a6 murder

[Graham]

I Googled Jonathan Whitaker - no doubt about it he's an acknowledged expert in DNA and has been/is involved in a lot of high-profile and contentious cases.

The main thing about the A6 DNA is that on both the hankie and the underwear only one male DNA was found, and that matched Hanratty's in both cases.

Cheers,

Graham

[simon]

Are there any recent photos of the Deadman's Hill lay-by ?

[Steve]

Hi Simon, I have some taken in the last couple of years which I posted on the old thread. I'll dig them out later ....

[Steve]

quite right Steve. my mother worked in one for years, in what is now part of basildon.

Hi Larue

I always thought that Greens didn't venture much further east than Gidea Park! Who were they eventually taken over by, and in which year. Can you recall?

By the way, small world, I was in Basildon yesterday!

KR
Steve

[Steve]

The lay-By

Simon

This is the layby as it is in the 2000s. On the old thread we established that the location of the lay-by in 1961, and therefore the spot where Gregsten was murdered, now forms part of the northbound carriageway of the A6.

KR
Steve

[Steve]

Deadman's Hill

The stretch of road to the left of this picture is the northbound carriageway of the A6 heading towards Bedford. It's open to debate but this spot could be the murder site. This area has changed a lot over the past 40 plus years and at the time of the murder this part of the A6 was a single carriageway road.

[Steve]

quite right Steve. my mother worked in one for years, in what is now part of basildon.

Hi Larue

It seems that Green's of Ilford were a much bigger chain of grocery stores than I thought. They had stores all the way out to Canvey Island, and several in Southend.

KR
Steve

[P.L.A]

Avondale Crescent then and now

Greetings one and all

It's hard to believe that the picture in postings 641 was taken almost 47 years after the one in posting 612.

Peter

[jimarilyn]

Greetings one and all

It's hard to believe that the picture in postings 641 was taken almost 47 years after the one in posting 612.

Peter

Hi,

My feelings too. A lot of water as they say has passed under the bridge since then. I wonder how many Morris Minors have been parked in that spot in the meantime.

[jimarilyn]

quite right Steve. my mother worked in one for years, in what is now part of basildon.

changing the subject completely, here's a pic of Sidney Taffler, who some have said bears a visual resemblance to one Peter Alphon. sorry aboot the size and quality

Hi Larue,

Having seen Sydney Tafler many times in British films of the 50's and 60's I can honestly say there is a good resemblance between him and Peter Alphon. Images of Tafler on the Internet though are very hard to find. The photo of Alphon below I feel, is the one that resembles Tafler most, taking into account that there was 14 years difference in age between the two. I don't know how others feel though.

[Steve]

It is true, there was a notable resemblance between Alphon and Tafler, though Tafler was a few years older than Alphon.

It’s not surprising that this similarity was remarked upon. In the 1950s and 1960s Sydney Tafler was a very popular actor and would have been familiar to most British people. At the time of the A6 murder his face was being shown in cinemas throughout the UK in the film Carry On Regardless.

Sydney Tafler died nearly 30 years ago still only in his early 60s.

[Steve]

I wonder how many Morris Minors have been parked in that spot in the meantime.

Not many in recent years; Morris Minors are rare beasts on Britain's roads these days!

[jimarilyn]

Hi,

So I guess it boils down to how trustworthy Michael Fogarty-Waul's description of the man he encountered twice within three weeks that summer of '61 is.

Fogarty-Waul, just to refresh our memories, claimed that he'd met a man one Tuesday evening at Slough Greyhound Stadium who'd asked him for a lift. He said he dropped the man off at a hotel in Slough and that about 3 weeks later at night he bumped into the same man again, this time near Marsh Lane. He gave the man a lift as far as Peck's Farm (where Fogarty-Waul was living in a caravan) when the man said he was heading for Maidenhead.

Fogarty-Waul told this man that he was on the wrong road for Maidenhead and that he should have kept straight along the road he was on. The man (who Fogarty-Waul said looked a lot like the actor Sydney Tafler) replied that it was okay and that he would be able to find his way across the fields. He left the car in Marsh Lane and wandered off. Fogarty-Waul thought it all rather strange as he'd never seen the man in that area before.

10 days after Hanratty was found guilty at Bedford Court, Fogarty-Waul went fishing in the river near the bottom of the infamous cornfield. About 1a.m he returned to his car parked in Marsh Lane. Approaching it he saw a man who seemed to be touching his car and thinking it might be a friend shouted over to him. The man looked up and then scarpered off (chased by Fogarty-Waul) in the direction of the M4. Fogarty-Waul reported this incident (as he'd reported the first incident with the man) to the police. He was sure it was the same man he'd seen on two separate occasions about 6 months previously.

[P.L.A]

A6 Tourism

Greeting one and all

Don’t know about the number of Morris Minors that have parked in Avondale Crescent over the years, but I visited Deadmans Hill on the fortieth anniversary of the crime and couldn’t move for the number of cars occupied by people innocently eating their lunch. Can’t complain, I was one of them.

Peter

[Steve]

How many Morris Minors did you see in the layby in 2001?