A6 Rebooted

[OneRound]

Just to let any interested parties know, Michael Hanratty sadly passed away in the early hours of this morning. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer shortly after Christmas. A lovely, passionate man who will be sadly missed by all who knew him. R.I.P Mick and GOD bless.

Thanks for letting us know, Sherlock.

Regardless of the very different views here of James Hanratty, Michael's dedication to his family should always be commended.

Best regards,
OneRound

[Graham]

Yes, thanks indeed for passing on this sad news. Sincere condolences to his surviving family. Michael unwaveringly put his heart and soul into his determination to clear his late brother's name, and for that I held him in high respect.

Am I correct in thinking that there are two surviving Hanratty brothers?

Graham

[Sherlock Houses]

Yes, thanks indeed for passing on this sad news. Sincere condolences to his surviving family. Michael unwaveringly put his heart and soul into his determination to clear his late brother's name, and for that I held him in high respect.

Am I correct in thinking that there are two surviving Hanratty brothers?

Graham

Yes, Michael was absolutely tireless over the last 5 decades in his valiant efforts to try and clear his brother's name, Graham.

Sadly there is only one brother left, namely Richard. Mick [as he was more fondly known] told me that his other brother Peter passed away a year or so ago.

[moste]

Just to let any interested parties know, Michael Hanratty sadly passed away in the early hours of this morning. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer shortly after Christmas. A lovely, passionate man who will be sadly missed by all who knew him. R.I.P Mick and GOD bless.

Very sad news ,but thanks for sharing S H. The passion and gratitude he showed in the snippet of Paul Foots wake, I felt spoke volumes for Michaels character. RIP Mick and Peter.

[Graham]

I'm put in mind of the TV prog 'Murder, Mystery and My Family', which doubtless most are familar with. The lawyers seem pretty well on the ball, and the judge appears to be un-biased and very fair, but I always feel some sympathy when he rejects a plea from modern-day members of a murderer's family. They wouldn't be there unless they genuinely feel that their ancestor was innocent.

Many years ago I shared an office with a chap who was well into his family's genealogy in those pre-internet days, and he was mortified when out of the blue he discovered that a Victorian forbear of his had been hanged for murder. His instant reaction was that his forbear had been wrongly accused, but when he delved into the case he had to accept that there had been no false accusation.

Graham

[cobalt]

Michael Hanratty was a long way from being a man who discovered, to his horror, that some distant ancestor had committed murder. He was actually a young man when his brother James was arraigned for murder. He lived through every day of the trial. He spoke to his brother on the eve of his execution by the British state. He was able to judge his brother’s character, so much as he knew it, as someone capable of committing the terrible A6 crime.

Michael Hanratty may have mistaken in that judgement. He may have seen the better side of his brother’s character, one supported by many close to him, and been blind to a cheaper, darker side that lay within. But he knew that his brother Jim had taught him to drive and would never have needed to ask how to change the gears on a basic family car. He knew enough. He always spoke with moderation. He carried out his brother’s final wishes as well as anyone could. I believe that one day his cause will be vindicated.

[moste]

Possibly the most Vitally important fact of Hanratty’s innocence for me, The killer asking ‘ how to drive the car’.

[Derrick]

Terribly sad news indeed.
I spoke to Mick on the phone a number of times and he was always happy to talk about the case. Not only was he sure of his brothers innocence he was also convinced that Alphon wasn't guilty either, despite the aggravation Alphon caused his family.
RIP Mick

[Graham]

Terribly sad news indeed.
I spoke to Mick on the phone a number of times and he was always happy to talk about the case. Not only was he sure of his brothers innocence he was also convinced that Alphon wasn't guilty either, despite the aggravation Alphon caused his family.
RIP Mick

Derrick, very interesting that Mick was convinced Alphon wasn't the killer - do you know what he based this belief on? It's always surprised me that Alphon's name stayed linked to the Case for so long, even though his presence in it was purely due to coincidence. Aided and abetted, of course, by his own weird personality and boosted by Jean Justice. And of course Basil Acoot's original unswerving belief that Alphon was guilty. (I suspect that not a few interested parties still believe that Alphon was guilty). The police always take the path of least resistance in such matters, cf. George Oldfield and the Wearside Ripper letters, which absolutely convinced him that the actual killer had made the tape and penned the letters, and that all the police had to do was find him.........

Graham

[Derrick]

...very interesting that Mick was convinced Alphon wasn't the killer - do you know what he based this belief on?...

Evidence.

Just as there was no firm forensic evidence to connect his brother to the murder, there is also none to connect Alphon.

[Graham]

Evidence.

Just as there was no firm forensic evidence to connect his brother to the murder, there is also none to connect Alphon.

