The attack on Swedish housewife Mrs Meike Dalal on Thursday, September 7th 1961

[Derrick]

...I wonder what the resultant identi-kit photo looked like ? A little strange that it seems never to have seen the light of day,...

Houses...

I believe that the police treated the A6 murder and the attack on Mrs Dalal as 2 separate and completely unconnected cases as soon as Alphon was able to establish an alibi via his almanac suppliers.

Any interest in an identikit from Mrs Dalal must have seemed unimportant considering that she picked out Alphon anyway and was sure he was the attacker.

Del

[Dupplin Muir]

Derrick wrote:

I believe that the police treated the A6 murder and the attack on Mrs Dalal as 2 separate and completely unconnected cases as soon as Alphon was able to establish an alibi via his almanac suppliers.

I think that's the reason the police had no interest in going ahead with the case. They didn't want the public to hear that Mrs Dalal's attacker claimed to be the A6 gunman.

I also find it pretty disgraceful how the police accepted Alphon's alibi so readily. I suspect if the same people had given JH an alibi they'd have been dragged over the coals and had their characters assassinated in the same way that Hanratty's real alibi witnesses did.

[Natalie Severn]

Derrick wrote:



I think that's the reason the police had no interest in going ahead with the case. They didn't want the public to hear that Mrs Dalal's attacker claimed to be the A6 gunman.

I also find it pretty disgraceful how the police accepted Alphon's alibi so readily. I suspect if the same people had given JH an alibi they'd have been dragged over the coals and had their characters assassinated in the same way that Hanratty's real alibi witnesses did.

Thats what I think undue haste to bury Alphon and any case connected with him---and yes of course it would have got right up the Old Bill's noses if newspaper headlines were continuing to draw attention to a woman who had been brutally assaulted by a man she had positively identified in a line up as Peter Alphon - one and the same Peter Alphon who the police had put out a nation wide A6 search for only a week or so before insinuating that he was the A6 murderer. Alphon was in fact unceremoniously 'dropped'!

[caz]

To be fair, one can only imagine the outrage had the police not dropped Alphon from the A6 enquiry after Valerie Storie failed to pick him out from that first identity parade! Or if she had failed to pick Hanratty out from the second and the police had not dropped him equally 'unceremoniously'.

I really don't see why Alphon would have been treated any more favourably by the authorities than Hanratty if the evidence - or lack thereof - hadn't warranted it.

Love,

Caz
X

[NickB]

Let’s look at it from Alphon’s point of view ...

Wimbledon station, 10.30pm, 22nd September, 1961. Peter Alphon has had a long day selling almanacs door to door. He settles into his seat on the District Line train and looks at the evening newspaper he has bought.

To his horror he sees that the lead story is that he is named as being wanted for the A6 murder. It shows an idendikit picture and contains information about his life and family. He decides immediately to present himself to the police. At Charing Cross station he rings two newspapers, and reporters interview him and take his photo.

At the police station he is led into an office and questioned through the night until 9.30am. He is presented with the Nudds/Snell ‘second statement’ evidence, which removes the alibi of the first statement and places him in the room where the cartridges were found. Can you imagine how he felt? In the middle of the interview he is placed on an identification parade where Nudds identifies him and someone else.

At 11am he is put on another identification parade. One of the witnesses on the parade is Meike Dalal who collapses and accuses him of being her attacker.

After a night in the cells he is taken to Guy’s Hospital in a Black Maria. There he is the subject of another identification parade at the bedside of Valerie Storie. After slowly scanning the line a few times she picks a man standing sixth on the left from him.

It must have been an excruciating time for someone who, even counsel acting for the Hanratty family agree, could not have been the A6 murderer.

As he said: “I kept feeling the noose around my neck”.

[caz]

Let’s look at it from Alphon’s point of view ...

