a6 murder

[Tony]

Hi James
I agree, what is the point of banging one's head against some nutters wall (as Roger Waters so famously lyricized).
As for the quietness in the thread...my feeling is that before the DNA evidence seriously raised it head (I'm as guilty as anyone about that) this was just a nice little talking shop and nothing else...I don't think it will be the same again.
Guy's like Tony, especially, feel that a miscarriage of justice has been done and that Alphon is the real killer.
I'd like to investigate that avenue for a while and then see where we all are!
The young gooners were not good enough tonite. The scouse have nothing to worry about at the mo...they don't concede too many, whilst the other big 4 are dropping points.
Take care mate
Reg

Good afternoon Reg,

You know I was away for a couple of weeks and then when I returned home I found I had so much to do although I work for myself and only part time at that; anyway I’ve just about caught up and should be back with you, weather permitting.

Yes I think a grave miscarriage of justice took place in this case. You and Vic and others know more about the DNA than I do so I have to leave it to you. Yes I think there is something wrong about the DNA but it is no use Caz or Vic asking me to explain it because I don’t know how to, just as I don’t really know how the aeroplane that took me on holiday works but it does. But I have noticed a few of them have crashed from time to time despite being told they are virtually foolproof.
Yes I do think Alphon carried out the crime and it is no use Caz, bless her, saying he is innocent and we should not say bad things about him. He did, as Jimarilyn says, admit it on many occasions over many years. I know you get cranks admitting to crimes they did not commit but they disappear almost immediately after a word from the police and some people confess through fear while being interviewed by police. These scenarios did not apply to Peter Louis Alphon. So I think it is a good idea to now approach the case from a different angle and that is; not to try to prove Hanratty was innocent, although almost everyone on here agrees that at trial time there was not enough evidence to convict him and as far as I know, apart from DNA, no further evidence has emerged against him since. In fact quite the opposite has happened. We should now concentrate on Alphon’s and others involvement in this crime.

There has been nothing to further condemn James Hanratty since the trial in fact the exact opposite but a lot of information has come out about Mr Alphon and it is fair and right that we are allowed to discuss it.

Right let’s get working on it and I apologise for being away for so long without letting you know my circumstances.

Tony.

PS well-done in beating Chelsea and what a pity City couldn’t put one over on Man Urinal but did you see their manager’s face, Taggart, after golden boy thought he was in a basketball team and got sent off? It was a picture.

[Tony]

"Good afternoon Miss Stonham, I'm Det-Sgt Jack Mackenzie and I've come here today from Scotland Yard to see if together we can compose an identikit picture of your attacker. We've been using this new technique now for almost 6 months and have had great success so far with it. We're hoping, that with your assistance, we can continue that success. First of all I have to ask you if you feel up for this task as it may take some considerable time ?

-"I think so Mr Mackenzie, I'm feeling a little better today than I was yesterday. I think it's a good time to go ahead while the image of this man's face is still fresh in my mind."

"Before we start let me just explain a few things about this new technique. It's an American invention and they've been using it successfully for some time now in the USA. We adopted it in this country in March of this year and it's proved very beneficial to us at Scotland Yard. It's certainly made our job a lot easier.
It is indeed as the name suggests a kit. A very special kit. This kit as you will soon see breaks up a full facial image up into component parts. These are hair, brows, eyes, nose, lips, chin-line with ears, and age lines, plus beard, hat and glasses where applicable. The kit contains several dozen transparent slides picturing each of these separate components with different types of contours. 500 slides in total with 5 notches on the side for different placements of each feature. Each slide will be coded with a letter for for the facial component illustrated and a figure for the particular configuration. It's a lot simpler than it sounds I can assure you.
Do you feel ready to start Miss ?"

-"Yes indeed, Mr Mackenzie, let's proceed."

"Just take your time Miss, there's no rush. Firstly what features if any about your assailant made most impression on you ?"

-"Well he had large staring eyes, brown in colour and deep set."

"That's a good place to start then. Study these slides carefully and stop me when we get to a pair that most resemble what your attacker's eyes looked like."

-"OK".

"Take your time, as I said there's no hurry."

-"I will. I know it's important that I study these slides very carefully Mr Mackenzie....................Stop there. They look very much like his eyes. Yes, they're a good match."

"Anything else make an impression on you ?"

-"His hair, he had brownish hair and it was brushed back from his forehead, slicked back with brylcreem or suchlike. Also, his hair seemed to be receding somewhat at the sides, the temples, you know."

