Mail's feature of 1999 on Hanratty by Roger Matthews

[Natalie Severn]

John Kerr, the very first witness to speak to Valerie Storie at the scene has always insisted that Valerie had said "We picked up a man near Slough " and :"He had big staring eyes, fairish brown hair,slightly taller than I am five foot three and a half inches."
Michael Clark who Valerie picked out as the A6 killer on the first ID parade stood 5 feet 9 inches tall ,[same height as Alphon who Valerie said she thought Michael Clark ' looked like' ] was 'well built' and had 'mousey brown hair' .
James Hanratty who Valerie picked out the second time round on an ID parade stood 5 feet 7 and a half tall and had dyed black hair that was going streaky on 22nd August.

So the first 'witness' who spoke to Valerie herself, although very briefly only partly corroborated Valerie's later accounts.

[Natalie Severn]

re The Rhyl bus---there was only one bus that went from Liverpool to Rhyl in the evening and it went from Liverpool Lime Street Station in 1961.

[NickB]

Had Hanratty given instructions which were manifestly at odds with the putative evidence of Larman, Walker and Vincent?

Yes.

In a letter to the Sunday Times on 30-Sep-68 Sherrard gave the reasons why “there was no point in seeking to rely on the evidence of Mr Larman, Mrs Walker and Mrs Vincent” at the Appeal.

1. Mutually contradictory features in the witness statements.
2. Contradictions between the witness statements and evidence already given by Hanratty.
3. “The witness statements in other respects did not find support from Hanratty himself.”

Even if you say Sherrard was mistaken about the contradictions in points 1 and 2, you cannot argue with him about point 3.

[Natalie Severn]

I am afraid that you can't simply discount the evidence which you find inconvenient.

[btw re your point about Sherrard---yes-he was terrified that if he used Margaret Walker she might end up being reduced to a nervous wreck by Swanwick as Mrs Jones had.Going into a witness box in a murder trial can cause nervous debility as it did with Charlotte France who fainted,Louise Anderson,who also fainted and Charles France who was put in the bin over it ,tried to jump out of the hospital window and shortly afterwards committed suicide.]

What on earth are you on about here Spitfire?

Lets be quite clear.I am quoting Louis Blom- Cooper who as a trained barrister analysed, in 1963 , the entire trial transcript and discovered many inconsistencies in the evidence .Of crucial importance to him was Valerie's evidence ,whose sole account of what happened was never corroborated by anyone . This is NOT to say Valerie was making things up or lying AT ALL. In America Psychiatrists and legal experts in past twenty years have profoundly affected legal procedure regarding victim's eye identification and memory loss+ flash back inaccuracies ,particularly when that victim has been as severely traumatised as Valerie undoubtedly was.Why not look it up on the net?

[Natalie Severn]

Yes.


Even if you say Sherrard was mistaken about the contradictions in points 1 and 2, you cannot argue with him about point 3.

Nick,Hanratty knew nothing whatever about Trevor Dutton's evidence whose written witness statement ,made to Abergele Police on February 9th while trial was still in progress and forwarded to Acott in the last days of the trial but was never received by Sherrard or seen by him until Paul Foot got onto it.
Regarding Mrs Walker Sherrard according to Kleinman discounted her evidence at the final hour because of inconsistencies of timings [the 7.30 issue] which in my view was horrendous.Had he thoroughly analysed and investigated Mrs Walker's statement a propos of time , he would have seen the inconsistency in the street lamps coming on at 8.50 when she saw him and Margaret Walker's recollection of that event ,six months later as being 'around 7.30.As it was Sherrard apparently warned Hanratty not to 'go there' because neither she or Ivy Vincent or Christopher Larman could have seen him at 7.30

[NickB]

Nick, Hanratty knew nothing whatever about Trevor Dutton's evidence

If Trevor Dutton’s evidence was significant, do you know why it wasn’t submitted for consideration by the Appellant in the 2002 Appeal?

Sherrard talks about the timing contradictions then says “the witness statements in other respects did not find support from Hanratty”, so he is referring to issues other than the timing.

Incidentally, something that strikes me about the papers you obtained is that Hanratty gave details about the Rhyl Alibi on 29 January 1962, and signed his instructions about it on that date. But Sherrard did not disclose the Rhyl Alibi to the police or the court until 4.30pm on 6 February – 8 days later.

[Natalie Severn]

If Trevor Dutton’s evidence was significant, do you know why it wasn’t submitted for consideration by the Appellant in the 2002 Appeal?

Sherrard talks about the timing contradictions then says “the witness statements in other respects did not find support from Hanratty”, so he is referring to issues other than the timing.

Incidentally, something that strikes me about the papers you obtained is that Hanratty gave details about the Rhyl Alibi on 29 January 1962, and signed his instructions about it on that date. But Sherrard did not disclose the Rhyl Alibi to the police or the court until 4.30pm on 6 February – 8 days later.