Wimbledon station, 10.30pm, 22nd September, 1961. Peter Alphon has had a long day selling almanacs door to door. He settles into his seat on the District Line train and looks at the evening newspaper he has bought.

To his horror he sees that the lead story is that he is named as being wanted for the A6 murder. It shows an idendikit picture and contains information about his life and family. He decides immediately to present himself to the police. At Charing Cross station he rings two newspapers, and reporters interview him and take his photo.

At the police station he is led into an office and questioned through the night until 9.30am. He is presented with the Nudds/Snell ‘second statement’ evidence, which removes the alibi of the first statement and places him in the room where the cartridges were found. Can you imagine how he felt? In the middle of the interview he is placed on an identification parade where Nudds identifies him and someone else.

At 11am he is put on another identification parade. One of the witnesses on the parade is Meike Dalal who collapses and accuses him of being her attacker.

After a night in the cells he is taken to Guy’s Hospital in a Black Maria. There he is the subject of another identification parade at the bedside of Valerie Storie. After slowly scanning the line a few times she picks a man standing sixth on the left from him.

It must have been an excruciating time for someone who, even counsel acting for the Hanratty family agree, could not have been the A6 murderer.

As he said: “I kept feeling the noose around my neck”.

Good post, Nick!

Alphon might not have come across as a very nice character, but neither in fairness did Hanratty.

Neither would have deserved to be 'fitted up' for the A6 crime if the evidence just wasn't there.

There is no evidence whatsoever that Alphon was involved, yet it seems to me that some Hanratty defenders are happier about pointing the finger at Alphon than they would be if they were being truly objective about justice being done.

Love,

Caz
X

[cobalt]

There is no evidence whatsoever that Alphon was involved, yet it seems to me that some Hanratty defenders are happier about pointing the finger at Alphon than they would be if they were being truly objective about justice being done.

In fairness, it not so much a question of fingers being pointed at Alphon, as Alphon pointing a finger at himself.

Hanratty never deviated from his denial of involvement in the A6 case, even though his alibi was changed in the course of doing so.

Alphon, on the other hand, intermittently claimed to have some inside knowledge of the crime. He also drew attention to himself by his behaviour in the immediate aftermath of the murder, as well as presumably being the perpetrator of the attack on Mrs Delal. His mysterious good fortune financially is another factor which puts him in the frame, as well as his being a recognised face in the area where the murder took place.

Not solid evidence I grant you, but hardly grounds for claiming that pro-Hanratty supporters are recklessly accusing someone else, in order to exculpate Hanratty.

[caz]

In fairness, it not so much a question of fingers being pointed at Alphon, as Alphon pointing a finger at himself.

Hi cobalt,

But the police pointed the finger at him first - the same police who have been accused of fitting up the first man who could be squeezed into the frame. There are many people who are not quite 'right', who have claimed inside knowledge or confessed to crimes they have not committed. (Michael Barrett of Maybrick diary infamy always springs to mind as another Alphon 'type'). They thrive on all the initial attention and miss it if and when interest in them drops off. With Hanratty identified by the victim and well on the way to being convicted, Alphon could continue bluffing with no great risk to his own neck. The danger would have been if he was the gunman and rapist and could therefore have incriminated himself for real.

His mysterious good fortune financially is another factor which puts him in the frame, as well as his being a recognised face in the area where the murder took place.

I don't really understand how the financial gain angle puts Alphon in the frame. If he was being paid merely to frighten the couple, as one theory goes, he bodged it - in the worst possible way - by driving with them for hours before shooting MG dead, then raping and shooting VS but leaving her alive to tell the tale. Even if the contract was to kill, he screwed up by leaving a witness. He would hardly have been in any position to try blackmail if Mr. Big had washed his hands of him and refused to pay up.

Not solid evidence I grant you, but hardly grounds for claiming that pro-Hanratty supporters are recklessly accusing someone else, in order to exculpate Hanratty.

Now now, I didn't quite put it like that, did I?

