Mrs Dinwoodie

[GUT]

GUT - thank you for taking the time and trouble to respond even though your reply comes across as ungracious and unhelpful. A shame you didn't see and/or follow my second post.

OneRound

Sorry to hurt your feelings, but if you want to critique a legal proceeding at least find out what the rules are before claiming someone broke them.

[GUT]

That leaves us with the quandary over Hanratty mentioning asking for Tarleton Road in a sweetshop in Scotland Road on the Tuesday and Mrs Dinwoodie corroborating a man asking for the non-existent Tarleton Road and resembling Hanratty.

Hanratty was plainly in London all of the previous day (Monday 21st) as proved by the Crown.

I don't believe that Hanratty sought to buy an alibi as ludicrously put forward by the prosecution.

I believe Mrs Dinwoodie was mistaken as to the correct day; she became ill that Tuesday evening.

Del

But her evidence was clear it could only have been the Monday if you believe her, and if not it's no alibi anyway.

[Derrick]

That leaves us with the quandary over Hanratty mentioning asking for Tarleton Road in a sweetshop in Scotland Road on the Tuesday and Mrs Dinwoodie corroborating a man asking for the non-existent Tarleton Road and resembling Hanratty.

Hanratty was plainly in London all of the previous day (Monday 21st) as proved by the Crown.

I don't believe that Hanratty sought to buy an alibi as ludicrously put forward by the prosecution.

I believe Mrs Dinwoodie was mistaken as to the correct day; she became ill that Tuesday evening.

Del

[NickB]

I think Sherrard was savvy enough to know what Mrs D was likely to say because Kleinman had interviewed her.

1. You will notice Sherrard refers to the visitor as “the chap whose picture that resembled” rather than Hanratty. So Swanwick is repeating the phrase already used when he asks: “You thought it resembled the chap who had come into the shop, and [that] is as far as you could go?”

2. In answer to Sherrard’s question “Can you say now with certainty ...?” she replies “The Monday.” So again Swanwick is simply referring to what she has already said when he asks if she is certain the conversation took place on the Monday.

Mrs D was certain it was the Monday because:
(a) Barbara was serving with her on Monday;
(b) Cowley’s brother was serving with her on Tuesday.

Foot and Woffinden report (a) because they believe they can muddy the waters by talking about Barbara’s re-appearance with Linda on Tuesday. But they conceal (b).

Indeed they deliberately mislead by saying that (a) was:
- “the one criterion by which Mrs Dinwoodie and Barbara Ford had been able to fix the Monday rather than the Tuesday.” (Foot)
- “the only reason Mrs Dinwoodie had for placing the incident on the Monday rather than the Tuesday.” (Woffinden)

[OneRound]

Ummmm not only are you allowed to lead in cross examination, you should.

GUT - thank you for taking the time and trouble to respond even though your reply comes across as ungracious and unhelpful. A shame you didn't see and/or follow my second post.

OneRound

[GUT]

Thanks, Nick.

Pretty leading questions from Swanwick in his cross-examination of Mrs D, I thought.

Best regards,

OneRound

Ummmm not only are you allowed to lead in cross examination, you should.

[OneRound]

Hi Spitfire,

Good points and thanks for the attachment.

I don't and can't dispute what you say. I suppose I just find it hard to regard Mrs D as (purely) a defence witness given her insistence at Swanwick's prompting that ''this conversation took place on the Monday'' which undermined Hanratty's claim and presumably contributed to the guilty verdict.

There again, Sherrard should have been savvy enough to spot what was likely to happen when he called Mrs D in the first place. Possibly his client left him with no choice.

Best regards,

OneRound

[Spitfire]

Thanks, Nick.

Pretty leading questions from Swanwick in his cross-examination of Mrs D, I thought.

Best regards,

OneRound

Indeed they are leading questions, but as Mrs Dinwoodie was the defence's witness the prosecution could ask them. The rule against leading questions only applies to the party calling the witness.

"The rule against ‘leading’ is simply that you must not ask your own witness questions about matters which are in dispute in such a way that you suggest the answer you want your witness to give."

Leading questions

[OneRound]

Thanks, Nick.

Pretty leading questions from Swanwick in his cross-examination of Mrs D, I thought.

Best regards,

OneRound

[NickB]

Re-arranging the clippings

The first clip (in the previous post) is from the introduction of the report, which is why I put it first. However if I move it over to the right the clippings should be easier to read ...

[NickB]

The Daily Telegraph's report of Mrs D's evidence ...