Ronnie Biggs' lawyers last week applied for leave to appeal the Great Train Robber's 30-year sentence to the European Court of Human Rights, having exhausted domestic remedies, the Gazette has learned.

Biggs is in Belmarsh prison, serving the remainder of the sentence interrupted after 15 months by his escape from Wandsworth prison in 1965.

After years on the run, he returned to Britain in May 2001 and has been in poor health.

The application states that Biggs' imprisonment constitutes a breach of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which outlaws torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

His barrister, Nigel Sangster QC, head of St Paul's Chambers in Leeds, said: 'His condition has deteriorated [in recent months].

He has lost all ability to speak and communicates by pointing at letters on a card.

He is fed through a tube into his stomach.'

Jeremy Fleming