James Hanratty (October 4, 1936 – April 4, 1962) was hanged for murder after being convicted of carrying out the notorious 1961 'A6 murder case'. Ever since, he has remained at the centre of a controversy over whether the conviction was sound.
The murder of Michael Gregsten and the rape of Valerie Storie occurred at Deadman's Hill on the A6, near the village of Ampthill, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, on August 22, 1961. The case was controversial because Hanratty always protested his innocence right up to his execution. A considerable body of evidence that has come to light in recent years that casts some doubt on the validity of the conviction, including at least one witness (a bus conductress) who claimed to have seen Hanratty at the time of the murder, plus another criminal who confessed afterwards to the murder.
The Murder
These are the basic facts about the murder:
- Michael Gregsten was a scientist at the Road Research Laborotory at Slough.
- Valerie Storie was an assistant at the same laboratory, and was having an affair with Gregsten.
- On Tuesday, 22 August 1961, Gregsten and Storie were in his car, making love, in a cornfield, at Dorney Reach , when a person tapped on the car window.
- Gregsten wound down the window, and a large black revolver was shoved into his face, and a cockney voice said, "This is a hold-up, I am a desperate man, I have been on the run for four months. If you do as I tell you, you will be all right."
- The man got in the car, told Gregsten to drive further into the field, then stop. The man then kept them there for two hours, with a constant stream of nagging, mindless chatter.
- At 23:30, the man said he wanted food, and told Gregsten to start driving. They drove around the suburbs of North London, apparently aimlessly.
- The car was ordered to stop at a milk vending machine, then Gregsten was sent into a shop to buy cigarettes, then stop at a petrol station for more fuel.
- 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.
- At about 01:30, the car was on the A6, travelling south, when the man said he wanted a 'kip' (sleep). Twice he told Gregsten to turn off the road, and then changed his mind each time, and the car returned to the A6
- Then, at Deadman's Hill, the man ordered Gregsten to pull into a layby. Gregsten at first refused, but the man became aggressive and threatened them with the gun.
- The man said he wanted to sleep, but said he would have to tie them up. Storie and Gregsten pleaded with him not to shoot them.
- The man then proceeded to tie Storie's hands behind her back with Gregsten's tie. The man then saw a bag in the rear of the car with some rope. He told Gregsten to pass the bag; as Gregsten did so, the gun went off, killing Gregsten.
- 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.
- The man then told Storie to show him how to drive the car. It was clear the man had not driven before, as he did not know how to start the car, nor how to use the pedals or gears properly.
- This failing, he then ordered Storie out of the car and next to Gregsten's body. She pleaded for her life, and then took a pound note from her pocket and screamed, "Here, take this, take the car and go."
- The man then emptied the gun at her in the darkness. Most of the rounds missed, but she was hit in the legs. She slumped down next to Gregsten, and pretended to be dead.
- Valerie Storie then heard the man drive off with much crashing of gears, and lay there petrified, finally passing out three hours later. She was discovered by a farm labourer at 06:45 next morning. He ran down the road and summoned John Kerr, a student occupied with taking a road census further down the road. Kerr flagged down two cars, shouting at them to get an ambulance.
- Michael Gregsten's grey 1956 Morris Minor was found abandoned that evening behind Redbridge Tube Station in London.
The Investigation
The first policeman on the scene was handed a piece of paper, a census form. Kerr had written down Valerie Storie's gasped account of what she recalled at that moment. The document was never seen again. She gave another statement to the police later that morning, just before she underwent surgery in Bedford Hospital.
Almost at once, the evidence began to accumulate oddities. Valerie recalled what the man has said about being on the run for four months, yet he was immaculately dressed in a three-piece dark suit and with shiny shoes. Also, there appeared to be a complete lack of motive.
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. He claimed he had spent the evening of 22 August with his mother and the next night in a scruffy hotel in Maida Vale called the 'Vienna'. This checked out and he was released.
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. However, two days later, she gave an entirely different description to police.