Anyone who really wanted justice for Hanratty for the sake of justice, and not for the sake of their personal investment in his innocence, would want the exact same justice for Alphon. And there's a case for reasonable doubt if ever there was one!

Love,

Caz
X

[Graham]

Alphon was a sly, subtle, manipulative man who, once the police had dropped him as an A6 suspect, seemed determined to profit by his association with the crime. In another life, he may well have made it big in the world of business.
Jean Justice kept up the momentum. Many high-profile murders attract meaningless and empty 'confessions' - I believe more than 60 morons 'confessed' to the killing of Jill Dando. Alphon had a ready-made audience for his antics, and some people actually believed him....

That TV interview was Alphon at his very best, as he ate the poor interviewer for breakfast, only to retract virtually everything he said at a later date.

Paul Foot did his level best to discover the source(s) of Alphon's wealth (which he spent as fast as he received the money), but didn't very far. I posted on the other thread a summary of the payments Alphon received, per Foot's investigations and interviews with Alphon. Alphon certainly sold his 'story' to at least one newspaper, and he very likely received compensation for his arrest as an A6 suspect. Foot himself says that dealing with Alphon was a nightmare, as he changed his various stories as frequently as the weather. Alphon certainly didn't want the source of at least some of his money made public knowledge, but this in itself doesn't necessarily mean that he was paid to carry out the A6 Crime.

That he was seen around Dorney Reach prior to the crime is of course of interest, but there is of course no proof that it was Peter Alphon walking along Marsh Lane.

Graham

[Sherlock Houses]

In fairness, it not so much a question of fingers being pointed at Alphon, as Alphon pointing a finger at himself.

This is an important point which is so often conveniently overlooked. Alphon most definitely did point an accusing finger at himself, both wittingly and unwittingly. Wittingly via his various confessions to the A6 murder over the years and unwittingly via his suspicious and nervous behaviour, his uncanny similarity to the A6 identi-kit photos and his unaccounted for monetary gains during the autumn and winter of 1961/62.

But for good fortune the violent assault on Mrs Dalal could easily have resulted in her death, thus leading to a murder enquiry. Mrs Dalal's positive identification of Alphon as her assailant remains much more valid than Valerie Storie's identiication of Hanratty as her attacker/rapist. The view she had of her attacker was of much longer duration under very good lighting conditions, contrasting sharply with the fleeting glimpse the short-sighted Miss Storie had of the A6 murderer under poor lighting conditions in the dead of night.

The agitated behaviour Alphon displayed between Wednesday, August 23rd, when he signed into the Alexandra Court Hotel, and Sunday, August 27th, was much different to his behaviour at the hotel in the subsequent 9 or 10 days of his residence there.

What could have caused this sudden and marked change in his behaviour ?

Some of the following is speculative on my part.........

From August 23rd to August 27th something out of the ordinary must have been troubling Alphon, preying on his mind. This manifested itself by way of his very erratic behaviour which drew attention from other guests at the hotel. For some reason, in the 4 or 5 days after the A6 murder the normally garrulous Alphon was keeping a very low profile. Almost as if he was in hiding. He was keeping to his room and avoiding other guests. not taking meals in the hotel's dining room and acting very strangely behind the locked door of his room.

Things began to change on the evening of the 27th when two police officers, alerted by the hotel manager to Alphon's very suspicious behaviour, after some initial questioning took him to their police station for a more prolonged interrogation lasting about two hours. Seemingly satisfied with Alphon's statement the interviewing police officer allowed him to leave around 10.00pm. Alphon was told to re-register at the hotel in his own name and return to the police station the following evening which he duly did. For the remaining 9 or 10 days of his stay Alphon's behaviour had changed beyond all recognition and he began to come down for meals and act normally like the other guests.

