The Great Train Robbery has gone down in history as one of the most infamous crimes ever committed in this country.
The heist, which saw £2.6m - equivalent to around £53m in today's money - stolen from the Royal Mail train service between Glasgow and London, shocked the nation and sparked a huge manhunt for those involved.
Perhaps the most notorious of all the culprits was Ronnie Biggs, who famously escaped from jail two years after starting a 30 year sentence for his part in the robbery and spent more than three decades on the run in Australia and Brazil.
But the fact that Biggs was even part of the heist at all can be traced back to Yeovil.
Before he joined the gang of 15 men planning the brazen ambush, Biggs needed to stump up £100 to bankroll his part in the heist.
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It is alleged that to raise the funds, he broke into the Odeon Cinema, then on Court Ash, and stole the day's takings and staff wages.
With Summer Holiday, starring Cliff Richard, in cinemas at the time, the Odeon was enjoying a week of bumper takings.
The burglary left detectives mystified, with no fingerprints or other evidence of a break-in having been left behind at the crime scene and no witnesses ever came forward.
Biggs denied having ever robbed the cinema, contradicting the account of his then wife Charmaine, who said that the couple were holidaying in the area at the time.
The criminal did, however, admit to having visited Yeovil "a number of times" in the past, fanning the speculation that he may have been involved.
After 36 years on the run, Biggs returned to the UK in 2001 in need of medical help, and was promptly sent back to prison until his release on compassionate grounds in 2009.
Biggs passed away in December 2013, with a series of strokes having left him unable to walk or talk by the time of his death.
The train robbery remains one of the most notorious crimes ever committed on British soil, but were it not for a burglary in Yeovil shortly before, it may have taken on a very different form.
CREDIT: Thanks to Bob Osborn and the Yeovil History website for the supply of information in relation to this article.
