"Valerie has worked at the laboratory since she left school five years ago and she has known Michael for a long time.". The Long Silenceis, in essence, Valeries posthumous autobiography, explaining for the first time every explicit detail of the cat and mouse drive, as Michael and Valerie tried on over twenty occasions to deter and thwart the apparently indecisive Hanratty. The James Hanratty case is perhaps Bedfordshire's most notorious murder. Author Paul Stickler said: 'This is a story that really does need to be told and it's not been told in the way that it should be before now. Rachel Muir For Mailonline, Easter getaway havoc as more than 1,100 flights are cancelled with Heathrow airport blaming soaring passenger and staff rotas hit by Covid for long queues as fliers also endure chaos at Manchester and Gatwick, Oligarch who was once Russia's richest man says the nation's billionaire elites need to publicly declare Putin a war criminal to prove they do not work for the Kremlin, Covid lockdowns have left a generation of young children struggling to crawl, talk, share, make friends and use the toilet independently, Ofsted report finds. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. [citation needed]. The A6 Committee made a list of claims which, they contended, indicated that Alphon was the murderer: Paul Foot warned "against jumping to hasty conclusions, in particular about Peter Alphon he really didn't know as much as he pretended. 'There's a very powerful human story in this. As executor of Valerie's will, Professor Hobbs was the first to come across the documents and notes she left behind and he worked with Mr Stickler to ensure that the 'posthumous autobiography' was an honest and truthful account. Hanratty also raped Gregsten's fiance, Valerie Storie, shot her five times and left her for dead. Professor Hobbs said: 'She never felt sorry for herself. Alphon subsequently surrendered himself, and was subjected to an intense interrogation. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. On 3 July 1957, aged 20, five months after his release from Wormwood Scrubs, Hanratty was sentenced at Brighton Magistrates' Court to six months' imprisonment (he served four) for a variety of motoring offences, including theft of a motor vehicle and driving without a licence. Despite being pilloried by the media, Valerie Storie withdrew from the limelight and tried to live a normal life. On the evening of August 22, 1961, a car containing lovers Michael Gregsten and Valerie Storie, was parked by a field near . E-mail this story to a friend Watch/Listen Detectives search the murder scene Man finds A6. libra ascendant jupiter in 7th house; kelly holt barn sanctuary married; in your presence, in your presence there is peace lyrics; how to watch deleted youtube videos reddit His wife, Maureen Hanratty, said the family had been 'put through hell' because of the behaviour of the authorities. Flatline intro and Come play with me intro and outro www.dl-sounds.com, Logo and website design Paulina Szymanska, James Hanratty: The A6 Murder Crime Files, Tributes pour in for Sloughs brave Valerie Storie Slough & South Bucks Observer, Man is charged with A6 murder The Guardian, Court told of A6 car chase The Guardian, Calls to Yard in A6 case The Guardian, Hanratty family in new appeal against murder conviction BBC News, Police denial of concealing evidence The Guardian, Lay by murder gun identified The Guardian, New search in lay by murder The Guardian, Lennon film on the A6 murder found The Observer, Fresh confession revives Hanratty doubts The Guardian, Appeal court to reveal Hanratty murder case The Guardian, DNA hampers effort to clear Hanratty The Guardian, Murder casebook: James Hanratty Crime and Investigation Network, A miscarriage of justice? Alphon stuck to his confession and continued to repeat it until about 1971, when he withdrew his claims. People need to know what this poor woman went through.'. On 11 September, two cartridge cases were found in the guest basement bedroom of the Vienna Hotel, which were matched with the bullets that killed Gregsten and to the ones in the gun found on the bus. Moreover, the murderer drove badly, whereas Hanratty was an experienced car thief. I looked in his eyes and he looked in mine. 'Feral pigeons' are terrorising Biggleswade's businesses, meeting hears, The 'infestation' has grown to around 50 pigeons, according to one town councillor, Closures expected with Lloyds Pharmacy set to sell off stores across UK, This follows the news that the pharmacy brand is also closing all of the 237 Lloyds outlets inside Sainsbury's, More than 40,000 defrauded from Luton Borough Council during cyber-attack, Councillor Rob Roche, portfolio holder for finance, said: "Money stolen from the council is money stolen from the residents of Luton. The man accused of the "A6 murder" has entered a plea of "not guilty" at the start of his trial at Bedfordshire Assizes in Bedford. Look after mum and dad. Gregsten's girlfriend, Valerie Storie, was raped, shot five times, and left paralysed. . His last words to his family were "Mick, I am completely innocent. She was able to see only the body of the man between his waist and shoulders, but his smart appearance seemed at odds with his threatening behaviour. [citation needed]. You don't want it to be blown out. A woman who was raped and shot in a car with her lover - and was then hounded by people who were convinced her attacker was innocent, has told her story in a new book from beyond the grave. Hanratty found a job there driving a mechanical shovel for the company of Green Brothers, which made breeze blocks, and remained with the firm for three years. The couple were found by a police patrol in the lay-by on the A6 at Deadman's Hill, near Luton, at 0645 BST today. Hanratty's appeal was dismissed on 13 March, and despite a petition signed by more than 90,000 people, Hanratty was hanged by executioner Harry Allen at Bedford on 4 April 1962, still protesting his innocence. 