A6 Rebooted

[Spitfire]

My point is that Balmer had a track record of demolishing alibis, be they true or false, and he would hardly have stood by and watched Hanratty escape the gallows on the word of some local villains such as McNally. There would have been repercussions had that happened, something that scarcely needed pointing out to either McNally or Gillbanks. Gillbanks had been a Liverpool policeman at the time of the controversial executions so would have had an intimate knowledge of how Balmer exercised his authority. As a private investigator working in Liverpool it would not have been in his interests to upset the big chief of the local constabulary.

McNally stated that he had not seen Hanratty for four years. This is hard to believe, since Hanrratty was known to visit Merseyside with stolen goods and a former cell mate would be an obvious contact. McNally claimed he was going straight, but a former criminal is never likely to make a statement to the contrary. McNally claimed he had no contact with the Bull Ring area, but why would Hanratty link him to this specific place rather than say, Scotland Road?

In answer to the question- where was Hanratty on the night of the murder- the most likely answer is the alibi he presented in court. He has a witness from a sweet shop who saw him in broad daylight and a landlady from Rhyl who also saw him in broad daylight, although there are problems with timings. Timing is not a problem with the ID given by Valerie Storie although she only saw her attacker’s face briefly in car headlights. Both prosecution and defence IDs contain weaknesses in the manner of how the identification was secured.

Let us remember that Hanratty was not obliged to provide an alibi in the first place. The onus was on the prosecution to establish that he found his way from London to a corn field in Dorney Reach carrying a gun and a bag of ammunition. By car? Impossible if he was alone, since no abandoned car was later found. By train? No witnesses. By taxi? No witness. He walked to the corn field? No witnesses. Not one.

The evidence that Hanratty was in Merseyside at the time of the crime can be questioned of course. But at least there is something amounting to evidence. In contrast, there is actually NO evidence whatsoever of how he came to be in a corn field to carry out this horrific crime. This was a puzzle to people back in 1961/2, it remains a puzzle to this day.

So if we are saying that Hanratty could not get the Liverpool criminals to support his false Liverpool alibi because they lived in fear of Balmer then that is fair enough.

So if Hanratty was in Rhyl, is it the case that he was a resident of Ingledene? And if so, what room did he stay in for the nights of 22 and 23 August?

It is true that Hanratty was under no obligation to substantiate any alibi. The burden was on the prosecution to prove that he was where the murder took place and that it was he that did it, however, once Hanratty went into the witness box and the jury determined that he was lying, then this would inevitably weigh against him.

[Graham]

Re: Post 3113, I should have written 'I can't recall reading anything about where JH claimed to have stayed in Liverpool.

Graham

[NickB]

Poster Steve describes the location of the Liverpool alibi in three posts starting here:

http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?p=33968#post33968

I presume that the flower shop pictured in the third post is the one that Hanratty visited when he was on the run.

[Graham]

Poster Steve describes the location of the Liverpool alibi in three posts starting here:

http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?p=33968#post33968

I presume that the flower shop pictured in the third post is the one that Hanratty visited when he was on the run.

It's been so long since I read any of my A6 books that I'd stone forgotten what Hanratty had said about where he claimed to have stayed in Liverpool. I was trying to think of McNally's name, but it wouldn't come. Steve took some superb photos of many of the places associated with the A6.

Graham

[Spitfire]

The Rhyl alibi was that he stayed for 2 nights in Rhyl,1 night at a guest house in New Brighton and then came back on the overnight train.

I think that Jim said he went to the funfair in New Brighton, I don't think that he ever claimed to have spent a night there.

So as regards our Jim, it was Monday 21 August in the Vienna, Tuesday and Wednesday night of 22 and 23 August in Rhyl and then the overnight train leaving Liverpool on Thursday 24 August.

[NickB]

Yes you are right, that is what he claimed. He said he stayed in a guest house in New Brighton when he was on the run.

"I mentioned New Brighton this morning to Mr Sherrard, if you had been listening carefully. I spent two nights in New Brighton, August 24th, the night of the boxing match, and in October when I had bed and breakfast in New Brighton at a boarding house."

But of course if the France family are correct then he did stay somewhere overnight in the Liverpool area on 24th August. I have always imagined it was in a New Brighton b&b that night also because his funfair visit seems to have lasted rather long for a return to Lime Street in time for the overnight train.

[NickB]

To clarify ...

He sent the telegram at 8.40pm, walked around and then tried to get into the boxing, then boarded the ferry. I doubt he arrived in New Brighton much before 10pm. So therefore I can’t see him visiting the funfair and then returning on the ferry in time for an arrival at the station at about 10.15 as he claimed.

[Derrick]

Ewer sues The Times

I came across this:-

'The A6 Murder' (James HANRATTY): libel proceedings brought against Times Newspapers Ltd

Here:

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11542759

Whatever it is won't be seen by the taxpayer for another 45 years.

