Mail's feature of 1999 on Hanratty by Roger Matthews

[Sherlock Houses]

Even Acott knew that as a fact and called for skull caps to be worn..which was ignored by the officers who organized that parade.

Yet Acott was present on the Valerie Storie parade the next day and didn't utter a dickie bird about skull caps. He just grabbed Miss Stories arm, after she picked out Hanratty, and said "Well Done!"

Surely today, this would be thought of as a scandal and any subsequent identification rendered inadmissible.

Del Boy

If I recall correctly Derrick, when Alphon attended his Identification Parade on September 24th he was wearing an open necked shirt. All the other participants in the parade had to remove any ties they were wearing in order for the parade to be as fair as possible to Alphon. The same fair play rules should have applied with regard to Hanratty's Identification Parade and skull caps should have been insisted on. I imagine anyone witnessing the Hanratty parade would have known instantly who the police suspect was just by the outstanding colour of his hair regardless of any nervousness or tension Hanratty might have displayed.

I can't help but get the impression that Acott's relationship with Miss Storie had become too personal during this period, thus damaging the objectivity/lack of bias that should have been uppermost in a senior police officer's mind during a murder investigation. Acott and other members of the A6 murder case team were even invited to her 23rd birthday party on November 24th.

[Natalie Severn]

Nick,
I was talking about the fact that everybody knew about the trial and Hanratty because of the Nationwide hunt. Also that his picture once the trial was over was beamed across the whole of the British Isles -millions would have seen it yet nobody apart from 10 people in Rhyl and Mrs Dinwoody and her granddaughter came forward to say they had seen him.
Regarding TROWER: He was actually dealt with very thoroughly and his evidence totally discredited by Michael Sherrard at the trial [agreed as discredited I believe by the Judge ] Sherrard had used demonstrations of angles and road measurements that did not tally with the view he claimed.
He claimed to have seen the driver for a few seconds from a three quarter angle and side view.On top of that Paddy Hogan,Trower's friend said Trower arrived too late to have seen him.

John SKILLETT was driving and Edward BLACKHALL was in the passenger seat and rolled down the window and it was he,not Skillett ,who the police were most interested in at first because he had the better view of the driver.But he did not identify Hanratty and said the driver looked 'nothing like Hanratty" -whereupon the police lost interest in him.

Valerie Storie a few weeks earlier had identified another man entirely as Gregston's killer.This alone would disqualify her identification today.
Returning to the Morris Minor seen by Skillett and Blackhall. It is questionable whether the Morris Minor that they saw was the murder car.Another Morris Minor was in fact seen by several witnesses much later in the day and these witnesses were never called [Margaret Thompson and Doreen Milne]-at the appeal this was called by the appeal judges the ' high water mark of non disclosure ' [by the police] .So nobody knew about them at the trial-not even Michael Sherrard .There was also a crucial sighting at 6.30 in the morning by a lorry driver named William Lee driving South on the A6 .The car pulled out in front of him and nearly caused a collision.Outraged he noted its registration number.Later that morning when he stopped at a cafe he heard the number read out.He called police was traced and interviewed .He gave a statement which including him noting that the driver was wearing a green woollen hat with a pom pom on it. Much much later on the police were looking at a file which contained coloured images of the interior of the car and the boot.When these photos were enhanced and enlarged ,a GREEN woollen hat with a pom pom on it,exactly as described in Mr Lee's statement to the Derbyshire police in 1961 could be seen in the boot of the car.Had Michael Sherrard,Hanratty's trial barrister been given access to those witnesses a persuasive argument could have been put forward that this was not the car seen by either Skillet or Trower.

[Derrick]

Re. Ewer it's interesting to learn that he attended every day [or almost every day] of the Bedford trial, which entailed a round trip in excess of 100 miles. Given his less than complimentary feelings towards his brother-in-law, Michael Gregsten, this seems rather surprising. It would appear that the almost month long trial held much more importance for him than the everyday running of his antiques business. And why would he feel it necessary to ask police permission to attend the trial ? All rather puzzling.