"Ok, what about his forehead, did he have a low or high forehead as you recall ?"

- "He had quite a high forehead............Yes, much like that. Yes, the hair, eyebrows, eyes, forehead all fit. It's quite remarkable."

"What about his nose and ears, can you remember anything noteworthy about either ?"

-"No not really, well nothing out the ordinary as I recall.... I would say they were average, pretty typical of the average man as far as I can remember.

"Was he clean shaven or did he have a stubble or beard ?"

-"He was clean shaven and had a smooth, pale compexion. He had a roundish chin.......yes, very similar to that one there."

"What about his lips and mouth ?"

-"Again, nothing out of the ordinary there as far as I can recall, except that his upper lip was a little thinner than his bottom lip...........yes, like that one there..."
...............................................

.........."Well Miss Stonham that just about rounds things off. Take a good long look at the finished product and tell me how it compares with your memory of the man's face. Is it a good likeness or not ?"

-"Remarkably so, Mr. Mackenzie, as near as I can imagine to the real thing. I have to say I'm very impressed with this new technique."

"Do we have your sanction, permission to proceed and circulate this Identi-Kit picture in an effort to trace your attacker ?"

"Definitely, Mr Mackenzie, it is a very good likeness of the man who attacked me."

Hello James,

Hey you’ve knicked my very own method of re-enacting events in the case as though you are a fly on the wall.

Good for you I enjoyed it. I must resurrect some of Basil and Oxo’s antics this type of posting has some how got lost in my memory bank. But rest assured Basil’s not finished just yet. Where did I leave him can you remember?

Stay safe and happy,

Tony

[jimarilyn]

Hello James,

Hey you’ve knicked my very own method of re-enacting events in the case as though you are a fly on the wall.

Good for you I enjoyed it. I must resurrect some of Basil and Oxo’s antics this type of posting has some how got lost in my memory bank. But rest assured Basil’s not finished just yet. Where did I leave him can you remember?

Stay safe and happy,

Tony

Yes, Tony, I hold my hands up to your charge. You were definitely my inspiration to come up with such a post, although your efforts were much better than mine I have to say. Safeguarded myself there in my post, just in case.....
My dialogue leaves much to be desired though.
Tried to condense into a few minutes what probably transpired over a couple of hours or so that Saturday afternoon in late August.
I'll never make a screenwriter.

Looking forward to some more of Basil's bedside chats. Here's hoping his missus keeps a Sybil tongue in her head.....

regards,
James

[reg1965]

Well, we now have the opportunity of starting new threads about other aspects, so that may help.

Victor

Doesn't that just take the cake.

Go back and read the first couple of posts that you and caz each posted on the other thread.

For everyone else:-
See post#4 by Victor on the A6 Murder DNA Evidence thread along side this one.

For everyone elses benefit Victor and Caz pooh-pooh my idea of starting the DNA thread and accused me of wanting to sweep the DNA evidence under the carpet. They said that if it was A6 related then it should be on the main thread! Now Victor wants different threads for different aspects of the case.

Go figure...maybe more people will start to understand what a few of us on here have to deal with!

Many kind regards
Reg

[reg1965]

Good afternoon Reg,

You know I was away for a couple of weeks and then when I returned home I found I had so much to do although I work for myself and only part time at that; anyway I’ve just about caught up and should be back with you, weather permitting.

Yes I think a grave miscarriage of justice took place in this case. You and Vic and others know more about the DNA than I do so I have to leave it to you. Yes I think there is something wrong about the DNA but it is no use Caz or Vic asking me to explain it because I don’t know how to, just as I don’t really know how the aeroplane that took me on holiday works but it does. But I have noticed a few of them have crashed from time to time despite being told they are virtually foolproof.
Yes I do think Alphon carried out the crime and it is no use Caz, bless her, saying he is innocent and we should not say bad things about him. He did, as Jimarilyn says, admit it on many occasions over many years. I know you get cranks admitting to crimes they did not commit but they disappear almost immediately after a word from the police and some people confess through fear while being interviewed by police. These scenarios did not apply to Peter Louis Alphon. So I think it is a good idea to now approach the case from a different angle and that is; not to try to prove Hanratty was innocent, although almost everyone on here agrees that at trial time there was not enough evidence to convict him and as far as I know, apart from DNA, no further evidence has emerged against him since. In fact quite the opposite has happened. We should now concentrate on Alphon’s and others involvement in this crime.