What is it that is so sensitive about the death of France and the actions of Ewer?

The authorities have always acted is if the case against Hanratty was overwhelming, despite the need for the Nimmo and Hawser whitewashes.

So why do France and Ewer still present a problem of, to all intents and purposes, national security?

[NickB]

I have posted about this before. The release date was actually extended.

http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?p=389117&highlight=archives#post389117

[NickB]

Someone suggested that the release date might have been extended because Valerie Storie was still alive. It might be worth someone asking Kew if the release date could be reviewed again.

[Limehouse]

On a now rare visit to these boards, I am so pleased to see the A6 debate bobbing along so affably and peacefully.

I will have to try and catch up with all the views and ideas and perhaps offer a few of my own, although I must admit to being a bit 'rusty' concerning the case these days.

[Graham]

Derrick,

you doubtless know this already, but Ewer sued Paul Foot and Jonathan Cape, his publishers on 21 July 1971 regarding perceived allegations concerning his integrity and his part, which he understandably totally denied, in the murder of Michael Gregsten, as printed in Foot's book Who Killed Hanratty? published in May of that year. Ewer received £1000 out of court from Cape, although Cape continued to be able to print and distribute the book without alteration. (Never quite understood this, myself...if what they had printed was libelous, then how come they continued to be able to print it after settling with Ewer?)

Then Ewer also sued the Sunday Times in regard of articles printed by that organ on 9, 16 and 23rd of May. Again, Ewer settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, but said to be 'much more substantial' than the Jonathan Cape settlement. If anyone can reproduce these articles on these boards, I would be more than interested.

I can only assume that Ewer sued because Cape and the Sunday Times suggested that he, Ewer, was behind the murder of Gregsten. If I recall correctly, Foot had access to Alphon's bank details for the period concerned, and suggested that a payment of £5000 into Alphon's account may well have been made by Ewer to pay him, Alphon, for killing Gregsten. This, of course, is absolute rubbish.

Hi Julie,

great to see you back again. Same as you, I'm rusty, having been 'away' from the A6 for a long time. Looking forward to hearing from you some more!

Regards,

Graham

[Spitfire]

"I mentioned New Brighton this morning to Mr Sherrard, if you had been listening carefully. I spent two nights in New Brighton, August 24th, the night of the boxing match, and in October when I had bed and breakfast in New Brighton at a boarding house."

Hi Nick

Where does this quote come from? It sounds like an answer given by Hanratty to Swanwick during cross-examination, but it does not seem to appear in either of the books by Foot or Woffinden.

After re-reading Foot at page 216 it would appear that the sequence of events according to Hanratty's statement (as paraphrased by Foot) which accompanied Sherrard's brief was that Hanratty went to the funfair at New Brighton and tried to get into the Winstone fight before he sent the telegram to France.

But, as you point out, if Hanratty stayed in New Brighton on 24/25th August he could hardly be getting the overnight train leaving Lime Street at about midnight on 24/25th August as Woffinden would have us believe (see page 128).

S

[Spitfire]

Then Ewer also sued the Sunday Times in regard of articles printed by that organ on 9, 16 and 23rd of May. Again, Ewer settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, but said to be 'much more substantial' than the Jonathan Cape settlement. If anyone can reproduce these articles on these boards, I would be more than interested.

I would likewise.

[cobalt]

So if we are saying that Hanratty could not get the Liverpool criminals to support his false Liverpool alibi because they lived in fear of Balmer then that is fair enough


If Bert Balmer of Liverpool Police had local criminals frightened of supporting false alibis then that would certainly be to his credit.

There would be a problem however if locals were frightened to support any kind of evidence, whether true or not. This possibly happened in a very strange, unsolved case in 1960 known as the Knotty Ash murder, investigated by Balmer. Many years later a caller to a radio station stated he had been ‘a person of interest’ spotted near the scene where he had knocked on a couple of doors. The caller claimed he did this since his car had broken down, but when hearing of the murder and being aware of Balmer’s reputation for ‘fit ups,’ he never came forward to eliminate himself.

I find it hard to believe that Hanratty spent around three days in Merseyside, trying to offload stolen gear, and did not make contact with known criminal associates such as McNally. This was his initial story before the Rhyl alibi was revealed and quite likely to be true in my view.

Hanratty must have known of the reluctance of Liverpool criminals to back up alibis, so would obviously have been better served focusing on his time in Rhyl. As a man experienced in court cases, Hanratty would have known that the word of a landlady was worth far more than that of a local criminal anyway. So, depending on your viewpoint, Hanratty either made a naïve misjudgment or, alternatively, was never in Merseyside in the first place.

I prefer the former, since we have around 12 people placing Hanratty in the area at the time of the crime, discovered by private investigators and investigative journalists. That is 11 more witnesses than the professional police force was able to find placing Hanratty in Bedfordshire.