Alphon eventually left the Alexandra Court Hotel on Wednesday, September 6th, thus finding himself once again in the situation of having no fixed abode and having to seek accommodation elsewhere. Mrs Dalal, who had advertised a room for let that week in the local paper, received a telephone enquiry about it on that Wednesday. She also received a further call about it the following morning [Thursday, a couple or so hours before her attack] from quite possibly the same caller. This Thursday morning telephone caller was to become her vicious assailant.

If Mrs Dalal was correct in claiming Alphon as her vicious assailant/attempted murderer it is uncanny how reminiscent the attack was of the A6 murder just a fortnight before.The 'modus operandi' was very similar. Her attacker/would-be rapist even claimed to be the A6 murderer and demanded money from her. In all she was struck violently on the head 3 times and her wrists and feet were tied, with flex and a blue ribbon respectively. Just like the A6 gunman her attacker was not very good at binding hands and she was able to free hers and avert a 4th blow to her head. The A6 gunman was also quite prepared to hit Valerie Storie on the head . Valerie's actual words on what the gunman said to her were..."I think I had better knock you on the head or something, or else you will go or help."

Mrs Dalal's assailant seemed to display an inside knowledge of certain things that happened in the murder car. There had been absolutely none of these details printed in the newspapers between August 23rd and September 7th about the goings-on in the Morris Minor. The general public had been kept completely in the dark about what transpired in that Morris Minor.

Was Mrs Dalal's assailant and the A6 murderer one and the same person ? Quite probably.

[NickB]

At the 27th August police interview Alphon provided the alibi that he was in the Vienna Hotel booked in as Durrant. The police phoned the hotel to check, and subsequently obtained a statement that ‘Durrant’ arrived at about 11:30 p.m - confirming his alibi.

After the discovery of the cartridge cases, Nudds first statement on 15th September also confirmed the alibi of ‘F Durrant’ (“he arrived very late in the evening, I think about 11:30 to midnight”) and fingered ‘J Ryan’ (“he occupied the bed on the left hand side as you go in the door”).

If the police at this stage had been able to identify ‘J Ryan’ they would have pursued him as the most obvious suspect, but they didn’t know who Ryan was.

We then have Nudds second statement on 21st September which implicates Alphon and was subsequently withdrawn. It is only because of this dodgy statement that Alphon was put on the Dalal id parade.

[Graham]

Hmmm....it seems that JH's supporters are only too willing to accept Mrs Dalal's identification of Alphon, but not Miss Storie's identification of Hanratty. That Mrs Dalal made a mistake is fairly obvious, as the police were perfectly willing to accept the Almanac sellers' statement that Alphon was with them at the time.

I think it has to be understood that Peter Alphon was in many ways 'never a normal man' (acknowledgment to the late Dan Farson for this memorable expression), and his behaviour was, to say the least, unpredictable. He made a habit of checking out of hotels without paying his bill, and also checking in using an alias. What happened at The Alexandra Court Hotel was typical of him. He was described by people who knew him as 'nervy' and 'unable to settle down' and as a 'misfit'. He was filmed, not long before he died, pacing up and down the platform of a railway station (and still wearing a white mac), showing every symptom of restless unease. He was also described as having a 'lizard-like gait', which could perhaps have been a form of toe-walking, a trait associated with autism.

Somehow, I just can't see Alphon as being capable of spending several hours cooped up in a small car with two other people.

But he was, at least, sufficiently in touch with reality to contact the press before giving himself up to the tender mercies of Basil Acott, and was quite open about being terrified at the prospect.

Graham

[Sherlock Houses]

Hmmm....it seems that JH's supporters are only too willing to accept Mrs Dalal's identification of Alphon, but not Miss Storie's identification of Hanratty. That Mrs Dalal made a mistake is fairly obvious, as the police were perfectly willing to accept the Almanac sellers' statement that Alphon was with them at the time.

He was filmed, not long before he died, pacing up and down the platform of a railway station (and still wearing a white mac), showing every symptom of restless unease. He was also described as having a 'lizard-like gait', which could perhaps have been a form of toe-walking, a trait associated with autism.

