Last of the Great Train Robbery gang dead: Bobby Welch had been the longest surviving member of the crew who swiped £2.6million from a Royal Mail train in 1963

The last member of the Great Train Robbery gang Bobby Welch has passed away peacefully in his home.

It is understood that he died from natural causes at his home in Brockley, south London, and his funeral is due to take place on Wednesday, according to The Sun. 

Bobby had been the longest surviving member of the 15 man crew who swiped £2.6million from a Royal Mail train in 1963. 

He was sentenced to 30 years in jail following the robbery and was released in 1976.

Bobby was later left crippled after an operation on his leg went wrong and later had it amputated. 

Nick Reynolds, son of the gang's leader Bruce Reynolds, who died aged 81 in 2013, told The Sun: 'It is the end of an era. Bobby was a very decent straight forward man who lived for his family.

'He was angry about the train robbery and about what happened to him in prison.

'He liked my dad though he thought he was a little bit flash.

'Despite his leg, he managed to outlive the rest of the gang and that's probably as he had the support of his wife and family.'

The 1963 raid was carried out by a 15-member gang on a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London in 1963. 

The gang masterminded by Bruce Reynolds stopped the Glasgow-Euston overnight mail train as it passed through the Buckinghamshire countryside close to Cheddington in 1963. 

The train was driven a mile and a half to the bridge, where the gang unloaded £2,631,684 in used notes.

But they were later captured and 12 were jailed for a total of more than 300 years.

More than one broke out of prison, including Biggs, who spent over 30 years on the run before he finally returned to Britain in 2001 to face arrest.