Convicted murderer, whose case has remained controversial. One of the last persons to be executed in Britain, he was found guilty of the murder of Michael Gregsten, who was shot while in his car with his lover, Valerie Storie, in a layby on the A6 on 22 August 1961. Hanratty was arrested on 11 October. Storie, who had been raped, and paralysed by several bullets, picked out Hanratty from an identity parade. Hanratty, reportedly a feeble-minded petty criminal, was charged on 14 October. He denied the charge but refused to name his alibis, saying that to do so would be to betray his friends' trust. He then changed the location of his alibi from Liverpool to Rhyl. The jury found him guilty. After he was hanged on 4 April, 1962, several witnesses came forward who said that they believed they had seen him in Rhyl. His case was reopened in 1997, and in 1999 the Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the case to the Court of Appeal for fresh consideration. His conviction was upheld by the court of Appeal in 2002.
James Hanratty (October 4, 1936 – April 4, 1962) was the eighth last person in Britain to be hanged for murder after being convicted of carrying out the notorious 1961 "A6 murder". The guilt of the later convicts was never in doubt, but Hanratty's guilt has been disputed.
Hanratty was a professional car thief, convicted of the murder of Michael Gregsten at Deadman's Hill on the A6, near the village of Clophill, Bedfordshire, England, on August 22, 1961. Charges on these additional crimes were "kept in reserve", but did not form part of the charges on which Hanratty was tried and convicted.
Ever since, he has been a cause celebre for opponents of the death penalty, who maintain that he was innocent, and sought to draw attention to evidence that would cast doubt on the validity of his conviction.
The Murder
These are the basic facts about the murder:
Michael Gregsten was a scientist at the Road Research Laboratory at Slough.Witness Testimony of Valerie Storie
On Tuesday, 22 August 1961, Gregsten and Storie were in his car, making love, in a cornfield, at Dorney Reach, when someone tapped on the car window. Although Gregsten and Storie offered to give him all their money and the car, the man seemed to have no plan, and seemed to want them to stay with him. After a short while, he ordered Storie into the back, over Gregsten's body, and raped her, then forced her to drag Gregsten's body out of the car.Almost at once, the evidence began to accumulate oddities.
On 23 August Audrey Willis was threatened in her home in Knebworth by a gunman with a long thin face and sallow complexion aged about 30.
The gun was then recovered on the evening of August 24, under the back seat of a 36A London bus, fully loaded and wiped clean of fingerprints.
The police put out an appeal to boarding-house keepers, to report any strange or suspicious guests. One hotel owner reported a man who had locked himself in his room for five days after the murder, and the police picked him up, and he said his name was Frederick Durrant, but that turned out to be false and he was actually called Peter Alphon.
On 29 August, Valerie Storie (who was now paralysed from the waist down from her injuries), and another witness, Edward Blackall, who had seen the driver of the Morris Minor, compiled an Identikit picture which was then released.
Meike Dalal was attacked in her home in Richmond on 7 September by a man claiming to be the A6 murderer (whom she identified as Alphon in an identity parade on 23 September).
The investigation stalled then until 11 September, when the owner of the Vienna Hotel, Maida Vale, found two cartridge cases in the guest basement bedroom, which were matched to the bullets that killed Gregsten and also matched the ones in the gun found on the bus. At the trial Nudds also stated that the man, upon leaving, had asked the way to a bus stop for a 36A bus, his statement to police had merely mentioned the 36 bus.
Nudds' statement also said that Alphon had stayed in the hotel as he claimed, but had stayed in his room, room 6, all night The police raided the hotel, and requisitioned Nudds, who then changed his story, claiming Alphon had in fact been in the basement, Ryan had been in room 6, but then the two had swapped rooms during the night.
The police then took the unusual step of publicly naming Alphon as the murder suspect. Valerie Storie failed then to pick Alphon out of an identity parade, and he was released four days later.
Police went back to Nudds, the hotel owner, who now said that his second statement was a lie, and his first statement, implicating Ryan, was in fact true. His reason for lying was that he had seen Alphon was the police's prime suspect and wanted to assist the police case.
After some investigation, Ryan turned out to be James Hanratty, a petty car thief and robber, who in fact was facing a six year jail sentence for robbery.
He was eventually caught in Blackpool on October 11, and on October 14 Valerie Storie picked him out of an Identity Parade, after each of the men in the parade had repeated the phrase used by the murderer, "Be quiet, will you, I'm thinking."