There has been nothing to further condemn James Hanratty since the trial in fact the exact opposite but a lot of information has come out about Mr Alphon and it is fair and right that we are allowed to discuss it.

Right let’s get working on it and I apologise for being away for so long without letting you know my circumstances.

Tony.

PS well-done in beating Chelsea and what a pity City couldn’t put one over on Man Urinal but did you see their manager’s face, Taggart, after golden boy thought he was in a basketball team and got sent off? It was a picture.

Hello Tony me old mucker
Good to have you back again.

No sightings of JH south of Euston Station after 11am 22/8/61 in London until at least 26/8/61 when he revisited the France family.

VS's identikit picture and original eye colour match Alphon very closely. Not at all JH.

Alphon was first seen by Juliana Galves at about 11.45am on the 23/8/61 in his room (#6) looking dishevelled and with a pair of black ladies gloves.

When appprehended at the Alexandra Court he had a copy of the paper reporting the murder.

He bought a similar mac days after the murder.

He didn't surrender his clothing or any bodily artefacts.

His mother couldn't verify his alibi but said it was between Tuesday and Thursday!!!

Nudds' statements do not make for a very good alibi neither.

Michael Fogarty-Wauls run-ins with Alphon seem very convincing. Especially when a police officer wiped Alphons fingerprints off of his car.

The sightings of Alphon in the area around the time of the murder seem to be quite compelling too. Sidney Taffler type sightings (he looks just like alphon!)

The statement given by the bus conductor that described Alphon as the lone passenger on the bus.

The amount of dough that he seemed to have just after the murder. Some £7500 in total I believe.

He cant drive very well.

His unstable almost pyscopathic nature. (Leonard Miller take note)

Plus innumerable traits and instances that point to his guilt.

Reg

[Sara]

Like most of the population who remember the case (as I do, vividly - I was 15 at the time) I never questioned Hanratty's guilt at the time, and didn't seriously since, in spite of Paul Foot's passion... until I started this thread (which I only looked at after noticing the number of replies!) from the beginning last night - and I've I've done nothing for 24 hours except read on, and on... I'm only at around page 15/16!!

As I read, I become less and less convinced of Hanratty's guilt, and more and more convinced it was a conspiracy, possibly with Alphon as the tool - and certainly a conspiracy to convict Hanratty after the event

In the next four or five posts I'm going to put up some notes I've made as I went through, and please remember I've read page 1-15 consecutively since last night, without doing much else except read a lot of other websites on the case, so I've given myself a thorough grounding; although there is obviously an awful lot more to read just on here!

[btw I'm sorry to see that the original well-mannered handling of the subject between those posting regularly at the start seems to have deteriorated sharply!]

[Sara]

Graham, in July 07:
<< Strunt, good stuff on the DNA. There was a documentary about this case some time ago and they went into some detail about DNA and the technique of amplification. Although there is, I guess, a very remote chance that cross-contamination could have occurred, I think the results were reliable, especially on the hankie on which only one male DNA was found. >>

But surely this makes it all the more likely the handkerchief was a plant? - Hanratty handled it in the witness box, where he is recorded as 'sweating'. why was ther no trace of anyone else's DNA on it? -esp inc the person who allegedly found it on the bus?

I too have read stuff in the past and seen documentaries on TV alleging that DNA evidence is by no means as foolproof as its fans would have us all believe. Given how this particular DNA was treated and stored (inc the broken vial) there can be (imho!) no reliance on it at all. [I'll find and read the JH/DNA thread asap, now I know there is one[

This disappearance of the original notes made by Kerr, and their substitution by an invented set - he denied they were his or in his handwriting - are very telling.

However compelling Storie's evidence, since she only got a brief glimpse of her attacker in the dark, by her own admission; and since Alphon was given to lapsing into cockney under stress, I can't see how her identification can be that categorical. Her *ORIGINAL* descrition fits Alphon rather than Hanratty

In addition, the killer for the first half hour rambled incomprehensibly; and whichever of Hanratty or Alphon it was, invented a childhood and backstory which seems to have been pure fantasy. Which of the two was more given to fantasy and was the more unstable? - Alphon without question surely. Hanratty as he comes across in all evidence and from accounts of friends etc, demonstrated no violent psychopathic tendencies, unless we count spitting at jail warders.

[Sara]

The matter of the *used* cartridges being found in the hotel, when there is every reason to be certain that Hanratty never went back to the hotel after the murders, clearly indicates a stitch-up - in my eyes at least. France is imo the likely planter.

