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

[NickB]

The question is not whether Ewer lied, but to what extent he lied.

The Sunday Times claimed that, in Ewer’s statement to them, 9 of the 15 points were demonstrably inaccurate or contradicted what he had said elsewhere. He even admitted some of it was untrue in an interview with them. This included point 6 (above) where subsequently he said the police had told him about Hanratty visiting the cleaners. But even if he had not heard it from the police he would have heard it at the trial.

Whenever he heard it, it must have spooked him. While he and Janet were in the shop having just seen the identikit pictures, Hanratty’s suit was in the cleaners nearby. Hanratty could have visited the cleaners that day enquiring whether it was ready and they could have unwittingly seen him. But leaving it as a ‘What if?’ was not a sellable story.

Duffy’s role in this was not as an investigative journalist – quite the opposite, he wanted the most sensational story possible. Provided he put what Ewer said in quotation marks, and had a record of it, he was covered.

[cobalt]

Graham,

I am not aware of any poster on here who has given the impression that Hanratty was on the first ID parade. As I have said before, an ID should not resemble an elimination waltz, or a voting system akin to the Single Transferrable Vote. The ID of Hanratty was unsafe.

Ewer cannot have been making the entire ‘vision’ story up since he did, reportedly, make a nuisance of himself by pursuing enquiries into a sighting at photographer’s shop. And police apparently involved in the A6 Murder inquiry, did turn up rather bafflingly at a nearby florists’ in Swiss Cottage.

Whether Ewer’s activities in drawing attention to a potential suspect make him a well intentioned Captain Mainwaring type or a Machiavellian Josef Goebbels is hard to judge. Paul Foot would presumably have had little truck with Ewer whichever of these characters he most resembled, yet this highly respected investigative journalist does not appear to have turned up very much concerning Ewer’s background, finances and associates.

[cobalt]

NickB,

Whenever he heard it, it must have spooked him. While he and Janet were in the shop having just seen the identikit pictures, Hanratty’s suit was in the cleaners nearby. Hanratty could have visited the cleaners that day enquiring whether it was ready and they could have unwittingly seen him

I follow your logic here, even if the coincidence of these events is quite striking.

But how would Ewer have known to go into a photographic shop in pursuit of a potential suspect to make the story more sellable, when at the time of doing so he did not have a story to sell?

[NickB]

He went into the photographers in genuine pursuit of someone he thought matched the identikit picture. Then when he found out much later that the police had visited the florist nearby he had another ‘what if?’.

The guy in the photographers gives the Sunday Times a somewhat different version of Ewer’s visit and does not corroborate that he phoned the police from his shop.

[cobalt]

He went into the photographers in genuine pursuit of someone he thought matched the identikit picture. Then when he found out much later that the police had visited the florist nearby he had another ‘what if?’.

That's a reasonable interpretation of his going to the photographer's shop, and then later embellishing his tale.

However it does require the police (and presumbably the police investigating the A6 murder) to be, coincidentally, making routine(?) enquiries at the florists' shop around the same time.
No one at present has been able to make a definite link between the police arriving at the florists's and a telephone call by Ewer, but it seems strange to be investigating the A6 Murder and to be making enquiries in a florist's in Swiss Cottage.

[Natalie Severn]

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. ......
Sometime between 1951 and 1952 he moved to 10 The Arcade, Swiss Cottage, probably a bigger premises.
Umbrella repair man my foot !

Thanks SH
So Ewer already had connections with the 'Art Dealer' world in 1961 ?
Was Ewer a freemason?

[NickB]

[I]However it does require the police (and presumbably the police investigating the A6 murder) to be, coincidentally, making routine(?) enquiries at the florists' shop around the same time.

In the original article the florist Dorothy Morrell did not say the police who called were investigating the A6 murder.

I have already given a reason why the police would have called following their visit to Hanratty's parents.

[Fisherman]

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

Aha! Well, that makes more sense. And of course it is no big deal, I was just fascinated and surprised by the - very - odd name.
Thanks, Graham!

