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

[Graham]

White and light-coloured shortie raincoats were all the go in the late 50's and early 60's, and worn in any weather by the discerning fashionistas of the day. I had two or three when I was still at school, very much against my school dress-code, which expected boys to wear a dark gabardine mac in inclement weather.The crack was to wear them open, as in the film of Alphon. Not much use for secreting anything except your wallet and your fags.

Graham

[Derrick]

Alphon felt the need to purchase a brand new three-quarter length mac just two days after the A6 murder. Was he replacing a bloodied one I wonder ? As I have mentioned before he didn't seem to go anywhere without one. How common was it for 30 year old males to wear one back in 1961 ? Was that summer really such a wet one ? Even 30 years later he was filmed wearing one. An ideal sort coat for secreting things on one's person I suppose.

But nowhere in her testimony does Miss Storie mention the man wearing a raincoat. In fact her testimony was to the contrary.

Where about his person would the gunman have hidden such a raincoat. One of his pockets had loose bullets in it. That narrow's down the opportunities for concealment of such a garment.

[Sherlock Houses]

But nowhere in her testimony does Miss Storie mention the man wearing a raincoat. In fact her testimony was to the contrary.

Where about his person would the gunman have hidden such a raincoat. One of his pockets had loose bullets in it. That narrow's down the opportunities for concealment of such a garment.

I'm not saying that the gunman was wearing a raincoat when he hijacked the car. It could easily have been inside a rolled up carrier bag, similar to one that Stanley Cobb mentioned in a statement.
Mr Cobb and his wife Elsie, residents of Dorney Reach, both recalled a stranger outside their front gate on the Tuesday [Aug 22nd] afternoon who was carrying a white, rolled up carrier bag. Their dog had been barking at this man for some time which was what drew their attention to him. Along with neighbour Fred Sewell, who also witnessed the incident, they were struck by the man's resemblance to the identi-kit photos issued a week later.

There must have been lots of things Miss Storie never mentioned in her testimony.

[Derrick]

...There must have been lots of things Miss Storie never mentioned in her testimony...

Why Houses ole chap...

I believe you may be right.

She never mentioned that she had been shagging Mr Gregsten and had been doing so for 3 years.
She never mentioned why she changed the eye colour of her assailant from brown to blue.
She never disclosed any information about the appearance of the man she picked out on 24th September.

But we should not put any of the blame onto Miss Storie.

The real blame lays at the door of Acott.

[cobalt]

Graham,

You said that it was unlikely Hanratty was driven to the area where the murder took place. So how did the murderer (who might have been Hanratty) get there?

Carrying a loaded revolver on a bus or train would be very difficult for a man wearing a suit in the early autumn, particularly as he was also lugging a box full of cartridges.

If the killer drove in his own (or a stolen) car, then he must have abandoned it in the area. Only an accomplice could have retrieved it before the police became aware of the vehicle.

No one has ever satisfactorily explained how the killer arrived at the cornfield. He just magically appears. No trace is ever found: not a bus ticket, a train ticket or an abandoned car. It does not make sense.

[Graham]

Cobalt,

you pose questions that I really can't answer with any degree of certainty. I can only repeat what I said in a recent post that it's less than a mile from the main A4 road (and buses) to the cornfield. Hanratty entered the car with the gun in his hand and the bullets in his pocket, so unless he carried them to the field in a paper bag or similar, which he discarded, I can only assume that he carried gun and ammo in his pockets. I expect a large revolver would soon ruin the pocket of a suit jacket, or trouser pocket, but that eventuality didn't seem to bother Hanratty.

I'd say it was more late summer than early autumn - I believe the weather was pretty good at the time.

In line with your questions, as far as I'm aware the police's examination of the gateway was either cursory or even possibly non-existent, unless someone has any information regarding. If a car had been abandoned nearby, you'd think that the police would have soon known about it, and included it in their inquiries.

Hanratty claimed also to have been in Rhyl at the time of the abduction, yet no bus or train tickets, nor even a signature in a guest-book, were forthcoming there, either. I would suggest that Hanratty tended to conduct his life without a lot of planning or thought for the future, so even if he did have bus-tickets chances are that he'd have just chucked them away. Who keeps bus-tickets anyway?

Finally, I believe that it does make sense if you consider the possibility (even perhaps probability) that Hanratty had recently acquired the gun, was in the area that day (maybe he'd been to Slough greyhound track), thought about a spot of buglary at a lonely property, abandoned that idea for whatever reason, and then spotted the car in the field. Speculation obviously - we will now never know precisely what he did and why, prior to getting into that Morris Minor.

Graham

[Spitfire]

Finally, I believe that it does make sense if you consider the possibility (even perhaps probability) that Hanratty had recently acquired the gun, was in the area that day (maybe he'd been to Slough greyhound track), thought about a spot of buglary at a lonely property, abandoned that idea for whatever reason, and then spotted the car in the field. Speculation obviously - we will now never know precisely what he did and why, prior to getting into that Morris Minor.

For Hanratty to have left the spent cartridge cases in Room 24 of the Vienna, the likelihood he must have been in possession of the gun since the previous evening.

[cobalt]

Graham,

Thanks for your thoughts on how the killer reached the cornfield. I still think it unlikely he would travel by public transport with a revolver and cartridges on his person. Even less likely that he would visit a greyhound track 'packing a heater' given how cumbersome it would be when handing over money, squeezing past members of the public, going to the toilet. The same would apply if the gun and cartridges had been in a bag of some sort.

