a6 murder

[john]

Hi Graham

I am sure that in 1966 Fox and Justice would not have paid for his representation against Lord Russell as they were supporting Lord Russell and at that time relationships were sour to say the least.!!

You do not really answer the question as someone or some body must have paid for the legal times-Alphon in 1966 was drifting more than usual leaving hotel biils unpaid every where throughout London-even his Mother had not the money to bail him out as usual, yet there is money to pay a top class barrister. Foot revealed in his getting the bank account record of Alphon after his authorisation thatmoney had gone it in 1961/1962 and all gone out again pretty quick. However this is 1966 and there were no newspaper funds then as by then they were not bothered with his story from his viewpoint. Even Paris 1967 was not prepared to be funded newspapers.

Something does not add up at all. Again in 1967 he flew to Paris, yet was living in hostels etc. Again an inconsistency. That he was getting money is pretty clear. Where from? Fox in later life the 1990's appeared to have him again as a friend but not in the late 1960's.

Quite the opposite-Justice intended to use once again this magistrates court appearance to bring the A6 murder etc. Inspector Mooney appeared and made various misleading remarks in defence of Alphon.

In thinking about this, the lone penniless drifter-the media and indeed supporters' of Hanratty always give this impression- could travel to Europe and fund expensive barristers yet no visible means of significant income.

Again something is very odd here.

[Limehouse]

Hi John,

You raise some very relevant points and it makes one wonder about the true nature of Alphon'r role in life. He was intelligent enough to win a scholarship to a good public school. He had right win leanings. He engaged a barrister of right wing persuasion to represent him in a magistrates court and he does seem to have come off very lightly when when anwering for his crimes. He comes across as a waster and drifter - but was he?

[Victor]

However Mr Montefiore, famous now for writing a rather good biography of Stalin and well known for being to the right of politics-fitting in with what we have read about Alphon, did not even then come cheap.

Hi John,

Fascists looking after their own??? Maybe?

KR,
Vic.

Post crossed with Julie... who also spotted the connection.

[jimarilyn]

He went on Sept 4th and flew back on Sept 8th travelling as Ryan.

Don't mean to nitpick here Graham, but James Hanratty returned from his trip to Ireland on September 11th 1961, which just happened to coincide with the day that the 2 empty cartridge cases were found (?) at the Vienna. It was also the same day that Valerie Storie was interviewed for 5 hours by the police.

It seems a lot was happening that particular day.

[larue]

Hi Larue,

I'm not sure that both 'Ryan' and 'Hanratty' came via the flower-shop and W Ewer. Ewer definitely told the police re: the 'J Ryan' in the cleaner's book, but neither Foot nor Woffinden take it any further than that. However, as I suggested, maybe the Ryan/Hanratty link also came via Ewer and his friendship with Anderson, but if so he must have kept quiet about it. The other obvious source is France. I think it must be significant that Acott never explained how the link was made, and it appears that he wasn't asked to do so in court.

Cheers,

Graham

hi Graham

it does make one wonder how that connection - a vital one - as it turned out, was made. here is an extract from 'Britain's Last Hangman' chapter eight.

sadly the author has never contacted me to discuss his source...


"Neither Mr. Ewer nor the police knew that J. Ryan was an alias of James Hanratty and that immediately after the murder he stayed, in the road named, with his friend Charles France – only a mile away from the cleaners.
"Said Mr. Ewer: 'So convinced was I about what Janet had seen that I vowed then to watch for the man myself. I had to find him again!"'
In his study of the case, Who Killed Hanratty?, Paul Foot recalls:
"Mr. Ewer's hunt, according to the story, did not last long. The next day he went to a cafe in the Finchley Road. As he sat drinking a cup of tea and pondering the almost hopelessness of the A6 murder he spotted a pair of hand-made Italian shoes. Then he found himself staring into those blue eyes again. It was the same man.
"Stunned by this miracle, according to the story, Mr. Ewer decided to follow the man. He watched him go into a florist's shop in the Finchley Road. Then, acting on an impulse, he rang Scotland Yard. The police came and made inquiries at the florist's shop, and the manageress told them that the man had come in on September 1st wanting to send some roses to his mother – a Mrs. Hanratty of 12 Sycamore Grove, Kingsbury."
The Sketch's story continued: "A report was made to Scotland Yard. But the Murder Squad had never heard of Jimmy Ryan. They had never heard of the address in Sycamore Grove, Kingsbury, which was the home of his mother. But Bill Ewer could not rest. Almost daily he went out looking for the man with the staring eyes.
"He walked into the shop of a business associate in Greek Street, Soho. He did not know that Hanratty, who the Greek Street dealer had befriended, had been in the shop only that morning."
The publication of this story was the first indication that Scotland Yard had Hanratty's name and his alias long before they started to hunt him as the murderer. 'The only description of the killer had been released on the day of the murder, and did not fit Hanratty. Neither of the Identikit pictures resembled him. Yet here was Mrs. Gregsten "identifying" James Hanratty as he walked into the cleaners opposite her brother-in-law's shop

[larue]

Erm...are you serious? Should I ask Hazel Blears, or any of the other MPs at the moment?

