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MIKE BARRETT IN HIS OWN WORDS PART 1
Anyone who has read Mike's October 1995 Radio Merseyside interview might be wondering if it could possibly be true that Mike only ever admitted once (to a reporter) that the Diary was a forgery, at a time when he was blind drunk and didn't know what he was doing or saying and that he signed his 5th January 1995 affidavit without reading it or knowing what was in it.
Well, it probably won't shock anyone to know that he was lying and I'm going to show you some notes written by Mike Barrett in which he clearly and unambiguously demonstrates a knowledge of a forgery in which he and Anne participated.
Before doing this, a quick chronology of events.
Mike spoke to journalist Harold Brough on 24 June 1994 and the story of his having forged the Diary was published in the Daily Post over the next few days. We may note in passing that, even though she was not mentioned as having participated in the forgery, Anne was quoted at the time as saying "He is now trying to get back at me because I left him...I will fight like a tiger to protect myself and my family against anything he says." It has been suggested on her behalf in this forum that Anne said this because she believed that everyone would think that because Mike forged the diary she must have been involved too. But this is not what she has said herself. She is quoted in Inside Story as saying:
“I said the first thing that came into my head which was something like “I will fight like a tiger to protect my family” I can remember walking up the stairs thinking “What the hell did I say that for?”
Well if she couldn't come up with a sensible explanation I doubt anyone can!
Anyway, Mike's solicitor issued a statement before the end of the month saying that Mike was not in full control of his faculties when he said that the Diary was a forgery. After this, the following things happen:
5 July 1994 - Mike tells Feldman: “I’m one of the world’s greatest writers and no-one happens to believe it” but then denies being the forger.
24 October 1994 - Mike says on tape to Alan Gray that he has perpetrated a fraud.
5 November 1994 - Mike signs a statement taken by Alan Gray and lodged with Detective Constable Abram at Walton Lane Police Station (complaining about threats supposedly made by Feldman on 3 and 4 November) in which he says: "My wife Anne Barrett wrote the ‘Jack the Ripper Diary’ the actual manuscript. I have stated this for some considerable time’ and he says the Diary is 'a fraud'.
6/7 November 1994 - Mike tells Alan Gray in a recorded conversation that he created the Diary on his word processor from Tony Devereux’s original research but that the handwriting was Anne’s.
There may be more events in that period, and others may be able to add some, but I think this already shows that Mike was lying to Bob Azurdia when he said he had only once ever claimed that the Diary was a forgery in which he had played a part.
Next, onto those handwritten notes.....
Anyone who has read Mike's October 1995 Radio Merseyside interview might be wondering if it could possibly be true that Mike only ever admitted once (to a reporter) that the Diary was a forgery, at a time when he was blind drunk and didn't know what he was doing or saying and that he signed his 5th January 1995 affidavit without reading it or knowing what was in it.
Well, it probably won't shock anyone to know that he was lying and I'm going to show you some notes written by Mike Barrett in which he clearly and unambiguously demonstrates a knowledge of a forgery in which he and Anne participated.
Before doing this, a quick chronology of events.
Mike spoke to journalist Harold Brough on 24 June 1994 and the story of his having forged the Diary was published in the Daily Post over the next few days. We may note in passing that, even though she was not mentioned as having participated in the forgery, Anne was quoted at the time as saying "He is now trying to get back at me because I left him...I will fight like a tiger to protect myself and my family against anything he says." It has been suggested on her behalf in this forum that Anne said this because she believed that everyone would think that because Mike forged the diary she must have been involved too. But this is not what she has said herself. She is quoted in Inside Story as saying:
“I said the first thing that came into my head which was something like “I will fight like a tiger to protect my family” I can remember walking up the stairs thinking “What the hell did I say that for?”
Well if she couldn't come up with a sensible explanation I doubt anyone can!
Anyway, Mike's solicitor issued a statement before the end of the month saying that Mike was not in full control of his faculties when he said that the Diary was a forgery. After this, the following things happen:
5 July 1994 - Mike tells Feldman: “I’m one of the world’s greatest writers and no-one happens to believe it” but then denies being the forger.
24 October 1994 - Mike says on tape to Alan Gray that he has perpetrated a fraud.
5 November 1994 - Mike signs a statement taken by Alan Gray and lodged with Detective Constable Abram at Walton Lane Police Station (complaining about threats supposedly made by Feldman on 3 and 4 November) in which he says: "My wife Anne Barrett wrote the ‘Jack the Ripper Diary’ the actual manuscript. I have stated this for some considerable time’ and he says the Diary is 'a fraud'.
6/7 November 1994 - Mike tells Alan Gray in a recorded conversation that he created the Diary on his word processor from Tony Devereux’s original research but that the handwriting was Anne’s.
There may be more events in that period, and others may be able to add some, but I think this already shows that Mike was lying to Bob Azurdia when he said he had only once ever claimed that the Diary was a forgery in which he had played a part.
Next, onto those handwritten notes.....
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