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On Monday August 21st 1961 James Hanratty told the France familly that he was going to Liverpool that evening, ostensibly to visit an aunt.
On that same evening he also told his friend Ann Pryce at the Rehearsal Club that he was travelling up to Liverpool.
Sidetracked from his intended Liverpool trip that Monday evening and discovering that it was too late to travel he obtained accommodation for the night at the Vienna Hotel because the Broadway House Hotel was fully booked up.
He had bed and breakfast at the Vienna Hotel, leaving there sometime around 8.30am or 9.00am.
He volunteered to police that he absent mindedly travelled to Paddington first instead of Euston Station.
Michael da Costa, a very observant and publicity shy young actor, stated that he clearly remembered seeing James Hanratty at Euston Station on that Tuesday morning.
James Hanratty stated that when he arrived at Lime Street Station, Liverpool, and handed in his pigskin case at the left luggage department he remembered being served by a man with a withered hand.
Peter Usher, who fitted that description almost to a tee (he had two fingers missing from his left hand) remembered serving someone who resembled James Hanratty. Usher said that this man asked Usher to put his name on the ticket which he did not do because the ticket was already numbered. Usher recalled that the man mentioned the name "Ratty with the initial N or J"
Some time later that afternoon/early evening, according to James Hanratty, he entered a sweet shop on Scotland Road where he asked the lady behind the counter if she could direct him to a Carlton/Tarleton Avenue/Street/Road whatever.. Hanratty said the woman told him he had come too far, that this was Bankhall. Anyone who knows the Liverpool Scotland Road area would know that Bankhall is the general area where that particular sweet shop was located.
Mrs Olive Dinwoodie ( "a perfectly respectable and responsible citizen" according to Acott)
corroborated Hanratty's story almost verbatim. She served behind the counter of that sweetshop for just the two days, the Monday and the Tuesday. She stated that the man who asked for the directions looked very like James Hanratty and came into the shop around the time that Hanratty said he had.
According to Hanratty he made his way back to Lime Street station where he had left his luggage. Before catching the Rhyl bus at the side of Lime Street Station he tried to gain access to Reynold's Billiard Hall. His intention was to try and sell a gold wrist watch he had
stolen. The owner of the Billiard Hall, Robert Kempt, stopped him from doing so. Although unsure of the exact date Kempt indeed recalled such an incident taking place and his story too corroborated Hanratty's almost verbatim.
The point I am making is that James Hanratty told friends on the Monday evening of his intentions to travel up to Liverpool. He could have told them he was going to Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester or absolutely anywhere in the UK, but no, he tells them he is going to a place [ Liverpool ] where, lo and behold, at least three separate witnesses [Peter Usher, Mrs Olive Dinwoodie and Robert Kempt] place him ( or a doppelganger ) on the Tuesday afternoon/early evening. And whose stories corroborate Hanratty's almost to a tee.
And then there is his arrival in Rhyl later that evening and all those honourable and trustworthy Rhyl witnesses who remember meeting and speaking with him that evening or the next day.
And some people would have us believe the Liverpool/Rhyl alibi is make believe. lol.
On that same evening he also told his friend Ann Pryce at the Rehearsal Club that he was travelling up to Liverpool.
Sidetracked from his intended Liverpool trip that Monday evening and discovering that it was too late to travel he obtained accommodation for the night at the Vienna Hotel because the Broadway House Hotel was fully booked up.
He had bed and breakfast at the Vienna Hotel, leaving there sometime around 8.30am or 9.00am.
He volunteered to police that he absent mindedly travelled to Paddington first instead of Euston Station.
Michael da Costa, a very observant and publicity shy young actor, stated that he clearly remembered seeing James Hanratty at Euston Station on that Tuesday morning.
James Hanratty stated that when he arrived at Lime Street Station, Liverpool, and handed in his pigskin case at the left luggage department he remembered being served by a man with a withered hand.
Peter Usher, who fitted that description almost to a tee (he had two fingers missing from his left hand) remembered serving someone who resembled James Hanratty. Usher said that this man asked Usher to put his name on the ticket which he did not do because the ticket was already numbered. Usher recalled that the man mentioned the name "Ratty with the initial N or J"
Some time later that afternoon/early evening, according to James Hanratty, he entered a sweet shop on Scotland Road where he asked the lady behind the counter if she could direct him to a Carlton/Tarleton Avenue/Street/Road whatever.. Hanratty said the woman told him he had come too far, that this was Bankhall. Anyone who knows the Liverpool Scotland Road area would know that Bankhall is the general area where that particular sweet shop was located.
Mrs Olive Dinwoodie ( "a perfectly respectable and responsible citizen" according to Acott)
corroborated Hanratty's story almost verbatim. She served behind the counter of that sweetshop for just the two days, the Monday and the Tuesday. She stated that the man who asked for the directions looked very like James Hanratty and came into the shop around the time that Hanratty said he had.
According to Hanratty he made his way back to Lime Street station where he had left his luggage. Before catching the Rhyl bus at the side of Lime Street Station he tried to gain access to Reynold's Billiard Hall. His intention was to try and sell a gold wrist watch he had
stolen. The owner of the Billiard Hall, Robert Kempt, stopped him from doing so. Although unsure of the exact date Kempt indeed recalled such an incident taking place and his story too corroborated Hanratty's almost verbatim.
The point I am making is that James Hanratty told friends on the Monday evening of his intentions to travel up to Liverpool. He could have told them he was going to Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester or absolutely anywhere in the UK, but no, he tells them he is going to a place [ Liverpool ] where, lo and behold, at least three separate witnesses [Peter Usher, Mrs Olive Dinwoodie and Robert Kempt] place him ( or a doppelganger ) on the Tuesday afternoon/early evening. And whose stories corroborate Hanratty's almost to a tee.
And then there is his arrival in Rhyl later that evening and all those honourable and trustworthy Rhyl witnesses who remember meeting and speaking with him that evening or the next day.
And some people would have us believe the Liverpool/Rhyl alibi is make believe. lol.
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