connection as far as he was concerned. Mills' assailant The identity of the train robber who assaulted Mills has been the subject of some debate, but most sources agree that Mills' assailant was one of three members of the gang who were never identified. He was referred to as "Mr Three" by Ronnie Biggs, and "Alf Thomas" by Piers Paul Read and Bruce Reynolds. Where all accounts agree, is that Gordon Goody made Mills drive the train after the failure of the robbers' substitute driver, and that Charlie Wilson told Mills not to worry and that he would not be harmed and ensured he was left alone after that. Williams (at the time a retired Detective Chief Superintendent) claims in his 1973 book No Fixed Address: "At least three men who were directly involved are still at liberty and enjoying to the full their share of the money stolen and the profits from the way they invested it. One of them is the man responsible for the attack on the train driver. The train driver's assailant is not some phantom figure lurking in the criminal underworld. I traced him, identified him and took him to Scotland Yard where, with Tommy Butler I questioned him. We were certain of our facts but he could not be charged because of lack of evidence suitable for presentation in a court; he had left no fingerprints or identifiable marks anywhere. None of those arrested informed on him although he had completely disobeyed instructions and used violence during the robbery. Otherwise, though, Williams gives no information on this person." In a widely discredited version of the attack on Mills contained in The Train Robbers, by Piers Paul Read, the assailant is given as Buster Edwards. Edwards is listed as the assailant of both Whitby and Mills, although the description of the attack seems implausible given it does not match the description given at the trial and seems to have one train robber doing the entire assault by himself while the rest of the gang was idle. Reynolds dismisses the claim by Read, as the publishers at the time wanted the name of the perpetrator before they would do a deal, therefore Buster offered himself up as the villain (Edwards and Goody were the chief movers behind the Read book). Buster Edwards was the member of the gang who ambushed David Whitby, Mills' assistant (called the