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 Gregston and also matched the ones in the gun found on the bus. The owner, William Nudds, made a statement to police naming the last occupant of the room as James Ryan. Nudds also stated that the man, upon leaving, had asked the way to a bus stop for a 36A 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 requestioned 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 swopped rooms during the night. Nudds also now said that Alphon had left 'calm and composed'.
The police then took the unusual step of publicly naming Alphon as the murder suspect. Alphon subsequntly handed himself in, and was subjected to an intensive interrogation. 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. he reason for lying was that he had seen Alphon was the polices' 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 sentance for robbery. He phoned Scotland Yard, saying he ran because he had no credible alibi for the time in question, but repeated several times that he had nothing to do with it.
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 people 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 Gregston, and his trial started at Bedfordshire Assizes on22 January, 1962. The trial venue was originally planned for the Old Bailey and there is no explanation of why the trial was switched to Bedfordshire, where there was, understandably, strong predudice against the assailant.
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 his story, claiming in fact that he was in Rhyl in North Wales. This was odd,
especially as his defence was initially very good. There was no forensics 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 and half the population had the same type. there was no evidence that Hanratty had ever been in the Maidenhead area ever. He had no convictions for violence, and never had a gun. Moreover, the murderer was an incompetent driver, whereas Hanratty was a professional car thief. Hanratty did not know either of the two victims, and as been shown over the years, random stranger murder is extremely rare. Hanratty simply had no 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. The best evidence was that he was there at least on the afternoon of the 22nd.
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. However, she was unsure whether it was Monday 21st or Tuesday 22nd.
On the other hand, there was also plenty of evidence he had been in London all day Monday 21st. In the morning he had definitely collected a suit from a dry cleaners in Swiss Cottage, definitely been to Charles Frances' house Monday afternoon, and at the Vienna Hotel in the evening. This means if he was in London till late Monday, the defence claimed that he could not have travelled to Liverpool to the sweetshop incident and then back in time to committ the murder at 9 PM on Tuesday.
However, there was still doubt where Hanratty spent the evening of Tuesday 22nd.
Then, just before the Defence opened its case, Hanratty changed his alibi.
Second Defence – The Rhyl Alibi
Hanratty stated to his defence barrister that he had invented the Liverpool story as he was unsure he could prove where he was. He then stated in actual fact he had been in the Welsh costal town of Rhyl.
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'. He had arrived there late in the evening of Tuesday 22nd, and stayed in a boarding house near the Railway Station, in the attic room, which had a green bath.
Private detectives tracked down a Mrs Grace Jones, a landaldy with a guest house whose layout exactly matched the desription 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.
However, this new witness crumbled under the prosecution's attack. The lady was totally unprepared for the cross examination. her hotel registers and accounts were in chaos, and little information could be extracted from then, and worse, the prosecution produced a string of witnesses they showed all the rooms were fully occupied at the time. The prosecution accused Mrs Jones of lying simply to gain publicity for her guest house, leaving her almost in tears.
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'. They returned to the court and entered a unanimous verdict of guilty, after nine hours.
Hanratty's appeal was dismissed on March 9, and despite a petition signed by more than 90,000 people, and much disquiet amongst the population, Hanratty was hanged at Bedford on 4 April 1962, still protesting his innocence.
Evidence anomalies
- Part of Hanratty's alibi revolved around his claim that he had travelled to Liverpool on the day of the murder and was nowhere near Deadman's Hill. He claimed that he had lost his suitcase and that it had been handed in to Lime Street Police Station by a 'man with a withered or turned hand'.
A senior policeman overheard this, but crucially turned it into 'a man with a withered arm'. The only person that fitted that description was a Peter Stringer, who had an artificial arm, and not unnaturally denied ever having seen the suitcase or Hanratty.
However, there was another person called Usher, who DID have two fingers missing from one hand, which looked 'turned'. 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 oddly, never called as a witness.