Someone posted:
<< Regarding the finding of the gun, Charles France deposed that Hanratty once remarked to him that a good place to drop dodgy stuff is under the back seat of a bus....where the gun was found. It would be easy to extend this to France passing this information to Alphon, if one believes that Alphon was the murderer, in an attempt to set up Hanratty. But as the gun was wrapped in a handkerchief on which was deposited Hanratty's DNA (and no-one else's) it would seem virtually beyond doubt that Hanratty himself placed the gun there. >>

But! If you were going to plant a gun, would you not also put these kinds of words into someone's mouth - who can believe what France said on this matter? He is the lynch pin of all this, and I'd dearly love to read his withheld suicide letters (which Paul Foot did). Why were they not available to the coroner, as the law demanded? Who decided they had to be withheld, and WHY?

jimarilyn's summing up, just below, is very much my own take on the whole affair; and I'd add that Storie whilst obviously firmly believing the version of events she eventually settled on (with the help of Acott et al?) took some time to reach this certainty, and originally *positively* ID'd a quite different man (after originally saying her assailant had dark hair and brown deepset eyes!), and therefore her testimony cannot be relied on:

<< RE Whatever allegedly happened during the approximate 5 or 6 hours that the murderer spent with Gregsten and Storie in the Morris Minor we have only Valerie's word for. I find it difficult to believe that she only saw the murderer's face for a couple of seconds when she said he had "staring, large icy blue saucer like eyes". This statement of hers came on 31st August and conflicts with her statement on the morning of the murder when she described the murderer as having brown eyes. How on earth can pale blue eyes look brown. Maybe she was coached ( or coaxed ) by Acott in the intervening 8 days. I find her a very unreliable witness especially when you consider she picked out an innocent man in the first identification parade. When all is said and done it was "Valerie's Story" (taken as gospel by so many apparently) that condemned James Hanratty to the gallows. Something stinks to high heaven about this whole case. With Hanratty's execution, surely the case was closed in the eyes of the Establishment, so why were exhibits ( like Valerie Storie's
knickers and Hanratty's handkerchief ) stored away in police files ? Was someone anticipating the scientific discovery 23 years later (in 1985) of DNA profiling ? Why did the initial DNA tests in 1997 prove inconclusive, yet 2 or 3 years later DNA tests on the same materials prove conclusive ? What was the history of these exhibits ( and who had access to them ) between 1962 and 2001 ? Hanratty's family always maintained that James was stitched up by Acott and Oxford. They must have had just cause for suspecting this. >> jimarilyn 2007


As Michael Mansfield points out, Alcott demonstrably falsified evidence so I don't see how we can possibly trust the purity of the DNA evidence, nor the reported findings of the spent cartridges, gun and handkerchief - indeed, I think the whole prosecution case really stinks. My own feeling is that France killed himself out of guilt in helping the police and/or someone else to fit up Hanratty

My guess for the 'someone else' would be Janet Gregson, as she is the only person with a motive for this killing; and she it was who mysteriously 'intuited' that Hanratty was the killer, passing him by chance having never seen him before, just from a description!l! Does that sound a coincidence too far, or does it not? By diverting police attention away from Alphon she would of course be protecting herself, in the event he was charged and spilled the beans, if she were behind a plot (I have to admit her photos on the Getty website do not scream 'villainess', but then most accidental murderers look innofensive). I'm not suggesting she might have planned anything more serious than a 'frightener' btw. But however you look at the case, it has the look of something which 'got out of hand'.

Another interesting snippet on ?? Alphon (or is this France, sorry I didn't note which) posted by Steve in Sept 2007:
<< At the time of the murder his parents were living in Streatham, south London, and his father had a clerical job at Scotland Yard... >>

[Sara]

There's a very good run-down and timeline of the case on tripatlas:
http://tripatlas.com/James_Hanratty#Alphon's%20Account
I think this has been cited elsewhere on this very long thread

The rundown on the 'Scandal' page below correctly imo exposes the flaws in way the the verdict was arrived at:

https://www.scandals.org/articles/sr970527b.html

But can anyone tell me what this sentence in the conclusion to the piece refers to:
<< And finally a DNA test showed conclusively that he was entirely innocent. >> -
it was written in 1997 by Simon Regan, in the piece linked above

Another snippet referred to (so far) only in passing is:
<< The way his family were duped at the trial by Louise Anderson's disclosure about Hanratty's gun being kept in their airing cupboard shows they were the 'put upon' people in the overall scheme of things. >>

Can someone explain this reference please?
If France was as suggested in several reports a police informer, this "disclosure" raises all kinds of questions! ( I don't think Hanratty who was on the fringe of the criminal fraternity would necessarily have know this). It's impossible given the timing to come to any other conclusion than that France's suicide was connected with the failure of Hanratty's appeal.

