Ronnie Biggs, the Great Train Robber, has been released from his prison sentence to die after a climbdown by Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary.
Biggs, who is in hospital with severe pneumonia, was granted "compassionate release" because his condition is not expected to improve.
But the decision comes just a month after Mr Straw refused the 79 year-old parole because he was "wholly unrepentant" over his criminal past and had "outrageously" courted the media during his 35 years on the run.
It means that Biggs has the opportunity to be a free man for his 80th birthday on Saturday, which is also the 46th anniversary of the infamous robbery.
In reality, he will stay in the Norwich and Norfolk Hospital but from Friday the three prison guards that have been at his bedside around the clock will be removed.
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