- Eye Witness oddities:
- Valerie Storie did not pick out Hanratty in the first line up, picking out an innocent sailor instead, but did in the second, despite admitting 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. She was totally sure the first time she was right.
- John Silkett picked out Hanratty as the driver of the Morris Minor as it sped down Eastern Avenue, but his companion, Edward Blackall had a closer view of the man, did not.
- James Trower identified Hanratty as driving the Morris as it turned into Redbridge Station, but Trower's companion was adamant that Trower couldn't have seen him from where they were standing.
- 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'.
- 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.
- Another prosecution witness was Roy Langdale. He was serving time in prison, and claimed that Hanratty confessed to him. However, two other persons that Hanratty exercised with said that Hanratty consistently denied any involvement.
- 12 years after the execution, the A6 Committee found the original staement made by Valerie Storie. This statement was not referred to or available during the trial or the appeal. In it, 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.
New evidence
A committee was set up to assist Hanratty in his defence, called the 'A6 Defence Committee', and they were instrumental in deriving new evidence, albeit too late.
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. Another person, Trevor Dutton, had just made a payment into his bank account, and consequently his bank book was stamped with the correct date, 23 August, when minutes later he was approached by a man with a cockney accent in a smart suit, trying to sell a gold watch.
The problem here for the conviction is that there are now six witnesses who can 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.
However, the government was not to be swayed. Two enquiries were set up, both in total secrecy. The results have never been published, and the Home Secretary of the time, Roy Jenkins, refused to budge.
However, in late 2002, there was a plan to exhume Hanratty and collect DNA from his teeth. The A6 Committee said this was pointless, as the evidence has now been contaminated, including being handled by Hanratty himself.
Who killed Gregston?
The case took another turn in 1967.
During 1962, the case caught the interest of a businessman called Jean Justice, whose hobby was the Law. Justice tracked Peter Alphon in February 1962, and began a long friendship with him, for the puposes of establishing the truth.
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. Justice took the precaution of making thorough notes, and recording all telephone conversation with Alphon. When Alphon found out, he flew into a rage. As it got closer to Hanratty's execution date, Alphon's behaviour became more and more bizzare. 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 comitted 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.
Eventually, Alphon's continued confessions formed a picture. According to him, a man had paid him a sum of £5,000 to end the affair between Gregsten and Storie. 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". He claimed the gun went off by accident. There was a plan for this eventuality. Alphon says he travelled to Southend, and gave the gun to France, who would dispose of it. 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. Alphon stuck with this story and continued to propagate it up to approximately 1971.
Eventually, the A6 Committee made a list of facts that point towards
Alphon being the killer:
- Alphon resembles the identikit pictures more than Hanratty did.
- When stressed, Alphon lapses into cockney.
- He never produced a convincing alibi to the police.
- He provides a more credible motive than Hanratty can.
- He is a poor driver.
- Paul Foot obtained a copy of his bank account, showing that Alphon did indeed receive payments in cash totalling £7,569 between October 1961 and June 1962. Alphon is unable to account for £5,000 of these payments.
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.
Books and media
- The first book published on this affair was in 1963, "The A6 Murder", by Louis Blom-Cooper, which sought to reinforce the conviction. In later years, however, Blom-Cooper admitted that the evidence was badly flawed.
- The second book was "Deadman's Hill: was James Hanratty guilty?" by Lord Russell, in 1964. This book caused Russell to receive a lot of hate mail, as it was the first publication to conclude that Hanratty was probably innocent.
- Then there was a BBC Panorama programme in 1966, which included extracts from the Jean Justice tapes.
- This was followed by a bizzare press conference in May 1967, in which he confessed to the world media and related the full story of the gun, the £5,000 and France's involvment.
- Alphon then had a long colaboration with the investigative journalist Paul Foot, who subsequently wrote a book called "Who killed Hanratty", published in 1971
- Jean Justice also published a book in late 1969, called "Murder vs Murder" This was not published in England for legal reasons
Websites
Various websites have taken this cause on:
Sources and references
