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

[moste]

I am totally and utterly uninterested in the A6 case.

I am, however, Swedish.

And I have never, ever seen a name that even remotely reminds me of the purportedly Swedish "Meike Dalal".

Just how Swedish is that name...?

I think the answer lies in the fact her husband is a 'von' rather than a 'van'.

[Graham]

Mrs Dalal was first erroneously described as Swedish by Paul Foot, and the mistake stuck. She is (she's still alive) actually German, and her surname Dalal is because she is, or was, married to an Indian man. The mistake was corrected on this forum long ago, but the title of the thread hasn't been corrected. I honestly don't think it's any big deal.

Graham

[Sherlock Houses]

I am totally and utterly uninterested in the A6 case.

I am, however, Swedish.

And I have never, ever seen a name that even remotely reminds me of the purportedly Swedish "Meike Dalal".

Just how Swedish is that name...?

Given your absolute fascination with the A6 murder case I don't suppose it matters too much how Swedish [or otherwise] the first name Meike is. Her first husband was an Indian gentleman hence the "Dalal". If you like just remove an 'e' and call her Mike.

[Sherlock Houses]

Absolutely agree with this analogy. And Ewers motive, in the final analysis... Janet Gregsten.
I wonder whether Ewer had any children from an earlier marriage, I wonder if he was a good Dad for Anthony and Simon. I wonder what happened to Valerie Ewer after her sister waltzed off with her husband? I guess we'll never know.

I'm under the impression that for several years from 1962 onwards the five of them lived under the same roof. According to the electoral registers anyway.
Couldn't say if Ewer went back to his wife after his 7 year affair with Janet ended. I wonder if the affair ended amicably or bitterly ?

It's more than interesting that in her final years Janet believed James Hanratty to be innocent of her husband's murder.

[NickB]

Indeed it does appear that when Janet moved in, her sister did not move out – even when the Ewer family moved from Goldhurst Terrace to Wentworth Road.

Janet came to believe in Hanratty’s innocence in her last few months as a result of Foot’s interviews with her, when he persuaded her that Alphon was most likely to be her husband’s killer.

However they influenced each other and Foot began to change his views about Alphon. A couple of years later, in a ‘London Review of Books’ article on 11-Dec-97, Foot warned “against jumping to hasty conclusions” about Alphon who “didn't know as much as he pretended. He certainly didn't know what he alleged – that Mrs Gregsten was the prime mover in commissioning the murder."

[Sherlock Houses]

Some interesting info about the Gregsten's and the Ewer's

Janet Gregsten went to live with William and Valerie Ewer at 77 Wentworth Road, London NW 11,from 1963 until 1965 at least. Probably for a few years afterwards too.

Interestingly enough a full decade beforehand, Janet and Michael were living [with Michael's mum and auntie] at 19 Wentworth Avenue, London N3.
Does anyone know if those 2 addresses are close to each other ?

October 12th 1961 was the date Michael Gregsten's probate will was disclosed.
His personal effects amounted to a tidy £3,269.

[NickB]

According to Google Earth they are 2.5 miles apart along the A598. The car was variously described as belonging to the aunt, mum or both.

Cater the florist shop is now occupied by Cottage Flowers at 15 Northways Parade, Finchley Road, NW3 5EN.

http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/images/venues/images_all/10015288.jpg

[Sherlock Houses]

William Ewer......

Janet Gregsten went to live with William and Valerie Ewer at 77 Wentworth Road, London NW 11,from 1963 until 1965 at least. Probably for a few years afterwards too.

Ewer was still living at this address in 1984.
At the time of his marriage to Janet's half-sister Valerie in 1948 he was listed as an Art Dealer at 7 The Arcade, Swiss Cottage. It's unclear for how long he had been an Art Dealer prior to his marriage.
Sometime between 1951 and 1952 he moved to 10 The Arcade, Swiss Cottage, probably a bigger premises.

Umbrella repair man my foot !

[NickB]

So how could the entrance to Burtol cleaners at 129 Finchley Road be visible from his shop at 10 The Arcade?

Perhaps there was a back door at Burtol facing into the arcade. From the photo, it looks like if you enter by the front door the counter goes all the way across in front of you - suggesting there is no back door.