Re. Mrs Anderson, if we are to believe what she told a newspaper reporter on October 9th 1961, she had not realised until three days previously [Oct 6th, when police visited her] that there had been a murder on the A6. She must have been in a very tiny minority of adults then.

Houses my dear fellow;

The same kind of thing would also be true of Mr Trower who, when asked by Mr Sherrard at the committal, denied that he had had any knowledge, before the identity parade, that the police were seeking a man who dyed his hair.

He must of been living in a cave. The Daily Mirror (Britains biggest circulated paper at that time) printed front page stories, 2 days running and before his arrest, of both Mrs Anderson and Mary Meaden commenting on Ryan/Hanratty's dyed hair.

Even Acott knew that as a fact and called for skull caps to be worn..which was ignored by the officers who organized that parade.

Yet Acott was present on the Valerie Storie parade the next day and didn't utter a dickie bird about skull caps. He just grabbed Miss Stories arm, after she picked out Hanratty, and said "Well Done!"

Surely today, this would be thought of as a scandal and any subsequent identification rendered inadmissible.

Del Boy

[Sherlock Houses]

Yes, Ewer is a very dark character in this tragedy. He did, of course, have a long affair with Janet, the victim's widow, following the A6 crime.

Anderson too was a very disagreeable character. It is almost certain that she lied on oath and lied to Frances' wife (about the origins of the gun) in order to create false evidence in exchange for not being prosecuted for all the stolen goods found on her premises.

Re. Ewer it's interesting to learn that he attended every day [or almost every day] of the Bedford trial, which entailed a round trip in excess of 100 miles. Given his less than complimentary feelings towards his brother-in-law, Michael Gregsten, this seems rather surprising. It would appear that the almost month long trial held much more importance for him than the everyday running of his antiques business. And why would he feel it necessary to ask police permission to attend the trial ? All rather puzzling.

Re. Mrs Anderson, if we are to believe what she told a newspaper reporter on October 9th 1961, she had not realised until three days previously [Oct 6th, when police visited her] that there had been a murder on the A6. She must have been in a very tiny minority of adults then.

[NickB]

Hanratty's face was all over the papers at the time and nobody ever came forward

Storie, Skillett and Trower identified him. You can disagree with their evidence, but they do exist.

Matthew Hogan appeared for the defence claiming to have seen the car. Following Hogan’s evidence Trower was recalled, at the request of the jury, and said he had “no doubts” that Hanratty was the driver of the Morris Minor he saw going into Avondale Crescent.

I don’t think Hanratty’s face appeared in the papers until after the trial. He was taken to and from court under a blanket, and when he came up with the Rhyl alibi he was taken outside and photographed privately so that the investigators could go there with photos of him.

[Limehouse]

Hi Guys,
Wrong thread I am sorry for that intrusion...
Richard.

No intrusion Richard. Your views are very welcome.

[Spitfire]

It is a bit astonishing that this was the most notorious murder case at the time yet the only people to come forward to say they had seen Hanratty over the period of the crime were 10 people from Rhyl and Mrs Dinwoody and her granddaughter from Liverpool.Yet Hanratty's face was all over the papers at the time and nobody ever came forward from Slough, Buckinghamshire, Bedford or anywhere else to say they had seen him.

Precisely.

If there is one single fact that convinces me of Hanratty's undoubted innocence it is this.

[Natalie Severn]

It is a bit astonishing that this was the most notorious murder case at the time yet the only people to come forward to say they had seen Hanratty over the period of the crime were 10 people from Rhyl and Mrs Dinwoody and her granddaughter from Liverpool.Yet Hanratty's face was all over the papers at the time and nobody ever came forward from Slough, Buckinghamshire, Bedford or anywhere else to say they had seen him.

[Natalie Severn]

Graham- when Colin Burden put on a play in the 1990's which implicated one of the named---all hell broke loose when relatives of the named person arrived to do battle---maybe its the anticipation of all sorts of similar fracas breaking out like this?
I think Graham that you are right .I forget how the three names came up originally-maybe it was to do with the fact Matthews believed it was a crime that must have been committed by at least two men and he actually believed that the evidence pointed to three people being involved.

