a6 murder

[Graham]

Graham.

see post 1119, second paragraph

Hi JM,

I've just looked again (in Woffinden) at Mrs Galves statement (and also her second statement of 13 September) and can still see no reference to gloves.

Just checked Foot, too. Same result.

Can you please post Mrs Galves' statement re: the gloves?

However, both my Woffinden and my Foot books are first editions; maybe they were updated at some later date.

Cheers,

Graham

[jason w]

Hi guys,

So, how seriously can Foot and Woffinden be taken. I see the points you make about Woffinden's 'imagination' but isn't he a respected journalist?

Searching on the net I see he has written articles in various newspapers such as the Guardian and the Telegraph.

Foot too, was a respected journalist wasn't he? Why would these guys go o such lengths to fight the cause of a guilty man?

Be interested to know your thoughts.

Jason

[Graham]

Woffinden and Foot

Bob Woffinden is an independent investigative journalist with a big interest in miscarriages of justice - examples being the A6 Case and Bille Jo Jenkins. The only book of his I've ever read is "Hanratty - The Final Verdict". Although mostly excellent, he does sometimes get slightly carried away with his subject, especially with regard to Hanratty's personality.

Paul Foot was, to put it bluntly, a toff who for whatever reason renounced his privileged upbringing and threw himself into the dubious 'politics' of the Socialist Workers Party, and did himself little good by so doing. He was, though, a brilliant journalist, especially via 'Private Eye', and took up many causes in which the 'little man' was being beaten down by top-heavy authority. He saw in the A6 Case a perfect example of an ordinary working-class man being downtrodden by the Establishment, and he threw himself at the case with typical vigour. What I never fully understood about Foot's support and 'take' on Hanratty is that Alphon, Foot's candidate for the A6 killer, was as much a class-victim as was Hanratty. Perhaps even more so, as Hanratty came from a relatively stable family unit whereas Alphon's parents appeared to be rather unsettled, and Alphon had a very poor relationship with his father. And Alphon himself was a drifter, an odd character who seemed to have had no close friends, was a self-confessed Fascist, and a chancer. Alphon's Fascism, which I suspect was at best phoney, was perhaps all the reason Foot needed to place him as the A6 killer.

Given all this, how political was Foot's interest in the A6 Case? Very much, I'd say. His political interest in the case rather outweighed his probably rather thin interest in the case as a miscarriage of justice.

I kind of get the feeling that, had Alphon been identified by Valerie Storie rather than Hanratty, Foot would have been perfectly happy in spending vast amounts of his time trying to convince us that Alphon was the victim of a miscarriage of justice. And he may well have tried to convince us that Alphon's 'Fascism' was the result of his unhappy upbringing...

I rather think he was making a purely political point - yet oddly enough, between Foot and Woffinden, I find Foot to be far and away the most reliable of commentators on the case. He was nothing if not honest - his book proves that, as did his (admittedly rather oblique) reference in 'Private Eye' after the DNA results were made public, that he might have been mistaken. But he stuck to his guns on that one, suggesting that the DNA could have been contaminated, but I have to say with very little genuine conviction.

I always liked Paul Foot. His 'Private Eye' column was the first I turned to in the days when I read that publication. He was never less than thought-provoking, even if one didn't agree with his politics.

All this is written purely as an aside to the many very excellent posts to this very excellent thread.

Cheers,

Graham

[JIMBOW]

Hello and a very warm welcome to you Jimbow,

Let me get this straight you came from Canada and went to Blackpool on holiday?

Canada with the Rocky Mountains, some of the finest scenery in the world, a short drive to Niagara Falls, a long drive, depending where you live, to California or through the Smokey Mountains and the Carolinas down to Florida and you actually went to Blackpool?

I last visited the mighty Blackpool about four years ago and ended up at the Pleasure Beach with my family. We dined in a type of pizza establishment which to me more resembled a Derbyshire quarry than a restaurant; oh my head is starting to spin with the memories. After I had ordered drinks and food I thought I would have been better off spending the money on hiring a steam cleaner to wash the tables. The waitress made a vain attempt to wipe the table but it was an unachievable task. I watched in fascination as her arm shook as her cloth bounced over the stuck-on pizza remains of the week.

We then ventured into the actual Pleasure Beach (no pleasure at all really) and I treated my little grandson to a ride on some cars that were on tracks but had steering wheels so that you could pretend you were driving. When he got off I did a quick calculation and realised that for what this car ride cost I could have run a Rolls Royce far more cheaply.
Setting off for home we drove up the Golden Mile (?) and every time we stopped somebody banged on the window trying to sell us a Kiss me Quick hat or a toffee apple for 50 quid.
Hope you enjoyed yourself.
Only kidding about the 50 quid toffee apple; it was actually 45.

All a joke but nice to hear from you.

Tony

Ha! Ha! Nice one, Tony!! As I re-read my 'maiden' post, it occurred to me that it was conceivable that some bright spark (such as your good self!) would come up with something like that!! No, it was more a case of my honouring a committment I'd made to my elderly mother that I would accompany her to B'Pool when I was next back in the UK (didn't stop me from a bit of carousing at night, mind!). And some friends in Saddleworth had 'forewarned' me of how B'Pool is now. I fully expected to see Jack and Vera ambling along the Prom. Still, it's not all bad, St. Anne's looked nice - and I well remember seeing the incomparable Kathy Kirby on the South Pier back in the mid-Sixties - now there was a sight for sore eyes!!

I have to 'out' myself here as someone who does indeed believe JH was guilty although, equally, in fairness, I must also say (as others have, Graham for one I think) that I feel that, based on the evidence available at the trial proceedings, the verdict was a strange one, to say the least.

