With Ronnie Biggs I don't think the negative reaction is born of a personal hatred towards him but rather from the cult status he was granted as a result of his crimes. He gained a kind of infamy whilst he was on the run and his release was encouraged by many. The annoyance you're seeing is a backlash against that image. People trying to remind everyone that he committed a crime, then went on the run sticking his nose up at our criminal justice system and the family of the victim and then came back when he ran out of money. He never seemed to express a ounce of remorse for his crime and his attempt to flee justice, in fact he seem proud of it, and we should not glory that.
I think this story from The Economist sums it up:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/bligh...g-ronnie-biggs
Quote:
RONNIE BIGGS, an armed robber, liar and absconder from justice, died on December 18th. From the reaction of some commentators, you might have thought he was royalty—the dead man’s ghost-writer, Christopher Pickard, hailed Mr Biggs as “one of the great characters of the last 50 years”.
[snip]
He was to the end unrepentant. Communicating by alphabet board, in July, shortly before the 50th anniversary of the Great Train Robbery, he said: “If you want to ask me if I have any regrets about being one of the Great Train Robbers, the answer is no.”
[snip]
He will not be greatly missed.
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