OFFICIALS are considering a plea by Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs for release on "compassionate grounds", the Ministry of Justice confirmed today.
Biggs, who will be 80 next week, is in hospital with severe pneumonia.
His legal representatives made the plea for release after Biggs was taken from his cell to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital earlier this week.
At the time, his son Michael said doctors had told him there was "not much hope" for his father.
The Prison Service confirmed the request had been received and would be dealt with as soon as possible.
A spokesman said: "We can confirm an application for the early release on compassionate grounds of a prisoner at HMP Norwich has been received by the Public Protection Casework Section in the National Offender Management Service."
Four weeks ago Justice Secretary Jack Straw refused Biggs's request for parole, saying he was "wholly unrepentant" about his crimes.
Biggs, from London, was a member of a gang that attacked the Glasgow-London mail train at Buckinghamshire in August 1963 and made off with £2.6million in used banknotes.
He was given a 30-year sentence but after 15 months he escaped from Wandsworth Prison.
Biggs was on the run for more than 30 years before returning to the UK voluntarily in 2001 in search of medical treatment.
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