Hanratty was charged with the murder of Gregsten, and his trial started at Bedfordshire Assizes on 22 January 1962.
The Trial
Hanratty initially put up a defence that he was in Liverpool on the day of the murder, but then, halfway through the trial changed part of his story, claiming in fact that he was in Rhyl in North Wales. There was no conclusive forensic evidence (although using modern DNA testing it was subsequently proven that DNA found on the exhibits from the scene was that of Hanratty) to connect Hanratty to the car or the murder scene. Although the blood group of the murderer was the same as Hanratty's, it was a common blood type shared by half the population, and there was no evidence that Hanratty had ever been in the Maidenhead area. Moreover, the murderer drove badly, whereas Hanratty was an experienced car thief. Hanratty did not know either of the two victims, and had no logical motive to commit the murder.
First Defence – The Liverpool Alibi
Hanratty claimed that he was staying with friends in Liverpool at the time of the murder, but never identified those people involved.
Hanratty claimed that his suitcase had been handed in to Lime Street Station to a 'man with a withered or turned hand'. At the trial the prosecution called Peter Stringer, who had an artificial arm, and not unnaturally denied ever having seen the suitcase or Hanratty. he did admit to remembering Hanratty and the suitcase, remembered the name of the man as 'Ratty', and was located by private detectives working for the defence, but was never called as a witness.
Hanratty said he had called into a sweet shop on Scotland Road, and asked directions to 'Carleton' or 'Tarleton' Road. The Police tracked down a Mrs Dinwoodie, who did indeed run a sweetshop on Scotland Road, who recalled a man like Hanratty asking for directions.
On the other hand, there was also plenty of evidence he had been in London all day Monday 21st.
However, there was still doubt where Hanratty spent the evening of Tuesday 22nd.
Then, just before the Defence opened its case, Hanratty changed part of his alibi.
Second Defence – The Rhyl Alibi
Hanratty stated to his defence barrister that he had invented part of the Liverpool story as he was unsure he could prove where he was.
Within a few days, the defence had checked and assembled a new alibi for Hanratty. According to the new alibi, Hanratty had gone to Rhyl to sell a stolen watch to a 'fence'.
Private detectives tracked down a Mrs Grace Jones, a landlady with a guest house whose layout exactly matched the description given by Hanratty, including the green bath in the attic. She remembered a man resembling Hanratty, and was sure it was during the week of 19-26th August.
Following the prosecutions dropping the books leaves all over the court, her hotel registers and accounts were in chaos, and little information could be extracted from them, and worse, the prosecution produced a string of witnesses that showed all the rooms were fully occupied at the time.
However, counsel for the defence managed to salvage something, showing in fact the attic was empty on the night of 22nd and a bedroom exactly described by Hanratty was free on 23rd, showing that he could have stayed there as claimed.
Eventually, the jury retired, and after six hours returned to ask the judge for the definition of 'reasonable doubt'.
Hanratty's appeal was dismissed on March 9, and despite a petition signed by more than 90,000 people, Hanratty was hanged at Bedford on 4 April 1962, still protesting his innocence.
