the Old Bailey and asked him whether he was interested in a large sum of money that only a large gang could steal. The following day, Goody and Edwards met with Field at his office at James and Wheater (New Quebec Street near Marble Arch). There they met with Field and another man called "Mark" who was well dressed, aged around 50, with hair turned silvery grey and who spoke with a smooth accent. "Mark" then convinced them to meet the actual informant and drove Edwards and Goody to Finsbury Park where they met another man they nicknamed the "Ulsterman", who was a slightly balding middle aged man, who spoke with a Northern Irish lilt (where Goody had grown up). The "Ulsterman" told them about the night mail trains doing runs between London and Glasgow with large amounts of money. Edwards and Goody then went and discussed the matter with Reynolds and Wilson and it was agreed that they should make a serious attempt. In the meantime they would recruit others and do practice train robberies. On 31 July, Goody and Edwards met with the "Ulsterman" for one last strategy meeting in Hyde Park. They agreed that his share of the loot would be delivered at Brian Field's house. It is at this meeting that Gordon Goody claimed that when he was in the toilet, Goody checked the pockets of his suit jacket and saw the name and address of the owner, presumably the "Ulsterman".[4]

Despite the fact that he was crucial to the planning of the robbery, Field is perhaps best remembered for arranging the purchase of Leatherslade Farm, the robbers hideout.

Bruce Reynolds and John Daly spotted a potential hideout in Leatherslade Farm at Brill only 27 miles from the crime scene. The farm also happened to be the only major farm in the area not labelled on local maps – the perfect hideout from the police. Field arranged for the farm to be purchased by one of his firm's clients, Leonard Dennis (Lennie) Field (no relation), who had come into some money as he was power of attorney over the affairs of his brother, Alexander Field who was serving time in prison. The two Fields went to see the farm, and in return for a promised sum from a robbery (though he was not told that it was a train robbery) Lennie Field agreed to act as the purchaser and pay the 10% deposit. John Denby Wheater, Field's employer, was the solicitor who carried out the conveyancing for the farm.

In addition to arranging the purchase of the farm, it was agreed that Brian Field would also arrange for the farm to be cleaned up and get rid of any trace of the robbers after they had left. When Gordon Goody asked about the details he was told that "Mark" would carry out the role of "Dustman" and clean up the farm in return for a 'drink' (28,500 pounds). According to Buster Edwards, he nicked 10,000 pounds in ten shilling notes to help pay "Mark's" drink.[5]

Field was not involved in the robbery itself, but was intimately involved in the lead up and arranging the escape from Leatherslade. Gordon Goody flew back into England under an assumed name and stayed the night and the following day with the Fields before getting Brian to drive him to Leatherslade at night and only a few hours before the robbery was to take place.

The robbery itself was the largest cash robbery in British history and went off largely as planned, with the train stopping at the red lights at Sears Crossing in accordance with the plan. However a new addition to the gang coshed the train driver Jack Mills in the head and an injured Mills was forced to drive the hijacked train to the robbery site at Bridego Bridge. Still on time the robbery was done and the robbers gone to Leatherslade Farm, leaving only 7 of the 128 bags of cash left on the train. The share was around 150,000 pounds for the 17 full gang members (15 robbers, Brian Field and the "Ulsterman").

Field was then supposed to collect Goody, Edwards and two shares of the loot for himself and the "Ulsterman", but the police speculation that the robbers were still close by and the description of the vehicle given to police by one of the train staff and broadcast to the public meant that the plans had to be changed. It quickly became apparent that the police believed that they were still in the area rather than fled to London, so the plans changed from leaving on Sunday to leaving on Friday, and the vehicles they had at the farm could no longer be used because they had been seen by the train staff. Field came on Thursday and took Roy to London to pick up his share of the loot and to take Roy James to London to find an extra vehicle. Bruce Reynolds and John Daly picked up cars, one for Jimmy White and the other for Bruce, John, Ronnie Biggs and the replacement train driver. Brian, wife Karin and his associate "Mark" brought the vans and drove the rest of the gang that remained to 'Kabri' to recover. This was far from ideal as he had not planned to get this involved, but his pretty wife Karin coolly accepted the change in plans.

The clean up of the farm had been arranged to be carried out after the robbers had left (although the robbers spent much time wiping the place down to be free of prints and burning some items of clothing). On Monday however, Charlie Wilson rang Brian Field to check whether the farm had been cleaned, and did not believe Field's assurances. He called a meeting with Edwards, Reynolds, Daly and James and they agreed that they needed to be sure. They called Brian Field to a meeting on Tuesday where he admitted he could not be sure that the farm had been cleaned. Wilson would have killed him there and then but was restrained by the others. By the time they had gotten ready to go back to the farm however, they heard some bad news – it had been discovered.

Since the crime was committed in Buckinghamshire, it was decided that the trial should occur there, despite the small size of the local court facilities (Aylesbury Assizes). The authorities were desperate to hold the trial in the countryside out of reach of London, as the Government was coming under heavy fire over the robbery and was insisting on a trial that could not be tampered with by robbers with a proven history of beating the system. This was because, it was known that while London had much more capable court facilities, London juries, particularly for cases involving large robberies were far more accessible to local London criminals and were often tampered with. So to hold the trial at Aylesbury, the local council building was converted into use as a trial court. It was for this reason that Field was desperate to get the trial shifted to London, and had his junior counsel open proceedings by objecting to the first juror claiming that Karin Field had been approached by a man who claimed that he could get at some of the jurors. Tommy Butler however was called upon to investigate the incident and make a report to Judge Davies, who promptly dismissed the claim. There was no way that Butler was going to let Field move the trial to London.[6]

The prosecution had their work cut out for them as there was no evidence linking the gang to the crime at either the hijacking location at Sears Crossing or the robbery location at Bridego Bridge. This made it tough to establish their involvement in the actual robbery or even the conspiracy. The only evidence against the gang as a whole involved fingerprints of the gang at Leatherslade Farm, and most of these were on moveable objects as the gang had wiped down most surfaces. For Field there were no prints at the farm, but he had been involved in the purchase of the farm, although Lennie Field had acted as the purchaser (although he only paid the deposit) and Field's boss John Wheater, had done the conveyancing. It was obvious to the jury that one of the three men was deeply involved but it was not obvious which one. Lennie Field generally was the most helpful of the witnesses and generally blamed Brian Field for his part of the robbery.

Field was sentenced on 16 April 1964 with rest of the gang who had been caught, and he received 25 years for Conspiracy to Rob and 5 years for perverting the course of justice. He was found not guilty of the robbery itself (and in fact he was not present at the actual robbery).

On 13 July 1964, the appeals by Brian Field against the charges of Conspiracy to Rob were allowed. This meant that his sentence was effectively reduced to 5 years only. He was only reluctantly acquitted of the robbery, with Justice Atkinson stating that he would not be surprised if he was not only part of the conspiracy, but also one of the robbers. But given there was no evidence linking him to either the conspiracy or the robbery, there was little choice to acquit him. The charges against the other men were all upheld, with the exception of Lennie Field, Roger Cordrey and Bill Boal. In the end Lennie Field and Bill Boal got some measure of justice, and Cordrey got lucky, although despite the reduction in sentence, Boal still died in prison in 1970 after a long illness. [7]

The two members of the gang who benefitted the least from their share of the loot were also the two luckiest in sentencing, with Cordrey, who had most of his share recovered by police, and Field, who had two thirds of his share found in Dorking Wood by hikers (having been buried there by his father, who had found the money in a laundry bag under his bed) both avoiding 30 year sentences for robbery and conspiracy to rob.