Mail's feature of 1999 on Hanratty by Roger Matthews

[Natalie Severn]

interesting point Graham…..!

[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

[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.

[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.

[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

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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 ]

[Spitfire]

Buddle and Harriman in their respective recent works have blown the prosecution case to smithereens and it cannot be long before the Court of Criminal Appeal's decision in 2002 is reversed.

The authorities should release for publication the report by Roger Matthews. There can be no valid reason for withholding it.

[Natalie Severn]

Awe Thanks Spitfire-that means such a lot x

[Victor]

Hi Del,

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.

But it does eliminate two thirds of the population as potential suspects! I agree it doesn't pinpoint one person, however, to say "no worth" is completely wrong, and I would strongly disagree with "little 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.

Again I disagree, the ballistics proved the link between cartridge cases in the Vienna, and the hanky &tc from the bus, and the weapon used in the crime.

KR,
Vic.

[Sherlock Houses]

The authorities should release for publication the report by Roger Matthews. There can be no valid reason for withholding it.

I agree 100% Spitfire.
In an ideal world that would happen.
However we don't appear to live in a very open society here in the UK as so much important information [from every sphere of life] is withheld from public scrutiny and never sees the light of day.
Who makes these decisions ? An elite group of elected officials/politicians/judges who decide amongst themselves that they know far better than 99.999 % of the populace.
The lengthy 1967 Nimmo Report into the Rhyl Alibi was never made publicly available. I don't know why.
It's been 18 years now since Roger Matthews' Report was received by the Home Office. Somehow I can't see the authorities releasing this report for publication. It probably is not in their interests to do so.

[Victor]

The authorities should release for publication the report by Roger Matthews. There can be no valid reason for withholding it.

Hi Spitfire,

There's not a lot of chance of that happening, the Civil Service have strict rules about not releasing reports that are superseded before they are finalised. And that is your "valid reason", it isn't complete, i.e., it was never released or cleared for publication.

KR,
Vic.