Were the killer Hanratty then, as a known criminal, he faced the risk of being spotted by an alert policeman at the dog track and frisked. The criminal fraternity were a feature at dog tracks, as were plain clothes detectives, so I doubt anyone would carry a weapon in that environment.

What I could more willingly accept is that the killer arranged to meet someone in the vicinity of Slough greyhound track in order to obtain a firearm. But that then indicates a conspiracy of some sort, and as Spitfire points out rather undermines the evidence of the cartridges which appeared at the Vienna Hotel.

[Graham]

Hi Cobalt,

I take your point about the buses, but someone did take the gun + ammo onto a bus without being detected, to dispose of them.

As Spitfire points out, he must have got the gun no later than the previous evening, ref: the cartridge cases at The Vienna. And I don't believe anyone planted them there other than the killer, who I believe to have been Hanratty.

Did the police habitually 'stop and search' known criminals at dog-tracks in those days? Alphon was not unknown to the police even before the murder, albeit a long time before, but he seemed to spend a large proportion of his time at dog-tracks without being accosted by PC49.

Graham

[Graham]

Two photos which may be of interest, with acknowledgement to Alamy.

1] Meike Dalal

2] Peter Alphon (a photo I've never seen before)

If these photos have been placed on the A6 Thread in the past, then I apologise to whoever placed them!

Graham

[Sherlock Houses]

MD. Yes, that's the bloke who nearly brain-damaged me.

[moste]

Finally, I believe that it does make sense if you consider the possibility (even perhaps probability) that Hanratty had recently acquired the gun, was in the area that day (maybe he'd been to Slough greyhound track), thought about a spot of buglary at a lonely property, abandoned that idea for whatever reason, and then spotted the car in the field. Speculation obviously - we will now never know precisely what he did and why, prior to getting into that Morris Minor.
Hi Graham. just checking on Google Earth the location of Slough greyhound stadium.(as was)It was actually on the Uxbridge road to the east of Slough, and to get to Marsh Lane off the A4, it would have been a couple of miles west across the other side of Slough. As the train runs it would be a case of getting off at Slough from Paddington, then doubling back 1/2 a mile to Uxbridge road for the greyhound stadium , or if you stayed on the train it was Burnham next, then Taplow for Marsh road. just thought I would indicate that to be going to Slough dogs for a track meet you certainly wouldn't be swinging by the vicinity of the corn field to rob a house.
Also on the discussion of identifying areas did anyone realise that Huntercombe lane South. where the couple supposedly pulled in for a chat or whatever, is about a ten or twelve minute walk to Valeries house on Anthony way, in cippenham. It was most likely the two lovers that were spotted there by the motorcyclist, on his way home to Burnham from his girl friends place at 9 30 p.m. I wonder if they were discussing Mike taking her home at this point, and she wasn't even supposed to be part of a pre-conceived plan. I guess we'll never know.

[NickB]

to be going to Slough dogs for a track meet you certainly wouldn't be swinging by the vicinity of the corn field to rob a house

Isn't this the route Alphon claimed to take? (although not to rob a house)

After watching the dog he bet on ‘Mentals Only Hope’ run at 9pm in Slough he walked out into the country (it must have been incredibly quickly!) 6 miles to the Old Station Inn at Taplow, and then the further 1.5 miles to the cornfield.

[cobalt]

Mentals Only Hope might well serve as an appropriate title for this website. But I respect all of those, whatever their view, who continue to show an active interest in the case. I was 9 years old when the crime occurred, and it was probably the first news story I read outside of the back pages covering sport. Whatever our differences, we all believe that justice is precious.

It is certainly an intriguing case. There are three areas of interest: North London, Slough and Liverpool/Rhyl. So the possibilities for questioning the prosecution case are very wide geographically. (I could even add in Derbyshire where a credible sighting of the car was made.)

Then we have an array of characters who might come from a Dickensian novel: the artful dodger Hanratty, the Quilp like Nudds, all the way through to Dixie France, the dubious antique dealer Ewer, Alphon ,the embodiment of the riddle wrapped in an enigma, and Hanratty's female fence whose name eludes me for the moment. Some crew! Add on a couple of dubious coppers, one of whom later achieved notoriety in Liverpool, and you have to regret that Dickens was not around to write up the story.

But ultimately, as we all appreciate on this site, this is not entertainment. A man was killed, a woman paralysed, and a man executed. I hope we can help each other get closer to a fuller understanding of what took place that night in 1962.

As you are probably aware, I have a particular interest in how the murderer arrived at the cornfield. I am unconvinced that Hanratty, a burglar rather than a robber up till that point, would have arrived on foot without a getaway vehicle. Is there any evidence that Hanratty, an acknowledged car thief and burglar, ever combined these two activities in his criminal career?

[Graham]

Hi Cobalt,

I am unconvinced that Hanratty, a burglar rather than a robber up till that point, would have arrived on foot without a getaway vehicle. Is there any evidence that Hanratty, an acknowledged car thief and burglar, ever combined these two activities in his criminal career?

It seems that JH's usual modus operandi when out a-burgling was to travel by bus and on foot, sort out his loot at a convenient time afterwards, then discard unwanted items under the back upstairs seat of a bus. From what I can tell, he nicked cars mainly for profit, and didn't own one until he bought the Sunbeam Alpine after the murder. The Dorney Reach area is, as I said, within quite easy reach of bus-routes, and there's also Taplow Station.

I will always feel that the events of that terrible night were basically down to JH's failure to burgle a house, hold up a shop or a garage or whatever at gun-point, and he got into the Morris out of sheer frustration. I am very aware, however, that not everyone on this thread shares my feelings regarding the genesis of the A6 Crime.....

Graham