A6 Rebooted

[Alfie]

... and/or Acott was too focused on Alphon.

Highly likely. Prior to Sept 11 he had no reason to think Ryan/Hanratty was in anyway connected with the A6 case. But from Sept 11 until Sept 24, when Valerie failed to pick out Alphon, it does seem that he was criminally negligent in ignoring or completely overlooking the Ryan-Room 24 lead.

[moste]

A couple of excerpts from Valerie's trial testimony: "He [the gunman] asked us who we were and what our names were and he asked us if we were married and we said ‘No’"

"When the attendant put two gallons in, he gave back to Mike a ten shilling note and a threepenny piece. The man said, 'I will have that', so without turning round, Mike held up the ten shilling note and the threepenny piece. The man took them, and giving the threepenny piece to me, said, 'You can have that as a wedding present.'"

Both statements suggest that, contra the conspiracy theorists, the gunman regarded them as a courting couple and was not aware that Gregsten was married.

Well as a conspiracy theorist, I have to say that this comes across as quite naive. Do you really think Valerie is going to say Mikes married , and were having an affair? Lol. She had obviously told the stranger in the car, were going to be married. Which was not true.
Your post does serve to remind us of another glaring anomaly though . Why did Acott insist that there was Mileage in the so a called witness from the Shell station, at Kingsbury circle,( the petrol pump attendant was at the trial I believe ,though in the event was not used) when Acott had stipulated that he stands firm on Valerie ? Who had insisted, ‘Can I tell you why I remember it was a Regent gas station near London airport Etc.etc.

[moste]

Highly likely. Prior to Sept 11 he had no reason to think Ryan/Hanratty was in anyway connected with the A6 case. But from Sept 11 until Sept 24, when Valerie failed to pick out Alphon, it does seem that he was criminally negligent in ignoring or completely overlooking the Ryan-Room 24 lead.

Acott wasn’t really criminally negligent, he knew the empty shells were a plant and didn’t really want to run with them . Same with the gun and ammo on the bus, same with the Ewer Swiss Cottage ‘gong show’ same with all of the Nudds /Trower type Witnesses . His investigation was insipid at best ,but it was all he had. Luckily though for Acott , though he managed to muddle past an even more insipid Sherrard, the jury were extremely confused half the time and for the other half were overflowing with devotion and sympathy for Storie.

[NickB]

The conspiracy theory, as I understand it, is that the gunman knew they were having an illicit affair and was hired to stop it. That is why Alphon, when in confessional mode, claimed that he made this clear to the couple and went on about his 'crusade'. The whole point of the operation was that the couple would be given the message that their extra-marital affair should stop.

[cobalt]

Moste,

That’s largely how I see the investigation. Whatever faults Acott had as a policeman, naivety would not have been one of them.
The Swiss Cottage invitation to pursue Ryan/Hanratty on September 1^st was most probably seen for what it was by Acott’s team. They are investigating an horrific attempted double murder and someone shoves a ‘lead’ about a petty thief across their busy desk, a man they have on file and who looks little like the identikit photo. Thanks but no thanks would have been the likely response, in fact it may not have been quite so polite.

The suspicion on 11^th September that the cartridge shells had been planted would have occurred to Acott faster than most members of the public. He’d spent his life amongst criminals and knew all their dodges and ruses, their fit ups and red herrings. He’d have rumbled Nudds as a ‘wrong ‘un’ after about six seconds so I agree that Acott must have been sceptical about the fortuitous discovery in Room 24.

But after Alphon survived the ID parade Acott was back to square one. All he had was the Ryan line which he would have known was Hanratty, and a potential dead end. Acott would have bristled at being ‘steered’ by the dodgy evidence which kept miraculously appearing but I think that in pursuing Hanratty, Acott believed he might be able to put on enough pressure to find out who or what lay behind the crime.

So did Acott send an innocent man to the gallows? Not in his own mind. He believed Hanratty was connected to the crime and might even have been the gunman. A professional cynic like Acott could hardly have bought the ‘stick up man’ motivation but it was better than nothing and produced a result at the end of the day.

[cobalt]

NickB,
They say the devil often lies in the detail and the one provided by Alfie does seem to undermine the moralistic mission claimed by Alphon, and by extension those who support Hanratty’s innocence. The detail of the change at the petrol station and the comment made by the gunman seem very authentic so I would accept them as genuine recollections by Valerie Storie.

However I did say a while ago that the point of any ‘mission’ might have been to ensure the clean break of the Gregsten marriage rather than to patch it up. Gregsten had been messing his wife about for some time and had even stayed for a short time with Valerie Storie. Now he seemed to be committed to setting up home with her but, given his past record, what guarantee was there that Gregsten would not return at a later date to his family home? Could he, at gun point, give such a guarantee?

