Mail's feature of 1999 on Hanratty by Roger Matthews

[Natalie Severn]

Thanks Sherlock Houses for reminding people about my book which I will post a link to in the next day or so .Actually t is isn't exactly a graphic novel as such but rather a series of 4 seriously researched pamphlets on the case bound together to form an illustrated book.It contains many photographs from 1961/2 as well as drawings by myself.Everything I have written has been double checked for accuracy and information and has been drawn from a wide range of newspaper and magazine articles from the time and of course from the excellent research by Paul Foot and Bob Woffinden,some from other eminent writers such as Louis Blom-Cooper and some from your good selves on here! I have not yet published it on the web as work continues on the crucial DNA aspects of the case -taken up by Andrew Buddle in the final chapter of my book and referred to as being 'an excellent contribution to the case' by Richard Ingram who was Paul Foot's great friend and was keenly interested in the case as editor of Private Eye for 30 years. In fact there are sterling contributions from Paul Foot's son, Tom Foot , from Julie known as Limehouse on here , by William Beadle and by James Moore and research is continuing by myself and Andrew Buddle into the car journey taken from Dorney Reach to Deadman's Hill that night. This route is one that that Andrew,who grew up in West London, knows well- the car passed within one mile of his parents bungalow in Greenford where he ,as a 13 year old was sleeping that night ! Andrew doesn't believe that car journey to have been nearly as haphazard as has been thought …..but I will come back to that another time …….
Best Wishes
Norma Buddle [Natalie Severn ]

[Sherlock Houses]

There has been a very noticeable resurgence of interest in the A6 case over the past couple of years....

Norma Buddle published her graphic novel "The A6 Murder - Was James Hanratty innocent?"
Robert Harriman published his kindle book "Hanratty - The DNA Travesty."
Roger Forsdyke published his novel "Deadman's Hill."
True crime writer John J Eddleston published a short kindle book "The story of James Hanratty."
Crime Investigation Channel produced a TV documentary about the case as part of it's "Murder Casebook" series.
The John Lennon funded 1969 campaign film is available on Youtube


It would seem this controversial and engrossing murder mystery will not lay down and die. Remarkable really, given that it occurred more than half a century ago.

[Sherlock Houses]

Nick

Roger Forsdyke was a copper for 30 odd years (his three son's are policemen too) so that is not at all surprising.

Del

I read Forsdyke's novel too on my kindle Del. It was a very strange book, one I wasn't too impressed with. It became quite obvious to me early on that the writer was either a policeman, ex-policeman or someone with very close ties to the force, as there was an obvious police slant in how he wrote and the content. He certainly took a few liberties re. real life A6 persons no longer alive. The A6 Murder case was [and is] a very serious affair and not one that should be treated light heartedly.

[Limehouse]

How nice to see this thread up and running again - with new contributors and a nice, gentle debate on the issues. Some new ground being explored too. I look forward to reading more.

[Derrick]

...Forsdyke claims to have also talked to retired police officers about the case...

Nick

Roger Forsdyke was a copper for 30 odd years (his three son's are policemen too) so that is not at all surprising.

Del

[Graham]

I honestly don't think there's much in the way of comic fiction about the A6 Case, and I take your advice, Derrick, that it's not worth wasting any time on.

Nick, I think you're correct in saying that Acott 'back-dated' Leonard's information, as I'm positive that the Ryan/Hanratty link came from elsewhere.
After the event, Acott was very elusive regarding the A6 Case, probably with good reason.

Graham

[NickB]

Forsdyke claims to have also talked to retired police officers about the case.

Leonard did eventually tell Acott how he had written out the six postcards (on Hanratty’s behalf) in the name of Ryan but realised, when asked to write the name and address of his parents, that his real name must be Hanratty.

It sounds like Acott backdated this linkage to protect his original source.

[Derrick]

Forsdyke's book is indeed a comic fiction novel, but based on the facts of the A6 murder.

I got bored with it after a few chapters as I thought it was well below par and not in the same league as great comic writers such as Tom Sharpe.

So all I did was take a sneaky peek at the authors notes at the back to discover his sources. Woffinden, Miller and a paper by Roger Lewis.

The Lewis paper can be found by typing Roger Lewis Hanratty into Google. It is quite obviously just a rehash of the appeal judgement and was published 4 months after the appeal.

