a6 murder

[Steve]

Interestingly enough another Perkins crops up in this case, namely a Mary Perkins who stayed in the room next to PLA at the Alexandra Court Hotel. In her description of PLA she said he was "about 30 years, 5 ft 6in tall, medium build, fresh complexion, dark hair, with either a cockney or south country accent." Do some females have a problem gauging heights of people as I've always been under the impression that PLA was 5ft 9in tall. JH was an inch smaller than PLA I have been given to understand.

As I recall it was Mary Perkins, a school teacher, who was one of the people who complained to the hotel manager aabout the noise the guest in the room next to hers was making, pacing about, banging drawers and playing music loudly. The guest had booked in under a false name, but he was Alphon, of course.

[jimarilyn]

Peter Louis Alphon is probably the most fascinating and enigmatic character in the entire case. He was (and possibly still is) a very astute and clever person. I am unsure of whether I still believe (100%) him to be the murderer. He definitely muddied the waters considerably and toyed with Bob Acott during his interrogations, he also played mind games with lots of other people (including Paul Foot) and threatened people with violence. He attacked JH's mother Mary, and very probably Meike Dalal too. I can understand why some people think of him as purely an opportunist, but I think it goes much deeper than this. Perhaps Alphon deliberately wanted people to think of him in this way, as a crank, opportunist or whatever so that he could get away with the perfect murder. Just a theory of course.

[Steve]

Yes, agree with that. If it hadn't been for Alphon's involvement with this case (and of course Jean Justice) it would have faded quietly into history. The coincidences surrounding Alphon and the A6 murder have made sure it has been kept in the public eye for all these years: Vienna Hotel, Slough dog track, resemblance to the identikit, etc.

[jimarilyn]

I wonder why P.L.A. only seems only to submit single postings on the rare occasions he ventures onto this thread. I'd certainly like to hear more of what he has to offer. Will the real PLA stand up please, Peter, Bob or whoever.

[Steve]

jimarilyn

Bob from the old threads sent me his file of maps and newspaper cuttings relating to the A6 murder. He certainly had quite a collection of interesting items, and a huge knowledge of the old case. I did post some of his stuff on the old thread, and I should do so again on this one, when I get chance!

I agree with you, Bob's input was always well received, and it would have been good to hear more. He was also a self-confessed technophobe and I always felt he struggled a bit with computers. (I hope I am not doing him an injustice!)

PLA also seems to be less than fluent with computers, for instance posting the same reply twice. (But then if PLA is the real PLA he would be of an age where most people run a mile from computers, don't you think?)

KR
Steve

[jimarilyn]

Yes, agree with that. If it hadn't been for Alphon's involvement with this case (and of course Jean Justice) it would have faded quietly into history. The coincidences surrounding Alphon and the A6 murder have made sure it has been kept in the public eye for all these years: Vienna Hotel, Slough dog track, resemblance to the identikit, etc.

Hi Steve,

The Vienna Hotel. If only hotels could speak, what a tale they could tell. The name Vienna also crops up a couple of times. Jean Justice spent a nightmare few days there in 1962. The Viennese police grabbed his black briefcase off him which contained most of his papers and written materials he had acquired over the previous months relating to the murder. He was ushered off to the Klinic Hoff prison where he was imprisoned for several days, obviously the Viennese authorities were acting under instructions from the British Police, anyhow that's what Justice firmly believed. Incidentally I spent 3 days in Vienna (I was invited to a special birthday party) last month, the first time I have been there (and what a beautiful city it really is). Vienna was also the name of Rigsby's cat wasn't it ?

[jimarilyn]

PLA also seems to be less than fluent with computers, for instance posting the same reply twice. (But then if PLA is the real PLA he would be of an age where most people run a mile from computers, don't you think?)

KR
Steve

Hi Steve,

Yeah I reckon so. Mind you if his mind is still as active as it was back then maybe he might well have access to a computer. I wonder how often (if ever) he thinks about the A6 murder these days ?

Going back to that photo of Alphon, Valerie Perkins and Jeremy Fox, I would guess that Jean Justice is the photographer. Him and Fox by all accounts were lovers at the time, I wonder if they were trying to matchmake Miss Perkins and Alphon, possibly with an ulterior motive in mind.

[jimarilyn]

She doesn't look too dissimilar to the other Valerie, especially with the type of glasses she's wearing. I wonder if she usually wore glasses or if that was some ploy of Justice's.

[Steve]

Hi Steve,

The Vienna Hotel. If only hotels could speak, what a tale they could tell. The name Vienna also crops up a couple of times.

Hi jimarilyn

And the Vienna Hotel name lives on - The Vienna Group of Hotels - was founded in 1973 when the original Maida Vale was bought by Peter Lowy in 1973. The group owns hotels and apartments in London and Brighton, but they no longer run the original Vienna Hotel.

KR
Steve

[Steve]

I wonder if they were trying to matchmake Miss Perkins and Alphon, possibly with an ulterior motive in mind.

I rather think that Alphon was possibly also batting for the opposition at that time!

[Steve]

She doesn't look too dissimilar to the other Valerie, especially with the type of glasses she's wearing. I wonder if she usually wore glasses or if that was some ploy of Justice's.

jimarilyn - she looks nothing like Valerie Storie!

[Steve]

Valerie Storie

Here is a fairly recent photograph of Valerie Storie.

[jimarilyn]

I rather think that Alphon was possibly also batting for the opposition at that time!

That seems to have been the case. If he was bisexually inclined I wonder if he ever had any lengthy love affairs with any females. If so, what tales they could have told. Have we heard the last from Peter Louis Alphon regarding his involvement in this case. I hope indeed that that's not the situation.

[Steve]

Peter Alphon

Hi jimarilyn

I rather suspect the only significant female in Alphon's life was his mother.

KR
Steve

[Graham]

My view of PLA (the real one, that is...) is that he was unbalanced, manipulative, violent both verbally and physically, and probably totally unable to have a real relationship with anyone, male or female. His mother plainly doted upon him, but it would he appear that he cynically used her as a source of money when his other sources had dried up. I have the distinct impression that Justice was as much playing a game with PLA as PLA was with justice. I wonder what Jeremy Fox's real thoughts were, regarding the relationship between Justice and Alphon - if any 'relationship' actually existed. I think it's debatable that they were ever lovers in the accepted sense.

I'm certain that PLA was seen by Justice as God's gift at a time when he, Justice, was hell-bent upon rocking the Establishment by espousing the cause of Hanratty's innocence. Once he had been cleared as a suspect in the A6 Crime PLA played it for all he was worth, and he played it longest and hardest with Justice. Who, it will be remembered, at last seemed to see sense and severed his ties with PLA. I honestly cannot see that PLA's self-assumed role in the case (once he was in the clear) was anything but profit, and profit he certainly did.

For my money, it was Justice who kept the case rolling (again, I have to say, for his own ultimate ends) and it cost him dearly, in terms of both his finances and his well-being. From being a wealthy property-speculator, arts critic, writer, and so forth, he ended up wiser and poorer living in a council flat. I don't know if his biography has ever been written (don't think so) but it'd make fascinating reading, the A6 Case apart. To me, he was little more than a well-educated, well-off, high-class mischief-maker and prankster with something of a grudge against what he perceived as the 'Establishment' in those days. Not a bad man by any means, I don't think, but a rather foolish one in many respects.

Cheers,

Graham