[slightly off topic i know, but...]

yes, quite serious. the government and it's agencies seem not to baulk at spending large amounts of taxpayer's money for little, if any, return. the ground nuts scheme, the brabazon airliner, tsr2, concord etc etc. i recently read of a family of afghan citizens in britain, [ no not the hounds] being housed in a 1.5 million pound house and getting 12,000 a month benefits. free. gratis and for nothing. that's all tax payers money.

i just had to battle to get 64 quid a week jobseeker's allowance as my 'living expenses'

as for the mp's, any of them that were fiddling their expenses knew they were fiddling. i will not believe anything else. but then, what else do you expect when they made up the rules?...

You can't divorce a dead person.

true enough, but what i meant by, 'if things had turned out differently', was if gregsten and storie had not been accosted that night, janet gregsten could have sued michael for divorce with vs as the third party.

[Victor]

"As he sat drinking a cup of tea and pondering the almost hopelessness of the A6 murder he spotted a pair of hand-made Italian shoes. Then he found himself staring into those blue eyes again. It was the same man.

Hi Larue,

Two things about that excerpt, first, the hand-made Italian shoes, I've not seen a mention of Hanratty owning a pair, although from references to his dress sense and the care he took over his appearance it does seem likely.

Second, it's definitely blue eyes.

KR,
Vic.

[The Wednesday]

Has anyone found or sourced Alphon's death certificate. It would be interesting to find out where he lived, who reported his death etc. Moreover, he may come up on "heirhunters" and bona vacantia!

[Limehouse]

Has anyone found or sourced Alphon's death certificate. It would be interesting to find out where he lived, who reported his death etc. Moreover, he may come up on "heirhunters" and bona vacantia!

I personally would not go so far as to seek someone's death certificate, especially as the death is so recent. It feels wrong somehow. People should be allowed peace and privacy in death.

[Graham]

true enough, but what i meant by, 'if things had turned out differently', was if gregsten and storie had not been accosted that night, janet gregsten could have sued michael for divorce with vs as the third party

.

She could have, obviously, but the impression I have of her is that she had long since accommodated herself to her hubbie's infidelities, and was just trying to give her two sons a decent life and upbringing. She and Michael had been living apart for some time prior to his death. Even in 1961 divorce was the D-word and not mentioned in polite society.

Cheers,

Graham

[Graham]

Re: Alphon's Death.

As far as I can tell the only report of this was by Richard Ingrams in The Independent, and that was only because he had something of a vested interest, being Paul Foot's employer for a number of years at Private Eye. From what I recall Alphon was living alone in a flat and had a fall, which led to hospitalization and ultimately his demise, maybe via pneumonia, not unusual in old persons subjected to trauma.

Whether or not he had anything worthwhile to leave anyone, I wouldn't know, but I'd doubt it. If he left anything like a life-statement, the chances of this being made public are, I'd say, pretty slim, unless there was a living relative it could be left to.

I personally don't think it's unethical to apply for a copy of someone's death-certificate, if that document could be of any possible assistance in legitimate research.

Does anyone recall that shot of Alphon (I forget which TV documentary) where he was pacing up and down a station platform, seeming slightly unhinged, and wearing something like a light shortie mac which he favoured all those years ago? I wonder if that shot's on YouTube?

Cheers,

Graham

PS: to James. Yes, I made a balls-up over the date of JH's return to England. Down to sheer incompetence, nothing more.

[Limehouse]

Further thoughts about Alphon

Whilst reading again Foot, the enigma of Peter Alphon and my thoughts that he may not be quite the drifter the media told us etc and rather like Mr Miller who read one passage in Foots' book and was certain of Hanratty's guilt, i thouhgt about the following which I have never seen picked up/commented on.

When on trial in 1966 for the nuisance calls to Lord Russell Alphon was tried at the magistrates court. his Barrister was a Mr Sebag Montefiore. Unusual for starters that a barrister rather than a solicitor represented a client in a magistrates court then in 1966. However Mr Montefiore, famous now for writing a rather good biography of Stalin and well known for being to the right of politics-fitting in with what we have read about Alphon, did not even then come cheap. Legal aid in the form of 1966 then would not have paid total amount for a barrister of his repute to appear in a magistrates court. In 1966 the libel cases against the media etc had all been as we know well settled previously, thus the question must be asked-where exactly did Alphon get the money to pay for a barrister of the calibre of Mr Montefiore who would I suggest only appear in a Magistrates court unless the fee was worthwhile!!

His solicitors Galbraith and Best were also rather well to do as practices go.
Again where was the money coming from a drifter, and also the connections to hire such legal people.

