a6 murder

[Steve]

Spellchecker

Hi Simon

It's a very, very easy mistake to make, and sometimes you don't even know you have made the mistake bacause your spellchecker does if for you and automatically 'corrects' Storie to story!

KR
Steve

[Graham]

Reference Alphon's DNA, if it was tested then I'd suggest his hair was used as a source - during the early stages of the A6 investigation he willingly gave samples of fluids and hair.

But thinking about this, if the above is true, then the police and the forensic people must have known where the sample of hair was stored, yet the underwear, hankie and other exhibits had been mislaid for years and apparently only came to light by sheer luck. Or was the whole lot stored, lost and found together?

Cheers,

Graham

[Steve]

Evening Graham

The A6 murder case continues to produce new mysteries even after 46, now nearly 47, years!

The Alphon DNA point raised earlier today came as a surprise to me - I cannot believe that Alphon would have agreed to this kind of test. My impression is that he has not wanted anything to do with the A6 murder case for some considerable time now.

I agree with you about the unlikelihood of material from many years ago being used, so I suppose the logical answer is that Alphon was discounted as a possible murderer not because of testing of his DNA, but because the DNA tested positively for Hanratty which meant the chances of anyone else, Alphon included, testing positively were so remote that they could be safely disregarded.

Kind regards,
Steve

[Graham]

Hi Steve.

You could be right. Only one male DNA was found on the underwear and the hankie, so if it was JH's it's a simple process of elimination to exclude Alphon.

Going back to an earlier topic, I still find it strange that there is no 'official' A6website. Casebook seems to be the only forum on the net in which the A6 Case is still discussed - unless that is I've missed something when I've trawled the net.

I guess as a corollary to the above, it's just about impossible now for any JH supporters to locate new evidence, unless the 50 year rule applies and the Home Office open files in 2012 - only 4 years away. That might be an event worth waiting for! Especially if Dixie France's 'lost' letters are made public.

Cheers,

Graham

[jimarilyn]

Flaws of D.N.A

Hi,

On the subject of DNA (of which I know next to nothing) a geneticist Dr. John Parrington of East London had the following to say :-

"I'd like to take issue with the report in the Daily Mail last week that DNA profiling has proved the guilt of James Hanratty, hanged for the so called A6 murder in 1962. Reports claim that a DNA sample taken from Hanratty's exhumed body last month has been matched with two samples taken from the victim's clothes, and that the chance of a mismatch is one in 2.5 million.

I'm a geneticist and work with DNA on a daily basis. I agree with the defence lawyers that the items of clothing may have been contaminated by being in contact with Hanratty's garments during the investigation. There are serious flaws in the way DNA profiling is being employed in forensic investigations.

Techniques are based on the assumption that by special chemicals in DNA, one should in principle obtain a unique "fingerprint" of each individual. Unfortunately, things are not so simple in practice as these assessments use only a tiny fraction of a suspect's DNA. There is the possibility of finding a match with a DNA sample from the crime scene, even if the suspect is completely innocent.

A key problem is with who is carrying out the DNA profiling. In a number of cases where convictions were made on this basis it has emerged that forensic labs were disregarding real discrepancies with the two DNA samples being compared. The convictions were subsequently quashed.

In Britain forensic science is not separate from the police, but wholly dependent on it. I would have great reservations about any claims made by the institution that convicted the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six on flawed forensic science."

[jimarilyn]

Nitpicking ?

Hi,

Wandering off the subject of DNA fleetingly has anybody else noticed a slight anachronism in Channel 4's 1992 documentary "Mystery of Deadman's Hill" re. the re-enactment scene in the cornfield ? Actors portraying Michael Gregsten and Valerie Storie are listening to the Jimmy Crawford song "I love how you love me" on the car radio a full 3 months before the song was released. Someone it seems didn't do their homework properly !

[Tony]

Did Morris Minors have car radios in those days?

[Steve]

Hi Tony


Very, very few ... the car radio industry was in its infancy in 1961.

KR
Steve

[Graham]

The first car my dad owned with a fitted radio (as opposed to one fixed by a bracket under the dash) was a Cortina of about 1963. The old man (an electrician) had to fit a suppressor to the ignition-system to eliminate interference.

Gregsten's Minor must have had an underslung radio, as I'm 99% sure that no Minor at the time was built with a radio compartment. My 1953 Minor certainly hadn't got a compartment, and I used a transistor-radio on the passenger-seat for ICE...!

The first thing I look for in a car now is the quality of its CD player.

Cheers,

Graham

[Steve]

Hi Graham

Believe it or not in-car CD players are going out of fashion, people are looking for MP3 players and iPod interfaces now.

KR
Steve

[Graham]

Hi Graham

Believe it or not in-car CD players are going out of fashion, people are looking for MP3 players and iPod interfaces now.

KR
Steve

Too techno for me, mate. Reminds me of 'Raffles The Gentleman Thug' in Viz whose 1903 Stanley Steamer GTE had a Victrola phonograph complete with a massive horn (oooerr...). That's about my level.

Cheers,

Graham

[Sam Flynn]

Did Morris Minors have car radios in those days?

John and Dave wait excitedly as Mr Cholmondley-Warner arrives to install their car radiogram.

[Graham]

[ATTACH]2164[/ATTACH]

John and Dave wait excitedly as Mr Cholmondley-Warner arrives to install their car radiogram.

Now how did I know that the next poster would be Mr S Flynn?

Cheers,

Graham

[Graham]

Hi,

Wandering off the subject of DNA fleetingly has anybody else noticed a slight anachronism in Channel 4's 1992 documentary "Mystery of Deadman's Hill" re. the re-enactment scene in the cornfield ? Actors portraying Michael Gregsten and Valerie Storie are listening to the Jimmy Crawford song "I love how you love me" on the car radio a full 3 months before the song was released. Someone it seems didn't do their homework properly !

Well spotted, JM.

Whenever I watch a film or a documentary supposedly based on some period in the past, I'm squatting there like a moron looking for anachronisms. I didn't spot that one, though! That was the doc. in which the actress portraying Valerie bore as much resemblance to her as I do to Brad Pitt.

Cheers,

Graham

[Steve]

Because you are psycho?