London - British authorities said Thursday that Ronnie Biggs, Britain's "Great Train Robber," was being allowed to go free after all.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw said Biggs, who turns 80 on Saturday, was granted "compassionate release" from a hospital near Norwich Prison in eastern England following a plea from his family.

Straw said the decision was based on medical evidence that Biggs' condition had deteriorated and he was not expected to recover. Ten days ago, Biggs was transferred to hospital from his prison suffering from "severe pneumonia."

Biggs' son, Michael, said last week that legal representatives had asked the government to consider the prisoner's release on compassionate grounds.

On July 1, Straw rejected an application for parole on the grounds that Biggs had been "wholly unrepentant" about his role in the 1963 raid on a postal train.

According to his son, Biggs' life was "hanging in the balance" and doctors at Norwich University Hospital say they had "little hope of recovery."

Biggs has suffered several strokes and is unable to eat, walk or speak without help, his family says.

Biggs was a member of a 15-strong gang which attacked the Glasgow to London mail train in Buckinghamshire, north of London, on August 8, 1963, getting away with a record haul at the time.

He was given a 30-year jail term but escaped from London's Wandsworth prison after 15 months, eluding capture by Scotland Yard for more than 36 years.

During that time, Biggs lived in France, Australia and Brazil, from where he returned voluntarily in 2001.(dpa)