A6 Rebooted

[louisa]

You made some good points there, OneRound.

I too would be interested to see the results of any future findings regarding DNA in this case.

Judge Gorman did his best and sounded like a fair man but I suspect the jury had already made up their minds before he 'summed up'.

[Natalie Severn]

OneRound,
A really good way to begin.Exactly my thinking too as it happens-about Norris and Dobson.
Norma

[Limehouse]

OneRound,
A really good way to begin.Exactly my thinking too as it happens-about Norris and Dobson.
Norma

Yes, a pair of scumbags for sure, but I do not consider the DNA evidence to be a sound way to convict them. I was surprised by the verdicts, although I would have liked them to have been banged up years ago.

[Natalie Severn]

Has anybody seen Michael Sherrard's letter pleading for clemency? I would be really grateful if anybody knows where it can be found---pm me if you don't want to post or email me at NormaBuddle@gmail .com
Many Thanks

A million thanks to anon for providing a copy of the 1st and last pages of this letter---it was moving to see Hanratty's neat cursive handwriting in a final appeal urging his dad to take serious note -written at the top of the document
-Norma

[OneRound]

A million thanks to anon for providing a copy of the 1st and last pages of this letter---it was moving to see Hanratty's neat cursive handwriting in a final appeal urging his dad to take serious note -written at the top of the document
-Norma

Natalie - unless there are any confidentiality issues, it would be very interesting and much appreciated if those pages could be reproduced here.

Thank you in anticipation,

OneRound

[louisa]

Hi Norma

I wouldn't mind having a look as well.

[Natalie Severn]

Hi One Round and Louisa,
Right now the scanner isn't working and the middle sections are still missing but Anon encouraged me to share the contents of what we have on this casebook site where he has posted once before regarding the death of Peter Alphon and which he regularly uses to update himself on A6 postings.
So-here is the beginning and end of Michael Sherrard's letter of clemency.
Hanratty's handwriting is in a neat cursive hand similar to what was reported by the prison doctor ,Dr Rhys Oliver who said he regularly purchased newspapers and read them and could write in 'quite good handwriting as can be seen at top of the first page of the letter,
Norma
Note the documents are photographed not scanned...

[louisa]

Thanks for posting that, Norma,

Hanratty had very good handwriting (better than mine).

[Natalie Severn]

To All,
I have a photocopy of the several pages of notes the solicitor took directly from Hanratty from the same person who supplied the letter sections above .One thing is very clear from them -Hanratty did not said anything at all about any picture house being near the bus stop in Scotland Road though he did correctly say there was a picture house at the end of Kinmel Street which there was-its still there.
Regarding the location of Mrs Dinwoodie's shop he says he got off the bus near traffic lights where there was a men's toilet and a ladies toilet and these toilet buildings can be seen in several of the old photos which I will try to post.A lot of stuff is clarified in these notes and at some point I will photograph these notes and post them .
Best Norma

[OneRound]

Natalie - thanks for posting. Very interesting.

I don't believe Sherrard could have been a more dedicated counsel. Following the Court of Criminal Appeal upholding Hanratty's conviction, it was always going to be incredibly difficult to obtain a reprieve given the horrific nature of the crime.

Best regards,

OneRound

[Natalie Severn]

Thankyou One Round.
In fact the Home Secretary had in his possession all the statements from Mrs Walker,Mrs Vincent and Mr Larman for the reprieve which had arrived too late for the trial[he did not see or have Mr Dutton's statement made to Abergele police 9th February 1962 and knew nothing about it until 1967/8-likewise Mrs Betty Davies's later statement ] .Nobody ever went to interview them about this,no police arrived to discuss their statements with them with regards the reprieve.
No application whatever had been made in fact for the appeal of 12th and 13th March by the defence to submit any new statements .Apparently to introduce new statements for an appeal is fraught with complexity and danger so possibly this is why Mr Sherrard relied in the end solely on submission that the judge had misdirected the jury.Lord Parker took only 25 minutes to dismiss Mr Sherrard's submissions, [despite a petition of 90.000 signatures].
In Fenton Bresner's book entitled 'Reprieve' 1965 Harrap, a detailed study of the Home Secretary's prerogative to reprieve a prisoner who has been condemned to death , the author concluded that the Home Secretary rarely ,if ever, took new evidence into account when reaching a decision about a reprieve.
Mr Sherrard made a valiant attempt just a few days before Hanratty was hanged ,to persuade through his written argument and describes in his autobiography pacing about the room as he went through the basis of his petition-only to be watched in silence until he had finished when he was asked:

' Drop of sherry before you go?'

PS regarding the letter of clemency sent by Michael Sherrard posted above ,I am hopeful of having the missing pages by the end of this week which I will post here in full.

[Limehouse]

Thanks for posting those Norma, and for anon for making them available. They make very moving reading in light of them being written before Hanratty's death.

[caz]

Very interesting, Nats, thanks for posting.

And it was good to see you again on Saturday.

Love,

Caz
X

[Natalie Severn]

Thanks Caz and Julie.Glad they are of interest,
Norma

[louisa]

In Fenton Bresner's book entitled 'Reprieve' 1965 Harrap, a detailed study of the Home Secretary's prerogative to reprieve a prisoner who has been condemned to death , the author concluded that the Home Secretary rarely ,if ever, took new evidence into account when reaching a decision about a reprieve.

That seems remarkable to me. I would have thought that new evidence, especially new evidence that could prove a condemned man's innocence, would always be taken into account by the Home Secretary.