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

[Ed James]

Perhaps you're thinking of Mrs Jean Rouch, Graham, who contacted the defence team on the first day [November 22nd] of the Committal Hearings to say that she knew who the killer was and that the killer knew Alphon.

Hi Sherlock /Graham
I recall in my extensive reading of old posts that someone using, I think , the call sign 'Blue Moon' said that she had personal knowledge of the France family and that Mrs France's brother , John Russell, was linked to the A6 murder. I believe that no subsequent postings were made by Blue Moon to indicate how she formed that view.

Interestingly, Paul Foot recorded that , during later researches, he spent an uncomfortable evening at the France flat with Mrs France and her two brothers.

It would be interesting to know more about John Russell.

regards

Ed

[Graham]

Perhaps you're thinking of Mrs Jean Rouch, Graham, who contacted the defence team on the first day [November 22nd] of the Committal Hearings to say that she knew who the killer was and that the killer knew Alphon.

Yes, SH, that's the name - goes back a bit. Whatever happened to her and her 'evidence', one asks? Same name as a renowned French make of cinema verite films. If you think about it, the A6 Case would have made a fabulous film noir, but too late now, I think.

Graham

[Natalie Severn]

My opinion and the opinion of the 1962 Bedford jury, the 1962 Court of Criminal Appeal, the 2002 Court of Criminal Appeal and the opinion of Mike Sherrard that the wrong man was not hanged and all backed up by the statement of Mike Mansfield QC (Hanratty's brief) that Alphon was not the A6 Murderer (which is what this thread is about).

Lots of problems with this Spitfire.

1] Nobody on this entire earth either then or now ever claimed to have seen Hanratty anywhere near Dorney Reach or Slough .Very ,very strange indeed because whatever has been said so far , Taplow Station and even Slough at that time in August would have had very very few people getting off the train at that point and all stations had ticket collectors and no-- people in 1961 were not that formal in their dress in the countryside and a man with a smart suit and tie would have been noticed.[Btw Graham I have a pic of Mr Larman in a short sleeved shirt in 1961 looking perfectly ok.My father too-a very well dressed man usually but many photos of him in an airtex sports shirt and light slacks!
Moreover
There were actually two identikits of the murderer-one drawn up under Valerie Storie's direction towards a man with
dark eyesand swept back hair, slightly receding hair line long oval face ,thin nose.
Hanratty had none of this.
Importantly Graham is quite wrong to say Hanratty had not been spotted because the place was so deserted around Marsh Lane / no pictures had been released etc .This is because
there had been sightings of a man on August 22nd --and at other times too -who looked identical to Alphon-feature by feature by a] Mr Foggerty Waul who told police about him and was ignored at the time .Everybody in Taplow was being told about what had happened and issued with descriptions of the murderer for goodness sake . And b] there were other sightings in Marsh Lane reported to the police by the Cobbs and their next door neighbour who had seen a man with a dark suit looking like Valerie's identikit pic -dark eyes ,swept back hair ,thin nose ,oval jaw etc
These people were astounded that their sightings [like Mr Dutton's Police Statement of 9th Feb 1962]were all three of them -completely ignored by police !.
If you also remember Valerie positively identified first time a man of heavy build and mousy hair with dark eyes who stood 5ft 9ins tall-same height as Alphon .His name was Michael Clark and he was not the murderer .

Sherrard if you read him in his biography of 2009 suspected foul play from the very start when the trial was mysteriously moved from the Old Bailey to Bedford when jurors had directed it to the Old Bailey.From that moment on Michael Sherrard QC smelt a rat and says so in his 2009 autobiography. So---Sherrard appears to have remained convinced Hanratty was innocent but felt he had to bow to the 2002 LCN DNA findings as the three judges had directed... but he clearly remained very suspicious indeed about the whole process and asks why Valerie's knickers had been kept for 42 years 'on ice' in a police lab -for what purpose ? you can only conclude between the lines and what he is saying in this book that he thinks the knickers had been deliberately tampered with* ---like Hanratty's recorded words were tampered on the night of his arrest.
* so now ask yourself-who was in a position to tamper with what was on those knickers in that police lab? Think about it.The hanky is just not on.Its a complete no no it was in a policeman's drawer for 40 or so years for crying out loud and could have come from Hanratty's cell just prior to his execution more likely -as some weirdo keepsake ......or from anywhere else during his incarceration in Bedford Jail.It proves nothing whatsoever.

[Spitfire]

And here's silly me thinking this thread was about the September 7th attack on Mrs Dalal. I must pay more attention.

Your argument in the original post was that Alphon attacked the Swedish housewife (a Freudian slip perhaps) Mrs Dalal and that the attack on her was strikingly similar to the A6 murder, and therefore Alphod did the A6 murder.

[Sherlock Houses]

With regard to the Free Library and Joan Blackstone and Reggie Fellows, I've got a vague memory that on the pre-crash forum someone did post that she knew who the killer really was. Anyone else recall this, or am I dreaming? I did a Forum search for 'Joan Blackstone', but nowt. The search goes back only to 2008, though.

Perhaps you're thinking of Mrs Jean Rouch, Graham, who contacted the defence team on the first day [November 22nd] of the Committal Hearings to say that she knew who the killer was and that the killer knew Alphon.