The Sun, the Met and Ronnie Biggs

[dipsydoodle]

Close relationships between Rupert Murdoch's tabloids and senior officers of the Met police are nothing new, reports Sanchia Berg.

A file just released at the National Archives shows how, in 1970, months after Rupert Murdoch bought the Sun, its editor was able to get the police to do the paper a significant favour.

In late 1969, the Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs was spotted in Australia. He had been living there quietly, under an assumed name. Police raided his home in a suburb of Melbourne - but he had gone on the run, only hours before.

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Then, in April 1970, the Sun in London obtained a 77-page document purporting to be Biggs' own life story. It was being offered for sale by a lawyer in Melbourne, and another Murdoch paper in Australia was planning to run the story.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9543000/9543583.stm