[caz]

No its not the reason he gave Caz---look it up yourself --quite frankly all you seem to want to do is sneer

I have looked it up, Nats - I was the one who gave you the post number! #633

I don't need to 'sneer'. The reason is right there, in Hanratty's own words. He claimed he had lied about spending the night of August 22nd in Liverpool because at the time he knew he was only wanted for an interview in connection with having shared the same hotel as the suspected murderer. He claimed he would have told the truth straight away (that he had in fact spent that night in Rhyl) if he had been facing a murder charge instead.

I still submit that this reason for lying does not stand up to scrutiny, regardless of where he actually spent that night.

Love,

Caz
X

[Natalie Severn]

I still submit that this reason does not stand up to scrutiny, regardless of where he actually spent that night.

and of course Caz you are entitled to your opinion. nx

[Natalie Severn]

So how could the entrance to Burtol cleaners at 129 Finchley Road be visible from his shop at 10 The Arcade?

Those arcades often have windows at perpendicular angles to one another Nick-but very rarely two entrance doors--- but its possible to see through such angled windows into what is happening-the windows shown in your picture are huge so you must have been able to see counter transactions easily.nx
ps
thanks for the brilliant old photos of the row of shops and the arcade-always wondered what it looked like!

[caz]

She didn't though did she? On her first identification parade she selected a dark eyed, heavily built man of 5ft 9ins named Michael Clarke who was totally innocent and just a volunteer.Nowadays this would not only make all subsequent 'identifications' null and void but would simply be totally discredited.

No, Valerie didn't finger your conspirators' chosen scapegoat - Hanratty - first time round. How could she? He wasn't there. She did finger him second time round though, which was my point. How obliging of her to do so, both for the criminal gang who had supposedly framed him and the prosecutors who were supposedly happy to fit him up.

And still the judge warned the jury that they had to be sure, on the evidence presented.

Love,

Caz
X

[Natalie Severn]

I agree that Ewer would have said the things to Duffy that are attributed to him and are in quotation marks. Ewer was the liar. At the time Ewer probably thought it was a harmless wheeze, but when Foot's book came out it came back to bite him. He then made a statement to the Sunday Times, who quickly showed that he also lied in that.

I think so too.

[Graham]

Hi Caz,

nice to see you back, from wherever you've been. I've said more than once that on the first ID parade it was not who Valerie did pick out that was crucial, but who she didn't pick out, i.e., Peter Alphon. And I do think that there is more than one poster on this forum who still thinks that that that first ID parade at Guy's Hospital actually included James Hanratty.

Hi Nick,

despite Nats's recent post, you can bet your bippie that if the Hanratty Supporters Club either ignore a post, or resort to insults, you've got them rattled. I fully agree with you that your photos of the Swiss Cottage shops effectively cast serious doubt Ewer's claim.


However, that doesn't mean to say that Ewer was making it all up as he went along. I am reasonably convinced that there is some truth in what he claimed with regard to his 'sighting' of the A6 killer, but then he goes a little too far and spoils it. There is also - and this has bugged me for years and years - the fact that he did state that he knew Louise Anderson, though he denied it later, and there is, therefore, a possibility that she mentioned Hanratty to him, along (who knows?) with her suspicions. Hanratty did, or at least he did as far as we know, tell France that he had done something bad, something he didn't understand. Did he tell Louise Anderson the same thing? Did she pass this on to Ewer? Again, who knows? Sorry for the speculation, normally anathema to my essentially fact-based soul.

Ewer's problem is that he presses too hard on the pencil. Apart from his other dubious claims in the infamous Sunday Times statement he says:

Point 6: "....my only other contact with the police [apart from the 'sighting' incident, that is] was when I approached Scotland Yard for permission to attend the trial". This really is bullshit - in the UK a criminal trial is a public procedure, and anyone can attend (so long as you can physically get into the court-room if it's a high-profile affair).

Point 8: "I did not know or have any business dealings with a woman called Louise Anderson. However, as we were both in the antiques business it is possible that she may have had some glancing acquaintance with me, as a result that she did know me". I.e., they knew each other.

Point 11: "my sister-in-law Janet Gregsten never at any time claimed to have made an intuitive sighting of Mr Hanratty". I believe him. I really do.

Ewer? Not a bad bloke IMHO, but a bullshitter if not an out-and-out liar, and a bloke somewhat puffed up with his own self-importance. The "Mr X" behind the A6 murder, the bloke who forked out £5000 to an unknown so he could get his hands on his wronged (and highly fancied) sister-in-law? Never.

Graham