The gunman’s questions about marriage are closer to observations. If you both like each other’s company so much why are you not married? Do the decent thing.

[moste]

The conspiracy theory, as I understand it, is that the gunman knew they were having an illicit affair and was hired to stop it. That is why Alphon, when in confessional mode, claimed that he made this clear to the couple and went on about his 'crusade'. The whole point of the operation was that the couple would be given the message that their extra-marital affair should stop.

That was certainly the theory that Natalie stuck with over the years, along with others, believing Alphon to be killer.
I never considered that feasible, though don’t discount Alphon to being the culprit. He certainly believed Hanratty to have been hanged wrongfully, or so he said.
Interestingly. Valerie never mentioned the carjacker saying anything about his purpose , and Alphon I don’t believe in his confessional mode ever said anything about giving the couple an ultimatum of any kind. Ie. ‘ you people are going to have to split up or else it’s going to get very nasty for you both’. Which certainly gives the impression, that the opus operandi was not to do with driving a wedge between the lovers.

[moste]

Quote : A professional cynic like Acott could hardly have bought the ‘stick up man’ motivation but it was better than nothing and produced a result at the end of the day.

How very Herbert Balmerish!

[Alfie]

Early in his cross-examination Sherrard asked Valerie if she recognised the name Ronald or Ronnie Lofthouse. She replied 'No' and that appears to have been the end of the matter. Can anyone tell me anything about this person, or why the defence brought him into the case?

[Graham]

This was discussed a few years ago, Alfie - in fact, IIRC you were part of the discussion! Also, IIRC, the name Ronald Lofthouse was thought by at least one poster to have been an employee of the RRL. I don't think the discussion went further than that. Neither Woffo nor Foot mentions the name.

Graham

PS: Oh, hang on - didn't someone say that Sherrard initially wish that the name be written on a note and passed to Valerie? And then didn't the Judge order it to be mentioned in open court? I wonder what that was all about.....

[Spitfire]

Ronald Lofthouse

The Evening Times' account of the third day of the trial has Sherrard asking Valerie if she recognized the name Ronald or Ronnie Lofthouse. Valerie said no. That's a new name in the A6 investigation to me. Anybody have any idea who he was and why Sherrard would be asking Valerie if she knew of him?

Ronnie Lofthouse

Sherrard when cross-examining Valerie at the trial, and after checking with the judge that he might "mention names in open court that may have nothing whatever to do with the case", asked Valerie if she knew a Ronald or Ronnie Lofthouse, to which she replied "No."

Anybody have any idea what that was about?

Purely from memory gleaned from this site, I think Ronald Lofthouse was a former boyfriend of Valerie Storie.

I can only assume that Sherrard was expoliting an obvious loophole in the prosecution case- motive. However it seems a weak line of questioning, unless you can provide supporting evidence to the effect that a (jilted) Ronald Lofthouse had the capacity to arrange a 'frightener' which went wrong for his ex-girlfriend.

This name was briefly discussed on the Forum a while ago, and there was some albeit tenuous suggestion that Ronald Lofthouse worked for the Road Research Laboratory. If that was the case, then there may not be any reason for Valerie to have known him, as I assume there was a large number of persons employed on the site.

Graham

There was a J.A. Lofthouse who was the principal author of a report entitled "Efficiency in Road Construction" which was published in 1966 but I can't find any evidence of a Ron / Ronnie / Ronald Lofthouse in this area.

Graham - in 2016 you posted:
"I've just had a scoot around the net, and found a Ronald Lofthouse who was in some way associated with road research, but I don 't think the chronology matches up."

I don't suppose you can remember the details of this can you?

The above is the relevant debate, I think.

[moste]

Maybe Sherrard was testing the waters, to see if Storie was willing to perjure herself. (That is if Sherrard knew she knew Lofthouse that is.)

[Alfie]

What a terrible memory I have. Sorry folks!

[moste]

Perhaps all of the office at RRL. and the members of the canteen club, and all members of the Rally club were thoroughly questioned. And asked, ‘what was your relationship with Valerie Storie? When they came to Ronnie Lofthouse , he admitted, he had a brief fling with her, but as a married man with children decided to end it . Yeah, something like that ! But that does rather sound like the police investigators
were on the ball and doing a very fine job.

[Graham]

Thanks, Spitfire. Yes, I do remember finding a Ronald Lofthouse, but I've just had another scan of the net and find that he was connected with Road Safety Research, which I don't suppose is quite the same as the Road Research Laboratory. Why Sherrard should have introduced this name whilst Valerie was giving evidence is a mystery to me. This is the entry in the BBC notes for the Queen's Birthday Honours for 2001, when he received an OBE:

Ronald William Lofthouse. Lately vice chairman, Merseyside TEC. For services to training. He was Road Safety Research Coordinator for the Dept of The Environment, but no dates given. Could be him...or not.

Graham