I have been pondering further on Alphon, what has been written above concerning his employment of a top barrister and his ability to walk away from quite serious charges with very little punishment or even complete discharge.

Alphon's father worked for Scotland Yard as a clerk. There are several possibilities here. Firstly, he may have been a Mason. Many policemen, judges and barristers were also Masons, so perhaps there was a case of networking to help Alphon avoid harsh punishment. Secondly, even if Alphon's father himself was not a Mason, he may have been helped by colleagues who were.

Finally, I am still thinking along the lines of a connection between Hanratty, the underworld, the supply of sex workers and a scandal that bought down a government. So far I have found a network that links Hanratty to Greek Street and Greek Street to Slough and Slough to --- guess who??

[Limehouse]

Making the connection between J Ryan and Hanratty

hi Graham

it does make one wonder how that connection - a vital one - as it turned out, was made. here is an extract from 'Britain's Last Hangman' chapter eight.

sadly the author has never contacted me to discuss his source...


"Neither Mr. Ewer nor the police knew that J. Ryan was an alias of James Hanratty and that immediately after the murder he stayed, in the road named, with his friend Charles France – only a mile away from the cleaners.
"Said Mr. Ewer: 'So convinced was I about what Janet had seen that I vowed then to watch for the man myself. I had to find him again!"'
In his study of the case, Who Killed Hanratty?, Paul Foot recalls:
"Mr. Ewer's hunt, according to the story, did not last long. The next day he went to a cafe in the Finchley Road. As he sat drinking a cup of tea and pondering the almost hopelessness of the A6 murder he spotted a pair of hand-made Italian shoes. Then he found himself staring into those blue eyes again. It was the same man.
"Stunned by this miracle, according to the story, Mr. Ewer decided to follow the man. He watched him go into a florist's shop in the Finchley Road. Then, acting on an impulse, he rang Scotland Yard. The police came and made inquiries at the florist's shop, and the manageress told them that the man had come in on September 1st wanting to send some roses to his mother – a Mrs. Hanratty of 12 Sycamore Grove, Kingsbury."
The Sketch's story continued: "A report was made to Scotland Yard. But the Murder Squad had never heard of Jimmy Ryan. They had never heard of the address in Sycamore Grove, Kingsbury, which was the home of his mother. But Bill Ewer could not rest. Almost daily he went out looking for the man with the staring eyes.
"He walked into the shop of a business associate in Greek Street, Soho. He did not know that Hanratty, who the Greek Street dealer had befriended, had been in the shop only that morning."
The publication of this story was the first indication that Scotland Yard had Hanratty's name and his alias long before they started to hunt him as the murderer. 'The only description of the killer had been released on the day of the murder, and did not fit Hanratty. Neither of the Identikit pictures resembled him. Yet here was Mrs. Gregsten "identifying" James Hanratty as he walked into the cleaners opposite her brother-in-law's shop

On page 97, Woffinden describes Hanratty's first meeting with one of his 'girlfriends', an older woman called Ann Pryce, who worked at the Rehearsal Club.

Quote Dixie introduced them, Probably in July. "He said his name was Jimmy Ryan" she recalled.

Now, even if Dixie introduced Hanratty as 'Jimmy' and Hanratty later told her his surname was 'Ryan' it is likely that Dixie knew Hanratty was using the name Ryan, otherwise Hanratty would have been wary of using it himself infront of someone who knew Dixie.

[jimarilyn]

Alphon's father worked for Scotland Yard as a clerk. There are several possibilities here. Firstly, he may have been a Mason. Many policemen, judges and barristers were also Masons, so perhaps there was a case of networking to help Alphon avoid harsh punishment. Secondly, even if Alphon's father himself was not a Mason, he may have been helped by colleagues who were.

This is excellent speculation Julie. It makes a lot of sense and goes someway to trying to explain why Alphon received such preferential treatment at the hands of the courts, regardless of the nature of the offences he was accused of. The funny handshake brigade look after their own. Alphon even stated that the police acted as though they knew he was guilty of the A6 murder but weren't prepared to do anything about it.

When the Mortlake Magistrates let him off the charges of viokently attacking Mrs Dalal in her own home they even had the cheek to award him costs of 50 guineas (which equates to at least £1.000 in today's world). When he walked scot-free from the court friends were already waiting in a car outside to drive him away. Someone was looking out for and taking a keen interest in the affairs of a certain Peter Louis Alphon. I wonder if they were like minded fascists ? Who knows, perhaps Billy Ewer was in the back seat of the car in Mortlake that October day.

[jimarilyn]

4 images of Peter Alphon around time of murder

Valerie Storie in her description of the gunman said that his hair was receding at the sides, an often overlooked remark. This could not be said of James Hanratty but could definitely be said of Peter Alphon as 3 of the images below clearly show.

She also said that the killer had large staring eyes. The 4th image shows Alphon with an almost hypnotic stare.