You raise some excellent points Nick.Are you certain Sherrard did not disclose the alibi before 4.30 pm on 8th February?

re The Trevor Dutton evidence ;it was never even presented by Det Supt. Douglas Nimmo when he wrote up the report of his 1967 findings because he had never interviewed him - the reason why not being known .But his testimony was never given any serious consideration by the prosecution from the start [Nimmo didn't interview Christopher Larman either who was in New Zealand] . It has been noted that there were 19 names and addresses presented in all after 6th February 1962 as witnesses but Nimmo only took the trouble to interview 8 of these and according to Bob Woffinden there is no way of knowing from Nimmo's report exactly when all these names supplied to the defence were made e.g. were they all or most of them supplied while the trial was in progress for example ?
Returning to Trevor Dutton: Prime Minister Callaghan responded to a letter from Mr and Mrs Hanratty some time in 1967 or 1968 after Mr Dutton's 1961 statement to Abergele police became known, to say that[he is ignoring it basically ] as their 'son's evidence at the trial 'did not include any reference to an attempt to sell a gold watch in Rhyl it could not be considered " -and he adds a few more words along the lines of there being no reliable means of identification made by Mr Dutton anyway.
The point I would make here is that James Hanratty knew nothing whatever about Trevor Dutton's statement of 9th February to Abergele police and neither did Michael Sherrard because it was never passed on to him [he said ] so Hanratty could hardly have commented on it could he? He was also warned about the Rhyl witnesses Walker, Vincent and Larman since Sherrard was wary of their statements with regard to the 7.30 timings though he did submit their names to the Home Secretary 3 weeks before Hanratty was executed but no inquiry was ever made by any policeman or Home Office personnel of these three people to see whether their testimony,individually or collectively could substantiate the alibi.

[Derrick]

...Christopher Larman either who was in New Zealand]...Prime Minister Callaghan responded to a letter from Mr and Mrs Hanratty some time in 1967 or 1968...

Norma
It might help your case somewhat if you actually got the basic facts right on a regular basis.
Larman was in Australia and Harold Wilson was Prime Minister in 1967/8.

HTH
Del Boy

[Natalie Severn]

Derrick -Yes indeed working on much of this from memory ....Larman was indeed in Australia and not in New Zealand and Callaghan was Home Secretary...not Prime Minister.
Massive case this and everything does need to be double checked.I noticed myself in another book on the case that Louis Blom -Cooper in fact changed his mind several times about his belief in Hanratty's innocence.For example in 1997 he had reverted back again to believing he had committed the crime.
Norma

[NickB]

Are you certain Sherrard did not disclose the alibi before 4.30 pm on 8th February?

I presume you mean 6 February.

From the 2002 Appeal:
The Rhyl Alibi “only came to the attention of the police on 6 February, the twelfth day of the trial, when Mr Sherrard opened the defence case.”

From the trial, 7 February:
Swanwick - You had, until 4.30 yesterday afternoon, led the prosecution on a wild goose chase?
Hanratty - Yes, sir, yes.
Swanwick - By telling a pack of lies, firstly to Mr Acott, about the three men?
Hanratty - That’s right, sir.
Swanwick - All lies?
Hanratty - That’s right, sir, yes.

as their son's evidence at the trial did not include any reference to an attempt to sell a gold watch in Rhyl it could not be considered

I don’t know how reliable this report is but it says “Hanratty said he remembered trying to sell a watch to a well built man in [the] High Street.”

[Spitfire]

I don't think that there was anything sinister in the delay in announcing what James Hanratty's true alibi was.

It is true that the defence only found out that Hanratty had changed his alibi on the 29 January, but that fact was only announced when Michael Sherrard began his opening speech for the defence on 6 February, 8 days later. At that time there was no obligation on a defendant to give particulars of his alibi. Obviously evidence given in the witness box which was inconsistent with previous statements given to the police would tell against the defendant. But the police would not have been in a position to interview James Hanratty had they been given advance notice as to the exact particulars of the alibi.

It seems that it was only on 6 February that Mrs Grace Jones had been located by the Hanratty's investigators. It would be interesting to know if Mr Sherrard had notice that Mrs Jones had been located when he began his speech for the defence.

[Natalie Severn]

Grateful for the link to that article Nick but I think the bit about Hanratty describing Dutton must be incorrect . However tomorrow I will try to find Sherrard's statement in which he says something along the lines of being as certain as he could be that he had not ever been shown Mr Dutton's statement.
[Sorry but I have had severe hay fever today and the antihistamines I take for it are not helping my concentration- need to get some sleep actually].
Best Norma

[Natalie Severn]

Spitfire -I need a bit more information.Yes, as you say ,both defence and prosecution were presumably seeking out witnesses in Rhyl after 29th January .Cheers N

[NickB]

Defence investigators went to Rhyl after his photo taken on the 5th.

[Natalie Severn]

Hi Nats,



In fact Dixie France was "manager" of The Harmony Cafe in Archer Street, a real dive which attracted various low life and was also well-known as a place where modern-jazz musicians met. Dixie was well-known for keeping a selection of weapons under the counter in case of trouble, but I'm not sure if this selection included a gun. I don't think he was employed by The Rehearsal Club, but was definitely something of a regular there. One of Dixie's previous convictions is listed as "unlawful possession of an overcoat", which for some reason I find funny!

Graham

Thanks Graham,
As you see Paul Foot has him having lost his job as a 'Doorman" at the Rehearsal Club on Page 146 of his book ,"Who Killed Hanratty?"