The Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs may have to spend the rest of his life behind bars after his parole was rejected by Justice Secretary Jack Straw.

Mr Straw rejected a recommendation by the Parole Board which backed the release of Biggs, 79, because he was "wholly unrepentant" about his actions and had "outrageously courted the media".

The Justice Secretary said Biggs would have been a free man "many years ago" if he had complied with the sentence given to him.

He added: "Mr Biggs chose to serve only one year of a 30-year sentence before he took the personal decision to commit another offence and escape from prison, avoiding capture by travelling abroad for 35 years whilst outrageously courting the media.

"It was Mr Biggss’ own choice to offend and he now appears to want to avoid the consequences of his decision. I do not think this is acceptable. Mr Biggs is wholly unrepentant and does not regret his offending."

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: "It is difficult to see what can be gained, other than tough headlines, by overturning a carefully considered Parole Board decision to grant release and instead condemning a sick, elderly man to spend what seem from reports to be his dying months in prison."

Biggs was a member of a 15-strong gang which attacked a mail train in Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, on August 8, 1963 where the gang made off with £2.6m.After being given a 30-year sentence, Biggs escaped from Wandsworth Prison and was on the run for the next three decades.