Quite right, too. At least in Alphon's case, that is.

Graham

[cobalt]

The police were not able to obtain clothes worn by Alphon at the time of the crime, which may account for the lack of forensic evidence.
Whether Alphon was the red-handed killer or merely a red herring is hard to judge, but his involvement in the case is more than mere coincidence. There are a great number of coincidences.

He first came to police attention due to his unsettling behaviour at a hotel which had caught the attention of fellow guests in the days after the crime. Based on success in the recent Padola police murder, tracking down suspicious guests was part of the police approach and Alphon clearly fitted the bill. For all his oddity, I am unaware of any other occasion when Alphon’s behaviour caused fellow guests to report him to hotel management.

Alphon stayed at the Vienna Hotel where cartridge cases linked to the crime were later discovered. The times and circumstances of his stay are still a matter of dispute.

Alphon was known to frequent a greyhound track near Taplow in the area where the victims’ car was apparently first approached.
A person closely resembling Alphon was seen by two local residents in Taplow on the afternoon of the crime.
The owner of the hostelry where the two victims enjoyed their last drink together believed that Alphon had visited her premises and was probably there on the evening of the crime.

Prior to the excecution of James Hanratty, Alphon had attacked a woman and claimed to be the A6 killer. His claims after the execution are well known and worthy of a chapter on their own.

All of the above may be no more than coincidence. But there comes a time when a great number of coincidences adds up to something more than mere chance.

[Graham]

Cobalt,

Mick Hanratty is perfectly correct - there is no evidence to link Alphon directly to the crime.

He first came to police attention due to his unsettling behaviour at a hotel which had caught the attention of fellow guests in the days after the crime. Based on success in the recent Padola police murder, tracking down suspicious guests was part of the police approach and Alphon clearly fitted the bill. For all his oddity, I am unaware of any other occasion when Alphon’s behaviour caused fellow guests to report him to hotel management.

Do you think that Alphon was the only hotel, B&B, boarding-house guest reported to the police for odd behaviour? Hardly. And after he was interviewed at The Alexandra Court and at the local nick he was told to re-register in his real name and stop being a nuisance. (He admitted that he frequently booked in under an assumed name at hotels to avoid paying his bill). It was only when the cartridges were found at The Vienna, and the hotel books when checked showed that a 'Frederick Durrant' (the name Alphon used at The Alexandra) stayed in the hotel on the murder night, did the police take a renewed interest in him. By now, of course, they knew his real name, and put out a (rare) public request for him to turn himself in. And to their amazement he did. Do you really think that, had he been guilty, Alphon would have handed himself in for what he later described as a horrendous grilling which left him with a lifelong angst against Acott? Don't think so, somehow.

I don't think the time and 'circumstances' of his stay at The Vienna are in dispute - at least not after Acott accepted that Nudds had in fact given him a true record of Alphon's stay.

Alphon was known to frequent a greyhound track near Taplow in the area where the victims’ car was apparently first approached.

I can't see anything suspicious in this at all. Alphon went to other tracks, as well as to horse-racing. Has it been established that he was at Slough greyhound track on the night of the murder? Not as far as I'm aware.

A person closely resembling Alphon was seen by two local residents in Taplow on the afternoon of the crime.

Are you absolutely certain of this? Apparently a man the couple in Dorney saw reminded them of the actor Sidney Tafler, and perhaps there was a superficial resemblance, but I think this sighting was a few days prior to the murder. So was Alphon placed on an i.d. parade at which the Dorney couple were present? Don't think so.

The owner of the hostelry where the two victims enjoyed their last drink together believed that Alphon had visited her premises and was probably there on the evening of the crime.

This has entered A6 mythology. The landlady Mary Lanz said she recognised Gregsten and Miss Storie when they visited the Old Station Inn on the evening of the crime, as they were regulars there. As far as I'm aware, Mrs Lanz, during the course of the investigation, never claimed to have seen Alphon at the Inn either before the crime or on the day it happened. However, some years after the crime, MaryLanz said she had seen 'Peter Alphon and a blonde lady' in the bar on the night of the murder. Then, a few years ago a play called 'Hanging Hanratty' was staged in Salisbury, and in it Janet Gregsten and Peter Alphon are portrayed as sitting in the lounge of the Old Station Inn watching the abduction taking place over at the gate to the field in Dorney Reach! This is utterly impossible, and I hope it was a spot of dramatic licence on the part of the writers. However, it was - rather amazingly - accepted as true by some persons who were still fighting Hanratty's corner. It is significant that Alphon, as far as I know, was never placed on an ID parade before Mary Lanz.

