Mail's feature of 1999 on Hanratty by Roger Matthews

[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.

[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]

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.

[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.

[Limehouse]

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

No intrusion Richard. Your views are very welcome.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[NickB]

Natalie,

I take your points, but there is a case to be made against every witness. Including Mrs Dunwoody, who said of her sighting: “It was definitely the Monday”.

Even if there were further prosecution witnesses who recognised him after his photos were published, there was no impetus for them to come forward as he had already been convicted.

[richardnunweek]

Hi,
Sorry do not see what all the intrigue is about..
Valerie admitted on camera, that she made a mistake in identification initially, but it does not alter the fact, that she says positively. that she recognised Hanratty, the moment she saw him, he knew I knew, and he was finished.
She maintained that throughout the trail , and ever since...that the right man was hanged, and DNA, even if flaws are present is a massive pointer to guilt, for gods sake how much is ''reasonable doubt''?
That's my take on it..simplification ....
Regards Richard.

[Victor]

Hi Del Boy,

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.

Acott called for skull caps to be available, if needed, and they were but Kleinman didn't request them or challenge the ID parade at all, so they weren't necessary.

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.

Hi Nats,

It's hardly surprising that nobody came forward from the sticks to say they'd seen a wanted rapist and murderer hanging around, but that might be because he was lying low!

KR,
Vic.

[Natalie Severn]

Victor: 10 people eventually came forward from Rhyl and two from Liverpool [Mrs Dinwoody's granddaughter supported by her friend because they both remembered going into Liverpool centre on the 22nd to buy dress material returning about 4 pm on the 22nd -the granddaughter is said to have recognised his profile picture out of several others immediately the police officer showed her it.Mrs Dinwoody at first maintained it was Tuesday she saw Hanratty then she was persuaded it 'must have been ' Monday by Acott .Later on that day [except in Trevor Dutton's case when it was the Wednesday morning near Rhyl's Barclay's Bank] , 10 other people came forward eventually to say they had seen him in Rhyl that day. Nobody ever came forward from Dorney Reach, Marsh Lane ,The Taplow Inn, or from around Deadman's Hill to say they had seen Hanratty .

[Graham]

Hi Nats,

I think you have to consider that Rhyl in August 1961 would have been teeming with people of all ages. Hanratty, who was well-groomed and usually smartly dressed, could have been one of dozens of similarly-attired young men around the streets of Rhyl at that time. It was an age of conformity in dress-style - 'sharp' suits, white shirts, dark ties, short hair. Just like Hanratty.

With regard to Mrs Dinwoody, as has been pointed out many times, the police made a hash of her interview when they showed her just the one photograph - that of James Hanratty.

As far as Dorney Reach is concerned, Jean Justice (for whatever reasons, profit being the main one in my opinion) was "convinced" that Alphon was the A6 killer, so went to some length to 'prove' his, Alphon's, presence in the area. I have always thought that the apparent sightings in the area of someone who might have been Alphon were manufactured. Mrs Lanz, the licensee of The Old Station Inn at Taplow, claimed according to Justice to have seen Alphon (or an Alphon look-alike) in her pub on the evening of the crime. But is there anyone who still believes that Alphon was either the killer or even implicitly associated with the A6 Case? His presence in the Case was purely coincidental - he was a manipulative chancer, and saw the possibility of making a few bob out of it, once he had been eliminated from police inquiries. I am certain that if Justice's suspect had been James Hanratty, then Justice would have produced 'evidence' for Hanratty's presence in the area.

As far as Deadman's Hill is concerned, it was pitch dark, no-one (apart from John Kerr) was around, at least not until the passing farm-worker Sydney Burton saw the two bodies in the lay-by at about 6.30am, when it was daylight, and told Kerr. The only possible way that anyone in that Morris Minor could have been seen would be if another car had driven into the lay-by; and I am certain that if this had happened, Valerie would have mentioned it.

Graham