Funeral for Great Train Robber Bruce Reynolds

Reynolds, 81, died just months before the 50th anniversary of the famous heist, in which £2.6 million - equivalent to £40m today - was stolen from a Glasgow to London mail train.

Reynolds died in his sleep on 28 February after a period of ill-health.

Ronnie Biggs, who took part in the Great Train Robbery, was among those attending the private service at St Bartholomew the Great, in the City of London.

In a tribute read out on his behalf, Biggs said: “Bruce was a true friend, a great friend. A friend through the good and the bad times, and we had many of both.

“He was a good friend to me and my family. My thoughts are with Nick, his son. It was Bruce who set me off on an adventure that was to change my life, and it was typical of Bruce that he was there at the end, to help me back from Brazil to Britain.

“I am proud to have had Bruce Richard Reynolds as a friend. He was a good man. I miss him already.”