London: The identity of the mysterious “fixer” behind the Great Train Robbery, the 50th anniversary of which occurs this week, is to be revealed by a member of the gang responsible for the infamous raid.

Known only as “the Ulsterman”, the informant possessed inside information about the supposedly secret Royal Mail trains that were being used to carry large sums of money between Glasgow and London each night. Now, Douglas Gordon Goody, sentenced to 30 years for his part in the robbery, will name the insider for the first time in a documentary set to air later this year.

Goody, 84, now living in Spain, says he first heard about the robbery plan from crooked solicitors’ clerk Brian Field. “I had just been acquitted of a robbery at the Old Bailey and Brian called me into his office. There was no mention of a train — just that there was a large sum of money in transit and a large, well-organised gang would easily be able to liberate it. Brian wanted to know if I was interested.”

Goody owned a chain of hair salons but made his main living as a safe cracker and thief. Just months earlier, he and others — in the South West Gang, which included Bruce Reynolds, Charlie Wilson and Ronald “Buster” Edwards, had carried out a raid at Heathrow, escaping with £62,000 (Dh348,077) — around £1m today. Coincidentally, the gang had also robbed several trains in the past, posing as passengers and pulling the communications cord to stop them at convenient points between stations.

Field arranged for Goody to meet the Ulsterman. The pair bonded over the fact that Goody had spent much of his childhood in County Tyrone. “It was just supposed to be me but Buster was there as well. We had two more meetings, one at Finsbury Park, another at Marble Arch, and he gave us a bit more information each time. It wasn’t until after that that I took the plan to Bruce and the others.”

Goody and Edwards were the only members of the gang ever to meet the Ulsterman. Goody handed over his share of the loot the night after the £2.6 million robbery — around £150,000 — and never saw him again.

Mystery figure

Field died in 1979 while Edwards died in 1994, leaving Goody as the only living person who knows the Ulsterman’s identity. The mystery figure remains the only one of the 17 criminals with a full share of the stolen money to get clean away with it. Goody has indicated that, due to the passage of time, there is no longer any reason to keep the man’s name secret. The Ulsterman is believed to have died some time ago.

Another member of the gang, John Daly, was acquitted of all charges but his share of the money was stolen by those looking after it during his trial. He turned his back on crime and worked as a dustman in Cornwall. Only his closest friends and family knew of his involvement in the crime. He died in May.

Although Reynolds, who also died this year, is portrayed as the mastermind of the robbery, this was not the view of the authorities.

Shortly after Goody began his sentence at Durham prison, police officers called in the army to guard him after rumours that an escape attempt was in the planning. In an interview with the press, the then chief constable of Durham revealed that friends of Goody were planning a full-scale military attack to free him “even to the extent of using tanks, bombs and what I believe are known as limited atomic weapons”.

He said Goody was the brains of the outfit and that the gang would attempt to free him at all costs.