[Natalie Severn]

Nick and Graham -all we know is that Mrs Jones said she 'thought' she recognised Hanratty from a photo she was shown .Regarding the point about Alexis Sayle's father not being remembered by Mrs Jones -Sayle was out from dawn to dusk at a trade union conference that week ---few people would have seen him to take stock of and it beggars belief he would have seen Hanratty…
I stay regularly in Boarding houses-quite good ones too actually .I very rarely sign a visitors book and very rarely see more than two or three couples at Breakfast when in fact the B&B has often been full to bursting.
I think it has been worked out that the room with the sink from which could be heard trains was the one thought to be the room Hanratty stayed in the second night and the family occupying that room up until the morning of 23rd August left leaving just that one room vacant.[would need to go back to sources to check name of that particular family who stayed every year.

[richardnunweek]

Hi Guys,
Wrong thread I am sorry for that intrusion...
Richard.

[Graham]

Mrs Jones said that one vacant room – number 4 – was available for casual visitors and that is where Hanratty would have stayed on the second night. The trouble is that Alexei Sayle’s dad stayed in room number 4 on that date.

Swanwick: “Was there any other gentleman who stayed during that week?”
Jones: “It is such a long time.”
Swanwick: “Is it such a long time that you cannot remember?”
Jones: “People come and go.”
Swanwick: “I am sure they do. Like ships that pass in the night. You cannot remember when they come and go, can you?”

Mrs Jones said she did not remember a man who was sent over from the hotel to occupy her vacant room, and she did not remember anyone called Mr Sayle.

Swanwick asked for Mr Sayle to be brought into the court. Mrs Jones said she did not remember him staying at the boarding house.

Exactly so, Nick. People are, after all, only human, and to remember one particular face amongst many, half a year on, is asking a little too much.

Graham

[Graham]

Hi Nats,

not a very satisfactory answer to my question, if I may say so. Either Roger Matthews can and is willing to name names, or he can't or won't. Frankly, I can think of only two names that might fit, and of these at least one is not viable. Do you get my drift?

I don't think the DNA evidence, one way or the other, is ever going to give us the name of the A6 killer without a shadow of doubt, and so until something else crops up, new evidence, maybe even a death-bed confession, then for my money Hanratty is guilty.

Graham

[NickB]

Mrs Jones' B&B was popular and busy, and I really can't accept that she would have remembered a particular guest who claimed to have stayed there about 6 months before her appearance in court.

Mrs Jones said that one vacant room – number 4 – was available for casual visitors and that is where Hanratty would have stayed on the second night. The trouble is that Alexei Sayle’s dad stayed in room number 4 on that date.

Swanwick: “Was there any other gentleman who stayed during that week?”
Jones: “It is such a long time.”
Swanwick: “Is it such a long time that you cannot remember?”
Jones: “People come and go.”
Swanwick: “I am sure they do. Like ships that pass in the night. You cannot remember when they come and go, can you?”

Mrs Jones said she did not remember a man who was sent over from the hotel to occupy her vacant room, and she did not remember anyone called Mr Sayle.

Swanwick asked for Mr Sayle to be brought into the court. Mrs Jones said she did not remember him staying at the boarding house.

[Natalie Severn]

Hi Graham,
In answer to your last question yes, I understand Roger Matthews has named all three people. But I have not had permission from either of my sources to repeat what I have been told and yes ,one of the three was not named by my source though may have been named by Matthews .However I understand Matthews is writing a book which will include a number of the murder cases he has covered and its possible he will himself name the three people he suspects-and then again he may not .
I will come back to you more fully on the appeals procedure itself another time Graham but in the 2002 appeal the DNA evidence by itself was considered 'certain proof of Hanratty's guilt" and given what has been learnt between 2002 about the current knowledge of the specific LCN DNA process that was used for testing the 42 year old fragments ,that claim is as good as useless.
Best Wishes
Norma