I also find ti telling that (so far as we know) the *only* author to have seen the Dixie France letters, Paul Foot, whilst not betraying the oath he swore never to reveal their content, also never wavered from his conviction that Hanratty was innocent.


And by the way, do we know why Gregsten didn't raise the alarm when he twice had the chance? He could have alerted shopkeeper or petrol station and got back in the car, or done a runner - something *Alphon* later said he deliberately gave him the chance to do.

The other thing which makes no sense to me is Storie's testimony that the killer spotted some rope in a bag at the *back* of the car (how handy!) and asked Gregston to pass the bag over. But Gregston was in the FRONT of the car at that point - so the killer would have been sitting beside the bag with the rope - or was it in the boot, or the footwell?! How could MG have been in a position to pass it to the murderer? Furthermore, there is a photo of the bag on the Getty website (evidence pic) - it's impossible to see inside it.

http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?src=quick&contractUrl=2&assetType=image&family=editorial&phrase=James%20Hanratty

the pic of the evidence being taken into court shows the striped duffel bag - apropos of which, how could anyone have seen a rope in that? - and why would the victims have told Hanratty aobut it, if he couldn't see it? - and who carries rope around in a duffel bag?!!?? or did the killer take it with him - I can't really see him with a candy-striped 'beach'-style' duffel bag, somehow.

[Sara]

Final post til I;ve looked a tthe DNA thread.... A little trivia:

REg post 131: Rehearsal Club, Archer St, Soho
believed later to be Charlie Chesters

Archer St in Soho is full of clubs, most of them semi-illegal all nigbht drinking and gambling dens. In my own London days or rather nights, c1971 -1880 and 1986 - mid 1990s, much of that time spent in Soho, I went to a few... they served drink all night and had someone on the door checking for Plod etc so the door could be locked if any trouble was spotted. You signed in as a temporary 'member' for a quid or two, to carry on drinking after the legal clubs had shut.

Charlie Chester's was a well known gambling club, certainly functioning by the mid/late 60s. It didn't serve booze as per the law - not officially anyway, and being one of the more 'respectable' clubs in the street - that's a relative term! - I think it stuck to orange juice etc.

It was frequented quite a bit by Francis Bacon who loved to gamble, also Lucian Freud - a big gambler both gaming and on the horses - and the likes of Colony Room Club regulars inc Ian Board and Dan Farson, after the Colony had shut. I went there at least once myself in the 70s, I can't now remember who with except I know Board was in the group, probably his then flatmate Richard Whittington and no doubt a few other hard drinkers.

[Victor]

Victor

Doesn't that just take the cake.

Go back and read the first couple of posts that you and caz each posted on the other thread.

For everyone else:-
See post#4 by Victor on the A6 Murder DNA Evidence thread along side this one.

For everyone elses benefit Victor and Caz pooh-pooh my idea of starting the DNA thread and accused me of wanting to sweep the DNA evidence under the carpet. They said that if it was A6 related then it should be on the main thread! Now Victor wants different threads for different aspects of the case.

Go figure...maybe more people will start to understand what a few of us on here have to deal with!

Many kind regards
Reg

Hi there Mr Hypocrite,

Well that would be because previously the threads would get lost in the large number of threads in the main "Shades of Whitechapel" area, but now there's a dedicated sub-folder called "A6 Murders" where the threads can't get lost.

You can only compare situations where you have comparable conditions!

Or maybe you are just too stupid to notice the change.

KR,
Vic.

[Tony]

Hi there Mr Hypocrite,

Well that would be because previously the threads would get lost in the large number of threads in the main "Shades of Whitechapel" area, but now there's a dedicated sub-folder called "A6 Murders" where the threads can't get lost.

You can only compare situations where you have comparable conditions!

Or maybe you are just too stupid to notice the change.

KR,
Vic.

Hey Vic,

That’s not very nice. I like both you and Reg but I wish you would show a bit of respect for each other. You aren’t the same person by any chance are you?

