A6 Rebooted

[Spitfire]

Here we go from 1966

[Spitfire]

and finally here is the rest of it.

[OneRound]

Thanks, Spitfire. I found that very interesting. Do you know of the ''long, devastating attack on the prosecution's case'' written by Dr. Lewis?

Best regards,

OneRound

[NickB]

Thanks, Spitfire. I found that very interesting. Do you know of the ''long, devastating attack on the prosecution's case'' written by Dr. Lewis?

Letter to Bedfordshire Times, 30-Mar-62, reproduced on Woff page 303.

[cobalt]

Was Dr. Lewis' criticism of the verdict that of a concerned citizen who was dissatisfied with the level of proof, or was it in any way connected to his work as a consultant physician at Bedford General Hospital?

[Alfie]

Thanks for posting that Spitfire. I presume 'Mandrake' was Paul Foot?

[OneRound]

Letter to Bedfordshire Times, 30-Mar-62, reproduced on Woff page 303.

Further to Nick's post above and the subsequent one from Cobalt, I would be grateful for the text or a summary of the Lewis letter as I no longer have the Woff book.

Many thanks,

OneRound

[Graham]

Thanks for posting that Spitfire. I presume 'Mandrake' was Paul Foot?

Mandrake was a regular column in the Sunday Telegraph, authored by different journalists, Foot being one of them.

Graham

[moste]

“wonder if Ian Lanz might be the unknown person who wrote to the Director of the Road Research Laboratory concerning the illicit relationship between Gregsten and Valerie?”
Also,wonder if Ian Lanz was the chap who on Mikes night off, Ms. Storie took a liking to, and on their date showed him the corn field and explained this was where she and Mike liked to hang out ?

[cobalt]

That might, if true, be a coincidence that stretches credulity even further.

I have always thought that we have too little evidence from the workplace of Gregsten/Storey and their car club. A little like the perplexing lack of evidence from helpful bystanders and (bribed?) nursing staff in the recent Skripal poisoning case. Another dog which never barked.

I acknowledge that Mrs. Lanz's evidence is weak, given that it was solicited by Jean Justice. But...owners of bars/restaurants are reliable as face witnesses and she was surely correct about Gregsten/Storey being occasional customers. Why would she be wrong abut Alphon, even if he was not actually there on the night in question?

I have often asked why only Scousers 'wanted in on the act' and not those from Taplow. Maybe I am not disappointed: it seems Mrs. Lanz has now joined in, according to the prosecution at least,

But no railway worker or fellow passenger worth his salt, no walker of the roads, no car driver, no farmer out checking his fields, no courting couple feels the same need. None of tm saw Hanrattty. None of them.

[Graham]

But no railway worker or fellow passenger worth his salt, no walker of the roads, no car driver, no farmer out checking his fields, no courting couple feels the same need. None of tm saw Hanrattty. None of them.

And no-one saw him on his claimed train-journey to Liverpool or his claimed bus-journey from Liverpool to Rhyl.

Graham

[cobalt]

And no-one saw him on his claimed train-journey to Liverpool or his claimed bus-journey from Liverpool to Rhyl

Fair enough Graham, but the burden of proof rests with the prosecution case that Hanratty was in Taplow area on the night in question.

Apologies for mis-spelling Valerie Storie's name in my last post.

[moste]

One of the interesting circumstances I think from that 24 hour period.
Nobody heard anything from Hanratty,after the last sighting of him from the Monday the 21 st Aug. until his telegram later in the week.
From early morning Tues. and all day until his so called involvement, in the cornfield encounter .Worthy of consideration I think. Not one of his friends ,family, girlfriends, heard from him? People believing in his guilt would argue no doubt, that the whole prospect of what he was to do in the evening was laying so heavy on his mind, that he avoided contact with anyone.
Though ,would this not be indicative, of a predetermined plan, where almost certainly other people would have been involved , as per the claim of Superintendent Mathews? I have serious problems with the idea that Hanratty right out of the blue ,headed west to do some house breaking , and stumbled on two lovers at dusk in such an out of the way location. Nobody heard from him all day because he was heading north on a slow train.
And incidentally ,there is a whole world of difference between, taxing people’s minds to remember a fleeting meeting in a railway station ,on the streets of Liverpool, or Rhyl, compared to a country railway platform ,country lane,quiet neighbourhood etc. where JH would have stood out as a carrot in a bunch of bananas easily remembered I should think.
P.S. R.IP. Bob

[Graham]

And no-one saw him on his claimed train-journey to Liverpool or his claimed bus-journey from Liverpool to Rhyl

Fair enough Graham, but the burden of proof rests with the prosecution case that Hanratty was in Taplow area on the night in question.

Apologies for mis-spelling Valerie Storie's name in my last post.

Well, no, actually. The burden of proof rested with the defence to prove that he wasn't anywhere near Taplow that night, seeing that Valerie had identified him on the ID parade. Hanratty was unable to prove that he was up there in Liverpool at that particular time, which was essentially the platform of his defence. Hence his disastrous change of alibi - an 'ambush alibi' as the term of the time described it, and it didn't work.

Graham

[Alfie]

Woffinden and Hawser

Hawser's report really had Woffinden chewing the carpet didn't it.

Commenting on the death of James Hanratty, Sr, he went so far as to aver that it was in part "the perfidy of the wretched Hawser" that denied the old man justice for his son.

My dictionary defines perfidy as "the state of being deceitful and untrustworthy". I can only imagine that Mr Hawser had died by then to embolden the perfidious Woffinden to libel him so.