I can't speak for others Graham, but I find Mrs Dalal's evidence quite persuasive especially when one also bears in mind her description of the assailant. Amongst other things she describes him as having his hair plastered back, wearing a tie-less white shirt and wearing a new, light coloured three quarter length mackintosh. As we know Alphon was very fond of three quarter length macs and greasing his hair back without a part. There is evidence [including photos] also
that he wore open necked white shirts. It's interesting to note that Mrs Dalal described the mac as being 'new' as coincidentally Alphon bought a new raincoat less than two weeks earlier [August 25th].

Of course Mrs Dalal could have been mistaken about her identification of Alphon, it's just that so much else seems to fit with what we know about him.

Re. the almanac sellers evidence, I have always considered this far too pat and convenient. How on earth could they pinpoint the time Alphon turned up at their shop [if indeed he did] that Thursday ? Did he clock on or something ?

Just to clarify things somewhat, that video footage of him pacing up and down the railway platform was in fact filmed in 1992, 17 years before his death.

He didn't seem to go anywhere without a three quarter length raincoat .

[Natalie Severn]

Somehow, I just can't see Alphon as being capable of spending several hours cooped up in a small car with two other people.
Graham

Thats a very fair comment actually.

One the other hand Graham ,the very restlessness of Hanratty from his teenage years to his mid twenties makes it a virtual certainty to my way of thinking that it was not him sitting in the back seat of that car -a car in which there was absolutely no trace of Hanratty-not a single fingerprint-[though there were twelve others],not a hair ,not a fibre , a gunman who must have been saturated with blood as he removed Gregsten's corpse , [the upper part of the head ,according to his son 'blown away'].Yet there was a bloody handprint on the back window of the car -but it was not Hanratty's .

[Natalie Severn]

Alphon was a sly, subtle, manipulative man who, once the police had dropped him as an A6 suspect, seemed determined to profit by his association with the crime. In another life, he may well have made it big in the world of business.
Jean Justice kept up the momentum. Many high-profile murders attract meaningless and empty 'confessions' - I believe more than 60 morons 'confessed' to the killing of Jill Dando. Alphon had a ready-made audience for his antics, and some people actually believed him....

That TV interview was Alphon at his very best, as he ate the poor interviewer for breakfast, only to retract virtually everything he said at a later date.

Paul Foot did his level best to discover the source(s) of Alphon's wealth (which he spent as fast as he received the money), but didn't very far. I posted on the other thread a summary of the payments Alphon received, per Foot's investigations and interviews with Alphon. Alphon certainly sold his 'story' to at least one newspaper, and he very likely received compensation for his arrest as an A6 suspect. Foot himself says that dealing with Alphon was a nightmare, as he changed his various stories as frequently as the weather. Alphon certainly didn't want the source of at least some of his money made public knowledge, but this in itself doesn't necessarily mean that he was paid to carry out the A6 Crime.

That he was seen around Dorney Reach prior to the crime is of course of interest, but there is of course no proof that it was Peter Alphon walking along Marsh Lane.

Graham

Hi Graham,
Alphon did not have an alibi for the night of the murder. The night after the murder when he booked into the Alexandra Hotel ,Finsbury Park people saw a disturbed erratic man who continued to act in a jumpy, curious way for several days so much so they called in the police-thinking he might be the A6 murderer. It was this and only this that alerted the police to the Vienna Hotel in the first place -nothing whatever to do with Hanratty at that stage .
I believe that if Valerie had identified Alphon the police would have ignored Alphon's almanac alibi ,to my mind quite a weak alibi since they were recalling a door to door part time erratic almanac salesman coming into their shop for a short while one lunch hour in late August which was 6 weeks or so previously .They were never pressed to prove the alibi because the police dropped Alphon shortly after Valerie identified a totally different and completely innocent man named Michael Clark .