Anyway enough of that we have a new contributor to welcome. So it’s a welcome to Sara from me and I must say what an entrance she has made.
Sara is obviously an excellent typist to have put that lot together; unlike my own efforts using both fore fingers and sometimes scratching my head and wondering where the ‘v or c’ went to.
One thing though Sara you mention about the duffle bag and the rope in the murder car. There would not have been a rope in the bottom of the bag which somehow the murderer new about. The duffle bag in the 50’s and 60’s was a shortened version of the navy kitbag and had a series of metal eyes around the top through which a rope or cord was threaded and this was the fastened by a clip to the bottom of the duffle bag so you could carry it over your shoulder.
I have always assumes that was the rope that Alphon was using for tying up purposes.

Anyway nice to have you with us and don’t be put off by Vic and Reg; they’re not a bad pair of sticks really.

Tony.

[Victor]

Hi Tony,
Sorry that message was hastily written and I should have thought about it a bit before posting. I apologise to anyone who was offended reading that post. The sentiments expressed in the post remain true - If you are going to compare two situations, then those situations should be broadly similar, and a major change happened between the first message in the DNA thread and the message above, which altered my opinion.


Hi Sara,
To answer a couple of your questions...

so why were exhibits ( like Valerie Storie's knickers and Hanratty's handkerchief ) stored away in police files ?

They weren't - the fragment of knickers was held by the scientists and not displayed in the trial. After the trial those items displayed were destroyed, hence the fragment of knickers escaped destruction.

Why did the initial DNA tests in 1997 prove inconclusive, yet 2 or 3 years later DNA tests on the same materials prove conclusive ?

The second test used a more sensitive technique which has a lower threshold of detection - the first test wasn't sensitive enough to detect anything, scientific advancements made in the intervening period meant the second test was.

What was the history of these exhibits ( and who had access to them ) between 1962 and 2001 ?

See the other thread, they were locked away in storage.

Hanratty's family always maintained that James was stitched up by Acott and Oxford. They must have had just cause for suspecting this.

A member of their family was hanged, what more cause do they need?

But can anyone tell me what this sentence in the conclusion to the piece refers to:
<< And finally a DNA test showed conclusively that he was entirely innocent. >> -
it was written in 1997 by Simon Regan, in the piece linked above

It's just a bald-faced lie in a biased account.

KR,
Vic.

[jimarilyn]

Hi Sara,

I too would like to offer you a warm welcome to the A6 Murder thread. It's always refreshing to see a new poster on this thread and listen to their thoughts on the matter. Fresh insight into this most fascinating murder mystery is always welcome. I must say I'm impressed by your grasp of the subject, you're obviously well read and familiar with the case.

I was only nine years old at the time of the murder and can remember very little about the matter. I was probably too caught up in playing footie and watching all those memorable TV westerns that were on at the time (like Cheyenne, Maverick and Bronco Layne) to pay much attention to the TV news, etc,. You say you remember it vividly, was there much TV coverage and if so can you recall what the concensus of opinion was regarding the unprecedented police measure at that time of actually naming the prime suspect, Peter Louis Alphon ?

If France was as suggested in several reports a police informer, this "disclosure" raises all kinds of questions! ( I don't think Hanratty who was on the fringe of the criminal fraternity would necessarily have know this). It's impossible given the timing to come to any other conclusion than that France's suicide was connected with the failure of Hanratty's appeal..

I think you're absolutely spot on Sara. I strongly believe that Dixie France was hoping and praying that Hanratty would win his appeal. When news filtered through that Hanratty's appeal had failed, France must have agonised over what to do. I believe that he couldn't live with the guilt of having played a major part in events which would ultimately lead to the arrest, conviction and execution of his good friend James Hanratty. If he had nothing to reproach himself for I don't believe he would have checked into that boarding house in Acton the next day. It's a great pity that the police got there first and took away those approximate 100 loose pages of suicide notes that were scattered around the room.

I also find ti telling that (so far as we know) the *only* author to have seen the Dixie France letters, Paul Foot, whilst not betraying the oath he swore never to reveal their content, also never wavered from his conviction that Hanratty was innocent.

I too find this extremely telling and a true measure of Paul Foot's integrity and honesty. Whatever he read in those letters must only have consolidated his own strong belief in Hanratty's innocence.


regards,
James

[jimarilyn]

A member of their family was hanged, what more cause do they need?

Hi Victor,

But what about the families (of 90 odd percent of executed people) who don't believe that their loved one was stitched up or executed wrongfully ?

regards,
James


PS. Does a "hung jury" consist of twelve good men and women swinging from the gallows together ?