60-year-old documents from Great Train Robbery near Leighton Buzzard go up for auction

Considered the largest heist in British history when it took place, The Great Train Robbery saw crooks make off with £2.6m.

Gangsters intercepted the train in Mentmore after setting up a base in a farm located near Oakley. Eventually officers found many of the criminals involved at the same hideout in Buckinghamshire and most of them were tried at Aylesbury’s 1960s court buildings.

On Sunday, reams of evidence that was used to secure the conviction of the infamous robbers involved will go up for auction.

C&T Auctioneers and Valuers, a specialist company in Kent, is hosting a national auction for the items. Property being put up for sale comes from Ernest Millen, a police commissioner and one of the key investigators tasked with discovering who was behind the historic heist.

Among the late commissioner’s items which are up for grabs are police files, case reports, photographic evidence, and personal photos of the man who was head of the force’s ‘flying squad’ when news of the shock robbery broke in 1963.

Millen’s belongings include the first Metropolitan Police report that was submitted four days on from the interception of the train which was travelling from Glasgow to London.

These previously protected files show photographs of where the train was recovered from and exclusive footage of the gangsters’ Buckinghamshire hideout.

Newspaper clippings and photos of the heavy machinery the robbers used are also included in the lot. A detailed look at what else is included can be found online.

Former LBO journalist Dennis Aris was the first reporter at the scene on August 8, 1963.

In his memoir he wrote: “As we chugged into Cheddington, police were just escorting the battered and shocked train driver away from the station. Minutes later the power of the national press even in those days was shown when an express train made an unscheduled stop at the station and a flock of reporters tumbled out, many having already made good use of the bar on the 30-minute trip from Euston.

“Over the next few months we lads learned a great deal about journalism as the story rumbled on through the capture of many of the gang and preliminary court hearings in little Linslade court room.

“Surprisingly, having almost missed the greatest story of the age our combined report looked every bit as good on the front page as those of the nationals next morning.”