Ronnie Biggs – the hard argument between justice and mercy

The Great Train Robbery happened over 40 years ago. I remember the mixture of romanticised hero worship, fascination at the ingenuity and audiacity of stealing such a huge amount of money, and anger at the violence against train staff. Then the finding of fantastic sums of money, bags of it, in various locations across England. I also remember the unprecedented lengths of prison sentence, more than the tarriff required of most murderers. Then the escape of Ronnie Biggs, and again the public fascination, even at times secret admiration for this high flying crook. His return to the UK in 2001 to resume his prison sentence was surrounded by a media circus, much of it orchestrated by Biggs himself.

So I listened to the reasons given by Jack Straw, the Justice Minister, for refusing parole to Ronnie Biggs. Significant among the comments made was that if he had not escaped, he would have been freed long ago. These are complex decisions, and I realise that public perceptions of law and justice are not inconsequential in an age when respect for fundamental institutions is easily eroded. Mr Straw speaks of the demands of justice, and the requirement that criminal act and due penalty should be demonstrably upheld and consistently equated. But there are other issues here. The Parole Board recommended release. Biggs is clearly an old and much weakened man. There is pressure on the present Government to show it can be tough.

And something more, which I don't put forward as an argument, more an observation disguising a plea. Ours is now one of the least generous, and most hard-edged societies I can remember in my lifetime. The sickening crimes of violence against children, the levels of greed that till very recently have been socially validated, corroded standards of public courtesy and respect for persons, creeping indifference to the plight of elderly and vulnerable people unable to command the clout to secure adequate late life care, and a level of outrage at the financial abuses exposed in MP's expense claims that perhaps shows where our our society's heart truly is – the temple of mammon.

Which brings me back to Ronnie Biggs. Criminal, violent gang member, unrepentant thief, – and ageing human being. What might have given us more dignity as a society, would have been a decision to uphold the Parole Board recommendation, but to set it in the context of mercy not justice. Such decisions have profound moral resonance when the majesty of the law is expressed in mercy rather than retribution, and when natural instincts of humane responsiveness are at the right time, allowed to ameliorate the demands of the law. I don't blame Jack Straw – nor question his integrity.  But I wish I could admire him more for moral imagination, that capacity for applying the law in ways that can be recreative of public virtues such as mercy, that demonstrate also the majesty of compassion and show that legal power harnessed to humane ends, strengthens and does not weaken the fabric of our society.