I do think that Paul Foot was being a bit disingenuous in presenting Hanratty as something of a 'likeable rogue' and implying that, since he had no prior record of violence against women, he therefore could not have attacked Miss Storie. Sure, you can perhaps find a lady like 'MM' (full name withheld because, as someone wrote recently, some of the 'players' in all of this are likely still alive and kicking) who said that his behaviour was always appropriate but certainly he was known to be a frequent user of the services of the world's oldest profession and did he not also 'chance his arm' with Dixie's 16-year-old daughter, someone who referred to him as 'Uncle Jim' (on an embankment near Battersea Fun Fair, I believe)?

Regards,
Jim

[JIMBOW]

Steve,

I have to admit that that is my taking on the subject of the gloves.

I've just thumbed through Foot, who mentions on Page 67 of the hardback that Mrs Galves recalled seeing an open suitcase in Alphon's room and that it contained 'dirty linen', but no mention of any gloves. And this, as it happens, is contained in Foot's complete version of Nudd's second statement (I think Woffinden's version is somewhat edited). Somehow, and somewhere, I think I made the mistake of seeing the 'gloves sighting' in Nudds' second statement.

Where Woffinden came across this information regarding the gloves we'll probably never know, but it does seem artificial. So who precisely did Mrs Galves make this statement to? Or did it exist only in Woffinden's imagination?

Cheers,

Graham

Graham, are you absolutely sure about that? Unless I am misinterpreting something, page 67 of Paul Foot's book does indeed cover Nudd's second statment and there is indeed a reference to 'dirty linen' in a suitcase, but as fas as I can see, it was in the context of Nudds himself spotting this 'dirty linen' when he went up and opened Alphon's room with a pass key, in response to his wife having told him that the occupant of Room 6 had not yet had breakfast. I cannot find a reference to Mrs Galves in the surrounding text.

However, that entire scenario hardly rings true; as someone wrote earlier, since when did hotel proprietors go to the lengths of knocking on doors (or opening them, even!!) to inform the occupant that it was close to check-out time and he'd not yet had his brekkers?

Regards,
Jim

[Steve]

did he not also 'chance his arm' with Dixie's 16-year-old daughter, someone who referred to him as 'Uncle Jim' (on an embankment near Battersea Fun Fair, I believe)?

Yes, this could have been one reason for Dixie's change in attitude towards Hanratty, assuming of course that he found out about it!

[Limehouse]

Re Paul Foot, his 'posh' background and his political persuasion etc, was he not the nephew of the mighty Michael Foot?

[Steve]

Michael Foot ....

.... of 'donkey jacket at the Cenotaph' fame!

[Limehouse]

Duffle coat! Are you trying to wind me up again Steve??

[Steve]

Donkey Jacket

No, it's true, Limehouse. When he was Leader of the Opposition Michael Foot attended the wreath-laying ceremony at The Cenotaph wearing a donkey jacket. It caused a lot of comment at the time, and later he claimed it was an expensive designer jacket, but to everyone watching it looked very much like a plain old donkey jacket.

[Tony]

.... of 'donkey jacket at the Cenotaph' fame!

And he’s also in ninth position on this year’s Death List.

Visit www.deathlist.net for further info.

Tony.

[Steve]

Hi Tony

What a sick web site!

There are some on there I thought had already died, though!

KR
Steve

[Tony]

Hi Tony

What a sick web site!

There are some on there I thought had already died, though!

KR
Steve

Hi Steve,

Yes I agree the height of bad taste but very interesting all the same.
When I go out with the lads on Thursdays we have a little game called Coffin Roulette and the rules are basically thus:
Each player, and there are eight of us, draws a card from 1 to 8. Obviously 1 has first choice and 8 has eighth choice. You have to pick a celebrity who you think will die between 8.30 PM that night and 8.30 PM the following Thursday. Everybody puts a couple of quid in the kitty. If your man comes up you scoop the pot.
There are few rules except your choice has to be famous, can not be under eighteen and can not be under sentence of death by officialdom.
So you couldn’t have picked Hanratty the week before his execution but you could pick Salman Rushdie.
Competition is fierce and we are all scouring the news and internet for tips during Thursdays. If you pick the 1 card and you think you have a strong contender everyone wants to know: “Why him” and next week you probably won’t get the 1 card and your man will be snaffled by somebody else.
It’s hard to predict and sometimes it has gone on for months and the prize money has been in the hundreds of pounds; but for now it rarely seems to last for more than 10 weeks.
Give it a try you might just enjoy it.

Tony

[Steve]

Tony, you and the lads need to look for a pub that has a darts board or a snooker table!

[Limehouse]

No, it's true, Limehouse. When he was Leader of the Opposition Michael Foot attended the wreath-laying ceremony at The Cenotaph wearing a donkey jacket. It caused a lot of comment at the time, and later he claimed it was an expensive designer jacket, but to everyone watching it looked very much like a plain old donkey jacket.

Hi Steve,

I have always maintained that this was actually a Duffle coat and not a donkey jacket. The incident was used as a ploy to get him out of the way, as he was a serious threat to Thatcher. I can't believe that ordinary people thought this was a good reason why he should not be Prime Minister, but I shouldn't be surprised, since someone I know voted Tory because she thought John Major was a dencently dressed and well-spoken man! What Foot really needed was a 'life coach' who would advise him on what to wear and how to moderate his voice to suit the audience. That's what Thatcher did.

Tony,

That sounds similar to a game played by some of the women at my workplace who take bets on who will get a boob job or a face lift next. They sit huddled over OK magazine ohhing and ahhing over dresses and shoes and bags.


Can anyone confirm that Paul Foot was in fact, Michael Foot's nephew?