The family of Ronnie Biggs has vowed to fight on for his freedom after Justice Secretary Jack Straw condemned the Great Train Robber to a likely death behind bars.
Mr Straw rejected a parole board recommendation that the 79-year-old be released, saying Biggs was "wholly unrepentant" about his crimes.
Michael Biggs has insisted that his father has expressed regret for his crime and vowed 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 4's Today programme.
He said that Biggs had said he regretted his crime in an autobiography published in 1994.
"We are going to appeal because according to the Government my father is unrepentant about this crime," he added. "Now, we have to continue fighting because my father has publicly said he is sorry about what has happened."
Biggs's legal adviser, Giovanni Di Stefano, said he was planning to launch a judicial review to try to have it overturned.
Biggs was eligible for release on Friday, having served 10 years of his 30-year sentence. The Parole Board, which met earlier this month, recommended his release saying he posed a "manageable" threat to the public. But it noted he was unrepentant about fleeing prison and going on the run for 35 years.
Biggs is unwell, having suffered a series of strokes. He cannot eat or speak, can barely walk and last weekend broke his hip when he fell out of his bed in Norwich Prison.
He is now in the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital where sources said his condition had deteriorated in the past 24 hours and he was now regarded as "poorly".
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