The family of a man who died in jail after being convicted over the Great Train Robbery have launched a bid to clear his name – after one of the gang declared him “totally innocent”.
Bill Boal was one of 12 men caged for up to 25 years after the £2.5million heist stunned the world.
But as the 50th anniversary looms, robber Roger Cordrey’s son Tony has confirmed what Boal’s children have always believed – their dad had nothing to do with ambushing the Glasgow-to-London Night Mail in August 1963.
And Tony’s vowed to help them launch a fresh appeal by confirming his own father repeatedly said before he died: “Bill was totally innocent.”
Tony told the Sunday People: “Dad said many, many times Bill had absolutely nothing to do with the robbery.
“It’s only right I should try and help the family clear his name.”
The crucial confession is revealed as Boal’s family prepare a file asking the Criminal Case Review Commission to look again at their father’s case.
It will include testimony from some of the gang and include evidence ruled out of the original trial.
Boal’s son Anthony said: “We plan to use publicity that will be generated by the 50th anniversary to highlight the injustice suffered by my father and hope to convince the Appeal Court to reverse a conviction that condemned him to a life of suffering in prison.”
Engineer Boal, from Fulham, west London, was jailed for 24 years – later cut to 14 on appeal – after cops found him with Cordery’s car.
It contained £141,000 – Cordery’s share of the train haul.
The family man always insisted he did not know the cash was there.
But he died of cancer in prison still protesting his innocence in 1970.
His version of events is supported by other gang members.
Nick Reynolds, the son of robbery mastermind Bruce Reynolds, told the Sunday People: “Everyone knew the truth – Bill was stitched up by the police and the courts.
“His only crime was in knowing Cordrey, who was one of the gang.
“Bill never played any part in it and the rest of the guys were completely stunned when he was convicted.
“The first they ever knew of Bill was when he was standing in the dock.”
Reynolds – who died aged 81 earlier this year – left a hand-written statement confirming Boal was never involved.
Nick added: “I’ll be providing a statement to Bill’s family based on everything my father told me together with his hand-written account that Bill was wrongly convicted.
“I just hope it helps his family get proper justice.”
The family also hope the relatives of other gang members will now come forward to confirm Boal’s innocence because his conviction shattered the lives of wife Renee and their children Anthony, David and Debbie.
David, 62, who now lives in Europe, said: “The effect on our family was more than a burden, it was a catastrophe that virtually destroyed us.
“We carry the scars – some of them very open and very real – to this day.”
He heaped scorned on cops for linking their dad to the robbers, saying: “You only had to ask yourself why would a 50-year-old little fat man be part of a gang of fit young men who were the elite of London criminals at the time?
“It just didn’t fit – he didn’t have the profile or temperament for it.”
David added: “The truth was there for all to see, including the police and courts – if it wasn’t for his association with Cordrey, this injustice would not have happened.”
Boal met Cordrey after lodging with his family in Hampton, west London.
The two became pals through a joint love of racing, snooker and gambling.
Anthony, 56, said: “Mum always disliked Cordrey and thought he was a bad influence on Dad.” At the time of the robbery Cordrey owed Boal £650 – part loan, part gambling debt.
And because of it, Boal found himself in the red at the bank.
David said: “I recall letters from the bank coming in and Dad wouldn’t open them – there was a huge pile of them.
“In those days we never talked about debts and who owed money but it was fairly well known to everyone Roger Cordrey owed money to my dad.” On August 8, 1963 the world was agog over the Great Train Robbery.
The gang laid low for five days at Leatherslade Farm – 17 miles from the ambush site near Ledburn, Beds – before splitting the loot and dispersing.
Soon after, Cordrey rang Boal and said he could now repay his debt – no great surprise to Bill as his pal sometimes had a big win at the races.
Tony Cordrey said: “There were times Dad had a lot of money as a gambler and unlicensed bookie, though I also saw him lose fortunes because he was a lousy gambler.”
Cordrey invited Boal to join him in a “project” in Bournemouth – and Bill decided to combine it with a family trip to the seaside. They took a train to Oxford, where Cordrey met them in his new Rover.
Anthony said: “We all piled in to this big car, very posh.
“There were bags and cases and we all thought it was fishing tackle for dad and Roger Cordrey.”
In fact they were stuffed with the £143,000 – worth £2.6million today.
And there were so many bags the children had to sit on them on the back seat for the trip to Dorset.
Once they hit Bournemouth, Boal sent Renee and the kids to the beach and Cordrey asked him to help rent a garage and flat and buy another car.
Then piecing together a sequence of events that’s NEVER been fully explored despite a jury trial and a several appeals, Boal’s sons believe Cordrey gave their dad £220.
He said he’d give him the balance of £430 in another couple of days. Boal agreed and put Renee and their children on a train to London, having first given his wife the £220 to prove to her Cordrey wasn’t wasting his time.
But within a week of the robbery, Boal and Cordrey were arrested after offering to pay cash for three months’ rent on a lock-up garage.
The owner was a policeman’s widow – who smelt a rat and rang 999.
Cops called it a “great breakthrough in solving the crime of the century”.
Two years later, Boal told a lawyer in a letter: “All I ever wanted from Cordrey was what he owed me. My wife told me to stay with him until he paid what he owed me, the £650. That is my only involvement with Cordrey, settlement of a debt.”
Boal died in June 1970, four months after Jack Mills, the train driver who never got over being coshed in the robbery.
Among Boal’s belongings in prison were a series of letters protesting his innocence addressed to the European Commission on Human Rights, the Council of Europe and the Official Solicitor.
One began with the claim “my trial was rigged” and went on: “I knew not the slightest thing about this crime or what Cordrey was involved in until several hours after I went voluntarily to police headquarters at Bournemouth where I was brutally beaten up and left unconscious.” He said evidence at his trial was “invented” and added: “All I ask for is a new trial, to have an honest trial with honest judiciary, also honest witnesses, documents and material.”
Boal fought every step of the legal proceedings against him – sometimes so hard he was “constrained” by cops, his family claim.
David recalled: “The first time we saw him in prison he couldn’t do up his trousers because his stomach was so swollen from the kicking he said he’d got from police. Dad always felt he was the innocent victim and fought back, often very loudly.
“He said there were many times he was beaten up in prison for not conforming because he was innocent.”
Robbery mastermind Bruce Reynolds summed up the family’s plight when he wrote in his autobiography: “Every victory has a victim – sometimes more than one. In this case it was Bill Boal.
“Bill Boal was an innocent man. The Establishment sent him to prison where he subsequently died leaving behind a widow and children.
“Bill Boal was a victim of the judicial process. And while we, the Great Train Robbers, accept responsibility for injuring Jack Mills, I’ve yet to hear of anyone accepting responsibility for what was done to Bill Boal.”