[Graham]

On the web page advertising a novel called Deadman’s Hill, the author Roger Forsdyke explains how his story differs from the facts.

In the Author’s Note (paragraph 7) he says:
“... James Hanratty senior had taken one of the postcards written out by Gerrard Leonard to the police.”

As these postcards were written on 7th September in the name of Ryan, it would appear to be a plausible explanation of how Acott linked the name Ryan to Hanratty.

Nick,

I rather think that it was a birthday card, not a postcard, that James Hanratty Snr received from his son; if so, it would have been signed almost certainly just Jimmy or Jim or James.

Acott claimed that he made the Ryan/Hanratty connection from the Dublin police after Gerrard Leonard had gone to them to report that he had shared a room with a man who called himself Ryan but had used the name Hanratty when he asked Leonard to write cards for him. However, as Woffinden correctly points out, no way could Leonard have known that the London police were seeking a man called Ryan in connection with the A6 Case, as the name 'Ryan' was not connected with it until the discovery of the cartridge cases at The Vienna on 11th September. It has also been suggested that Dixie France told the police that Ryan was indeed Hanratty, but this has never been proved, not to my knowledge at any rate.

I saw Roger Forsdyke's book advertised on Amazon, but got the impression it was part fact, part fiction. Is this correct?

Graham

[Natalie Severn]

interesting point Graham…..!

[Natalie Severn]

and again Graham: [Foot's book pages 43 and 44] Alphon was questioned in Blackstock Road police station ,Highbury ,about his strange behaviour between the early evening of August 23rd- the night immediately after the murder until 27th August at the Alexandra Ct Hotel, Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park. He was asked by police where he had spent Tuesday night 22nd and he said he had stayed at the VIenna Hotel,Sutherland Road under the false name of Frederick Durrant.
"Sergeant Kilner phoned the Vienna Hotel and established that a man signed in in the name of Durrant for the night of August 22nd"[so this confirms the police contact on 27th appears to have only been by telephone.]

All they appear to have established in the two hours of questioning +a long statement is that Alphon had slept rough under the pier at Southend on 21st.Aug and that spent a lot of time walking around Richmond and Barnes and earned a living selling almanacs door to door and that his father worked as a records clerk in Scotland Yard's Aliens Department.
Alphon's statement was sent in to the 'murder room' at Scotland Yard.

[Graham]

Hi Nats,

Woffinden says that Mrs Galves went to Harrow Road police station on 6 September to give her statement. I wonder why over a week passed between Sgt Kilner phoning The Vienna and Mrs G making her statement?

Graham

[Natalie Severn]

Hi Graham-[back in London] - looked up Woffinden [1997 edition].Here is what it says on page 58:
"The hotel had lately been the subject of police inquiries.On 27th August the Vienna had been contacted by Highbury Vale Police Station,asking about one of its guests,Frederick Durrant.Subsequently,the police needed a written record of the telephone verification.As a result Juliana Galves went to Hsarrow Road Police Station to make a statement.
Staff therefore knew,if only obscurely,that the hotel was being mentioned in connection with the A6 murder inquiry."

So you are right-it doesn't say the police went there in Woffinden's book but that the hotel was contacted by police.

[NickB]

They had no idea who J Ryan was (and incidentally, to this day it is not clear how the connection to James Hanratty was eventually made).

On the web page advertising a novel called Deadman’s Hill, the author Roger Forsdyke explains how his story differs from the facts.

In the Author’s Note (paragraph 7) he says:
“... James Hanratty senior had taken one of the postcards written out by Gerrard Leonard to the police.”

As these postcards were written on 7th September in the name of Ryan, it would appear to be a plausible explanation of how Acott linked the name Ryan to Hanratty.

[Derrick]

Hi Del,

Personally I include the following as Forensic evidence:-
Ballistics data on the cartridge cases from the Vienna, and the gun and bullets from the bus
Blood typing of the semen stains from the underwear

Are you claiming that these don't count as forensic evidence?

KR,
Vic.

Hi Victor
I agree that the blood typing is forensic evidence but as probative evidence that could point to a single suspect then it is of little or no worth.

So to all intents and purposes the prosecution, at the original trial, had nothing forensically of any value whatsoever...the gun and its accoutrements were, are and always will be part of the circumstantial evidence.

Del