Biggs, who escaped from prison and spent three decades as a celebrity fugitive in Brazil, was denied parole this week on the grounds that he was ''wholly unrepentant''.

But his son Michael insisted that his father had expressed regret for his crime in his 1994 autobiography and pledged to keep fighting for his release.

''My father has served the same amount of time as any of the train robbers and by the Government's rules has been rehabilitated,'' he told BBC radio.

''We are going to appeal because according to the Government my father is unrepentant about this crime.

''Now, we have to continue fighting because my father has publicly said he is sorry about what has happened.''

Biggs is in poor health. He was taken to hospital in Norwich, eastern England, last weekend with a broken hip and chest infection, his son said, while in February he was hospitalised with pneumonia.

The great train robbery saw a 15-strong gang hold up a London-to-Glasgow mail train, making off with 2.6million in the money of the day at a railway bridge in Buckinghamshire. Most of the money was never recovered.

British Justice Secretary Jack Straw said yesterday that Biggs would be denied parole.

''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,'' Mr Straw said.

''Had he complied with his sentence, he would have been a free man many years ago.

''Biggs chose not to obey the law and respect the punishments given to him the legal system in this country deserves more respect than this.''

Biggs played a minor role in the hold-up but was jailed for 30 years in 1964. He escaped by scaling the wall of the prison and jumping on to the roof of a furniture van.

He fled to France, where he had plastic surgery, and Spain before heading to Australia. He eventually settled in Brazil, where he was often pictured in British newspapers enjoying a party. When he had his son, Michael, with his Brazilian girlfriend, he became protected from extradition.

He handed himself over to the British authorities in 2001 amid a blaze of publicity, saying he wanted to see his homeland and enjoy a pint of beer by the seaside before he died, and was sent back to jail. AFP