[Natalie Severn]

Ewer was still living at this address in 1984.

-Umbrella repair man my foot !

Yep SH -Umbrella repair man my foot! A very successful Art House dealer in fact-on this occasion via the multi million pound empire of Sotheby's

[Natalie Severn]

Yep SH -Umbrella repair man my foot! A very successful Art House dealer in fact-on this occasion via the multi million pound empire of Sotheby's

date of Sotheby's auction November 1969

[Graham]

I understand that Ewer had made bids at auctions on behalf of the actual buyers of various lots. Don't know about the Holbein miniature, though, but I wouldn't rule it out that Ewer was acting proxy.

Strange, but on the pre-crash boards I once dared suggest that Ewer wasn't simply an umbrella-repair man - who ever made a living from that (apart from Flanagan & Allen and their naff wartime song) - and was shot down. Could be that arch-socialist Paul Foot insisted upon describing him as such. Dunno.

Don't know if anyone watches "Fake Or Fortune", but the other night Philip Mould commented that dealing in fine art always carries a risk, just like any other investment. He was referring to a couple who'd sold a painting for £11000 as there was some doubt as to its authenticity, yet when it was eventually proved genuine it was valued at over £300000. You pays your money....

Graham

[NickB]

I cannot find that particular miniature on any current list of Hans Holbein the Younger’s paintings. Perhaps it turned out to be a dud.

[caz]

Not shown to be his. However what they did have as you know in '61 was 'O' positive rhesus negative in the mucus, which France may well have known would have eliminated himself, and possibly others who did not share Hanratty's blood group. Incidentally ,I think as well as myself, I speak for others when I say the onslaught of petty quibbling, you seam to enjoy tempting Natalie into meaningless back and forth catty innuendos, is neither enjoyable, or helpful, to members of this wonderful forum, who are trying to concentrate on important issues. I mean we all like a bit of fun now and again, but it can become tiresome.

Hi moste,

I'm not at all sure how France is meant to have known a) Hanratty's blood group; or b) that in 1961 snot from a hanky could be blood typed (and thanks for that info - I didn't know this was done at the time or was even possible); or c) - most importantly, when planting said hanky - that Valerie's rapist had left semen of the same blood group as the chosen fall guy, Hanratty.

By the way, Nats is a big girl and can look after herself. We go way back and there is never any malice behind our disagreements. I am hardly responsible if she feels 'tempted' into a meaningless back and forth of 'catty innuendos' as you charmingly describe my observations and questions and her reactions to them. If you find it tiresome you are a big boy and can always skip the posts I address directly to Nats and her responses.

Love,

Caz
X

[caz]

Dupplin Muir,

Do not underestimate the human capacity for hypocrisy.

Ewer strikes me as a man who would be much more at ease in the present day UK than he was in the changing scene of the early 1960s. He comes across as the worst type of Daily Mail reader, a man who could rail against immigration yet would be happy, in the modern age, to employ cheap immigrant labour in his shop or his home.
A man who could write letters to the paper about moral turpitude and teenage girls getting pregnant in order to get council housing ( in which he never lived) yet would have an affair with his sister-in-law.
A man who could denounce the intolerable tax burden placed on the small businessman, but roar support for megabuck military intervention overseas, all the while fiddling his own tax return.

Ewer would be in his element today! He was the coming man.

God, cobalt, this Ewer character sounds absolutely foul!

But where is the evidence he was involved in a conspiracy resulting in the A6 rape and murder and a fall guy being hanged for it?

Love,

Caz
X

[Graham]

By the way, Nats is a big girl and can look after herself. We go way back and there is never any malice behind our disagreements. I am hardly responsible if she feels 'tempted' into a meaningless back and forth of 'catty innuendos' as you charmingly describe my observations and questions and her reactions to them. If you find it tiresome you are a big boy and can always skip the posts I address directly to Nats and her responses.

Well said, Caz.

Graham