A6 Rebooted

[Alfie]

... I find it a little difficult to believe that someone would admit to a rape. Hanratty would have known well how a rapist would get treated in prison by other prisoners.

Hanratty was held in the hospital block at Brixton, not amongst the general prison population.

[NickB]

With regard to Hanratty not telling anyone, I think it is significant that his two closest confidants - France and Anderson - were convinced he did it. Both were also were troubled by this and became hostile towards him. Compare this with the reaction you might expect of them saying how he had always been a good friend and they could not imagine how he could be guilty of such a horrendous crime. If he had not told them outright that he had done it, as Anderson later claimed, doesn't this reaction indicate that he at least dropped heavy hints?

[Graham]

It also seems likely that he made some sort of confession to Charlotte France. It also has to be understood that both Dixie France and Louise Anderson verged somewhat upon the side of the illegal in their business affrairs, and so would both be potentially under pressure from the police to 'assist their inquiries'. Which of course does not mean to say that France and Anderson did not believe that Hanratty was guilty.

Graham

[NickB]

They were under police pressure but if you look at the evidence they gave, and in France's suicide letters, there is something that goes beyond what would have been required to be simply co-operative prosecution witnesses. It is personal!

[Alfie]

With regard to Hanratty not telling anyone, I think it is significant that his two closest confidants - France and Anderson - were convinced he did it. Both were also were troubled by this and became hostile towards him. Compare this with the reaction you might expect of them saying how he had always been a good friend and they could not imagine how he could be guilty of such a horrendous crime. If he had not told them outright that he had done it, as Anderson later claimed, doesn't this reaction indicate that he at least dropped heavy hints?

The doubts of both France and Anderson re Jim's innocence may have first arisen from the fact that when they saw him on the Saturday following the murder he was wearing slacks and a blazer, yet he later claimed to have arrived back from Liverpool on the Friday wearing the Hepworth's suit. What reason could he have to lie about something like that?

Then there's Anderson passing on to Charlotte France (inadvertently or not) the fact that Hanratty hid his shooter in her linen cupboard, with all the detail about the cupboard's location, the colour of the blankets and the logo on the carrier bag in which it was wrapped. Who apart from Hanratty could have told Anderson this?

[Graham]

Hanratty customarily sent postcards to his friends from many of the places he visited, but not, on this occasion, from Liverpool or Rhyl. Also, and something that does tend to be forgotten, Hanratty was at the Frances' watching TV when the Photofits were first shown. Charlotte France said later that she remarked to Hanratty there and then, "Doesn't that one look like you?"

Alfie, it was in Charlotte France's airing-cupboard that the gun was hidden, and she told Anderson of this during the trial. The fact that the gun was in the Frances' home lends a little more weight to my belief that it was France who obtained the gun for Hanratty.

Graham

[Sherlock Houses]

The fact is that Hanratty was nowhere near Liverpool or Rhyl on 22 August.

Your fact, of course. Actually just your opinion, to which like everyone else on this forum you are entitled. There must have been however, for some considerable amount of time, valid reason for you to have believed in the truth of the Liverpool/Rhyl alibi as you have stated many times that prior to 2001 you were a believer in Hanratty's innocence. There is much impressive evidence which points unmistakably to Hanratty's presence in Liverpool and then Rhyl between August 22nd and August 23rd 1961. Evidence from trustworthy citizens, not attention seekers, which however hard you may wish away will just not go away.

[Alfie]

There is much impressive evidence which points unmistakably to Hanratty's presence in Liverpool and then Rhyl between August 22nd and August 23rd 1961. Evidence from trustworthy citizens, not attention seekers, which however hard you may wish away will just not go away.

Actually the evidence is far from impressive, as Nimmo made clear.

Why did Hanratty wait until his trial was underway before telling anybody he was in Rhyl at the time of the murder? None of his excuses wash when it's considered that here was a man facing the rope if found guilty.

[NickB]

Swanwick: "If you knew you had not committed the crime, why not tell the truth?"

Hanratty: "There is that point, but if you are in the circumstances like I was at this stage you are asked questions so quickly you have not got time to pause for a second. You answer his questions."

The idea that he was pressurised by the police into lying does not bear examination. Previously he phoned the Daily Mirror and told them the same story. Subsequently he sat down with his defence team and told them the same story again.

[George Dixon]

This is a case of great interest to me. Sadly I am old enough to remember it when it happened.

I am of the opinion that Ewer has at the very heart of all that took place.

Alphon, speaking of Ewer, said something to the effect, " you don`t want to mess with him "

Is there anything to show that Ewer and Alphon knew each other ?

[Graham]

I can remember quite well the A6 Crime and the reaction of the public. However, IIRC I don't think I read much about it until Paul Foot began to 'feature' it in his regular Private Eye column. I always liked Foot as an investigative journalist, but as time moved on I began to seriously question his politics. It became fairly clear that Foot was supporting Hanratty largely because he was, as Foot described him, a 'worker', and an innocent victim of police- and class-corruption. I thought this was nonsense at the time, and I do now. I read Foot's book when it was first published in 1971, and was impressed at the depth of his investigation, and also I have to say in his conviction that Hanratty was innocent and Alphon was guilty. However, when I re-read it (in the mid-1980's) it didn't strike me as being so clear-cut - and in fact towards the end of his life it seems that Foot himself was having second thoughts. Woffinden's book I also found impressive, but on subsequent readings it became increasingly clear that he juggled with facts and placed his own interpretation on certain matters. As it goes, I never thought that Alphon had anything to do with the A6, that he was involved out of pure coincidence, and that he was essentially a nutter who saw a main chance for himself. None of what I've said here will, of course, make an iota of difference to the beliefs of those who are convinced of Hanratty's innocence.

The evidence, as Alfie says, is not at all impressive, does not point 'unmistakeably' to Hanratty's innocence, and I don't think that the word 'trustworthy' can be applied to most of the citizens who supplied 'evidence' supposedly in Hanratty's favour.

Finally, I would ask again: if Hanratty was totally innocent, and the victim of some kind of plot, corruption, set-up, conspiracy, call it what you will, why was he selected as patsy by those shadowy figures claimed to be behind the crime? And if Alphon wasn't the A6 killer, then who was?

Graham

[Graham]

Alphon, speaking of Ewer, said something to the effect, " you don`t want to mess with him "

Can you provide evidence of this, please?

Graham

[George Dixon]

Can you provide evidence of this, please?

Graham

No, sorry, I do not take notes. I remember it very well though.

[Alfie]

Is there anything to show that Ewer and Alphon knew each other ?

Prior to the murder? Nothing.

There's no evidence (outside of Alphon's imagination) that their paths crossed afterwards, either.

The notion that Ewer somehow masterminded the intimidation-gone-wrong episode doesn't bear a moment's scrutiny.

If he wanted Janet for himself, why would he intervene just when Gregsten was on the verge of leaving her?

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hanratty was held in the hospital block at Brixton, not amongst the general prison population.

Thanks Alfie