Evidential anomalies
Prosecution Evidence
In the second line up, Valerie Storie picked Hanratty (though she admitted she only ever saw the face of the man for a second or two in the lights of a car headlamp while he raped her). John Silkett picked out Hanratty as the driver of the Morris Minor as it sped down Eastern Avenue (his companion, Edward Blackall, who had a closer view of the man, did not). James Trower identified Hanratty as driving the Morris as it turned into Redbridge Lane (Trower's companion was adamant that Trower couldn't have seen him from where they were standing). He was serving time in prison, and claimed that Hanratty confessed to him (two other persons that Hanratty exercised with said that Hanratty consistently denied any involvement). Charlie France, a friend of Hanratty's, testified that Hanratty had said to him once that 'the back seat of a bus was a good place to hide something'.Defence Evidence
No witnesses were able to place Hanratty in the vicinity of Dorney Reach (Valerie Storie excepted) Elsie Cobb said that around 14:30 on 21 August she saw a man passing her house who she described as aged 27 to 30, 5 foot 6 with dark hair brushed back and a thin nose. The gunman said "I've been in institutions since I was eight", Hanratty would never use words like "institutions". Mary Lanz proprietor of the Old Station Inn, Taplow where Gregsten and Storie had last been before the cornfield was later able to identify Alphon as having also been there. Even if you disregard the Rhyl alibi, Hanratty's meeting with Olive Dinwoodie would make his presence in Dorney Reach by 9 p.m. extremely implausible. On Thursday 24 August at 20:40 Hanratty sent a telegram from Lime Street, Liverpool in which he purported to be in London In the first line up, Valerie Storie picked out with total certainty an innocent sailor instead of the police suspect Alphon In the second line up, Hanratty stood out as his hair was bright orange and the police were so concerned about this they considered acquiring skullcaps Although the cartridge cases were found in the Hotel Vienna, no one ever adequately explained how they came to be there the day before the murder. Hanratty disposed of his suit jacket 6 weeks after the crime, Alphon disposed of his raincoat straightaway. Unlike the gunman's description of himself, Hanratty had never lived in a house with a cellar (let alone been locked in one and given only bread and water), was not coming up for PD, had not served five years for housebreaking and had already been in prison on the Isle of Wight. Peter Alphon wrote to the Daily Express in 1962 saying he believed Hanratty was innocent and he supported a reprieve. Peter Alphon wrote to the Home Secretary in 1962 saying "I killed Gregsten". In her original statement, Valerie Storie states the man who abducted her was in his 30s, whereas in her second statement she changed this to 'mid 20s'. Hanratty was 25 but Alphon was 31.Evidence emerging after Hanratty's execution
A group of people called the 'A6 Defence Committee' was set up to assist Hanratty in his defence. By 1968, the A6 Committee had found 6 substantial witnesses to show Hanratty had in fact been to Rhyl. They had also found a fairground worker called Terry Evans who admitted to letting Hanratty stay at his house early in 1961, and to fencing a stolen watch for Hanratty.
The problem here for the conviction was that there were now six witnesses who could positively say they had seen or spoken to Hanratty on the 23rd, and what is more, the day in question was the only day that all six were in Rhyl at the same time.
Who killed Gregsten?
During 1962, the case caught the interest of a businessman called Jean Justice, whose hobby was the Law.
Very slowly, over the months, Alphon began to confess to Justice, including drawing diagrams of the murder scene and knowing precise details of the events on Deadman's Hill. As it got closer to Hanratty's execution date, Alphon's behaviour became more and more bizarre. He started to bombard his own solicitor with threatening phone calls and letters, and Charles France was also bombarded with phone calls, saying on several occasions, "If Hanratty dies, you die."
France committed suicide about two weeks before the execution, pouring spite and venom in a suicide letter to Hanratty, but at no point actually accusing him of committing the murder.
Alphon's Account
Eventually, Alphon's continued confessions formed a picture. Another man obtained a gun for Alphon, and Alphon had set off and hijacked the pair. According to Alphon, he gave Gregsten two chances to get away but "each time the bloody man kept coming back". France had a grudge against Hanratty, as he had had an affair with France's daughter, so he planted the gun under the bus seat and the two cartridges in the hotel.
On 22 August 1962 Alphon visited the Hanratty family and offered to compensate them for their son's death. They threw him out of their house and in a fracas the following day, Alphon assaulted Mary Hanratty.
Eventually, the A6 Committee made a list of facts that, in their view, pointed towards Alphon being the killer:
Alphon resembles the identikit pictures more than Hanratty did. He provides a more credible motive than Hanratty can.The A6 Committee have also pointed out that the police have consistently refused to investigate Alphon's confessions and credibility in the light of the new evidence.
Official Inquiries
Three Home Office inquiries have been set up.
DNA evidence and appeal in 2002
In 1991 Bedfordshire Police allowed Bob Woffinden access to their previously undisclosed files on the case. These anomalies were considered sufficiently significant to justify an appeal against the conviction on behalf of Hanratty's family. DNA was donated by Hanratty's relatives, which they expected to exonerate him when compared with material on surviving evidence. In addition Hanratty's body was exhumed in 2001 in order to extract DNA. No forensic evidence from the crime had previously been linked to Hanratty, yet DNA samples both matched Hanratty's DNA. At the subsequent appeal hearing Michael Mansfield, the barrister acting for the Hanratty family, claimed that the evidence may have been contaminated because of lax handling procedures.
Hanratty's family and their supporters have continued to contest this conclusion.
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