Prior to the excecution of James Hanratty, Alphon had attacked a woman and claimed to be the A6 killer. His claims after the execution are well known and worthy of a chapter on their own

Mrs Meike Dalal was attacked by a man in her own home, and she subsequently picked out Alphon on an ID parade. If the police checked for fingerprints at her house, the results were never disclosed. But Alphon had an alibi, that at the time of this attack he was collecting copies of Old Moore's Almanac from the distributors, who subsequently confirmed that this was the case.

Alphon was a nutter, pure and simple. A real weird-o. He was a drifter, claimed to be in possession of arcane knowledge, he was violent, and scrounged off his mother. Jean Justice said that Alphon told him that together 'they would get Acott' for subjecting him to such a terrible ordeal. And for years afterwards Alphon went to inordinate lengths to (falsely) insist that he was the A6 killer, in the hope that by doing so Acott would be severely embarrassed and admit that he'd got the wrong man.

Graham

[NickB]

The 'post-Alphon' basis of the 2002 Appeal must have been approved of by Mick, so it does not surprise me that he did not think Alphon did it.

However the approach did present some problems. As mentioned already, saying the DNA tests cleared Alphon legitimised the testing procedure itself. Also, it meant the grounds of appeal were mainly reduced to criticising police disclosure which were rejected on the grounds of 'those were the rules at the time' - as could have been predicted.

[moste]

Cobalt,

Mick Hanratty is perfectly correct - there is no evidence to link Alphon directly to the crime.



Do you think that Alphon was the only hotel, B&B, boarding-house guest reported to the police for odd behaviour? Hardly. And after he was interviewed at The Alexandra Court and at the local nick he was told to re-register in his real name and stop being a nuisance. (He admitted that he frequently booked in under an assumed name at hotels to avoid paying his bill). It was only when the cartridges were found at The Vienna, and the hotel books when checked showed that a 'Frederick Durrant' (the name Alphon used at The Alexandra) stayed in the hotel on the murder night, did the police take a renewed interest in him. By now, of course, they knew his real name, and put out a (rare) public request for him to turn himself in. And to their amazement he did. Do you really think that, had he been guilty, Alphon would have handed himself in for what he later described as a horrendous grilling which left him with a lifelong angst against Acott? Don't think so, somehow.

I don't think the time and 'circumstances' of his stay at The Vienna are in dispute - at least not after Acott accepted that Nudds had in fact given him a true record of Alphon's stay.



I can't see anything suspicious in this at all. Alphon went to other tracks, as well as to horse-racing. Has it been established that he was at Slough greyhound track on the night of the murder? Not as far as I'm aware.



Are you absolutely certain of this? Apparently a man the couple in Dorney saw reminded them of the actor Sidney Tafler, and perhaps there was a superficial resemblance, but I think this sighting was a few days prior to the murder. So was Alphon placed on an i.d. parade at which the Dorney couple were present? Don't think so.



This has entered A6 mythology. The landlady Mary Lanz said she recognised Gregsten and Miss Storie when they visited the Old Station Inn on the evening of the crime, as they were regulars there. As far as I'm aware, Mrs Lanz, during the course of the investigation, never claimed to have seen Alphon at the Inn either before the crime or on the day it happened. However, some years after the crime, MaryLanz said she had seen 'Peter Alphon and a blonde lady' in the bar on the night of the murder. Then, a few years ago a play called 'Hanging Hanratty' was staged in Salisbury, and in it Janet Gregsten and Peter Alphon are portrayed as sitting in the lounge of the Old Station Inn watching the abduction taking place over at the gate to the field in Dorney Reach! This is utterly impossible, and I hope it was a spot of dramatic licence on the part of the writers. However, it was - rather amazingly - accepted as true by some persons who were still fighting Hanratty's corner. It is significant that Alphon, as far as I know, was never placed on an ID parade before Mary Lanz.




Mrs Meike Dalal was attacked by a man in her own home, and she subsequently picked out Alphon on an ID parade. If the police checked for fingerprints at her house, the results were never disclosed. But Alphon had an alibi, that at the time of this attack he was collecting copies of Old Moore's Almanac from the distributors, who subsequently confirmed that this was the case.

Alphon was a nutter, pure and simple. A real weird-o. He was a drifter, claimed to be in possession of arcane knowledge, he was violent, and scrounged off his mother. Jean Justice said that Alphon told him that together 'they would get Acott' for subjecting him to such a terrible ordeal. And for years afterwards Alphon went to inordinate lengths to (falsely) insist that he was the A6 killer, in the hope that by doing so Acott would be severely embarrassed and admit that he'd got the wrong man.

Graham

I don’t mind playing the devils advocate on occasions where the innocence of Alphon is concerned, but like yourself have always only ever considered him a ‘ crack pot’ and bloody nuisance. Your post however does smack of the police actions being of a perverse nature.