2022 Casefile True Crime Podcast. [8], The first policeman on the scene was handed a census form on which Kerr had written down Storie's account of what she recalled at that moment; the document was never seen again. He leaves two sons, aged seven and two. She was always absolutely certain that she was right, there was no question about that.'. After a failed escape attempt, Hanratty was transferred to Camp Hill Prison, Isle of Wight. Mr Stickler remains interested in pursuing the story further and is looking into another case which he believes might have inspired Hanratty. He then stated that he had in fact been in the Welsh coastal town of Rhyl. "[25], The journalist and campaigner Ludovic Kennedy wrote many articles asserting Hanratty's innocence. By the age of 11 he had been declared ineducable at St James Catholic High School, Burnt Oak, Barnet, although his parents steadfastly refused to accept he was in any way mentally deficient and successfully resisted attempts to have him placed in a special school. He certainly didn't know what he alleged that Mrs Gregsten was the prime mover in commissioning the murder. Alamy and its logo are trademarks of Alamy Ltd. and are registered in certain countries. Historical-Meal-5525 2 yr. ago. At that time there was no conclusive forensic evidence to connect Hanratty with the car or the murder scene. Storie then left the car and returned to sit beside Gregsten's body. Hanratty's initial defence was that he had been in Liverpool on the day of the murder, but then, halfway through the trial, he changed part of his story, claiming that he had in fact been in Rhyl, North Wales. More than 300 homes approved as part of new Luton development, Improvements are set to be made to surrounding roads as part of the development. Transferred briefly to Durham Prison, he was returned to Strangeways where, having served his full term, he was released in March 1961, aged 24. Usher admitted remembering Hanratty and the suitcase, and partly remembered the name of the man as 'Ratty'; he was located by private detectives working for the defence, but was never called as a witness. If you do as I tell you, you will be alright., Extracted from The Long Silence: The True Story of James Hanratty and the A6 Murder by Valerie Storie, the Woman Who Lived to Tell the Tale by Paul Stickler. Alphon was recorded by PC Ian Thomson as saying "there can't have been any fingerprints in the car otherwise mine would have given me away". The gunman knew the Bear Hotel, Maidenhead. He stayed in a room the night before the crime from which bullets that had been fired from the murder weapon were recovered. During one of the phone calls, he pronounced "think" as "fink".[20]. He was struck by how calm and measured she was throughout the whole ordeal. A strong, disabled woman's story. They drove around the suburbs of North London, apparently aimlessly.
No precise diagnoses were offered, and it has since been suggested that he suffered from either epilepsy or post-concussional syndrome, which would have had a marked effect on his personality.[8]. Results from testing in June 1999 were said to be strong evidence of a familial match - the evidential DNA was "two and a half million times more likely" to belong to James Hanratty than to anyone else. The man then kept them there for two hours, chattering to them incessantly. Neutral Citation Number (2002) Crim 1141, 'Musing about The A6 Bedfordshire murder', https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Hanratty&oldid=1135732016. But in May 2002 the Court of Appeal ruled that the DNA evidence had established his guilt "beyond doubt". DNA samples from both sources exactly matched James Hanratty's DNA. He explained: "I felt the story had been misrepresented and needed a retelling from a fresh perspective. Twice he told Gregsten to turn off the road and then changed his mind, and the car returned to the A6.
At about 1.30am on Wednesday 23 August, the car was on the A6, travelling south, when the man said he wanted a 'kip' (sleep). In August 1961, 22-year-old Valerie Storie and 36-year-old Michael Gregsten were the victims of James Hanratty in the notorious 'A6 Murder'. All of this money was anonymously donated to Slough Mobility Transport for the purchase of two new vehicles, one of which was named 'Valerie'. During the incident, the victim was kicked in the back and suffered minor injuries. [34][37][39], At the appeal hearing in 2002, Michael Mansfield QC, the barrister acting for the Hanratty family, said that a vial, among surviving evidential items, had been broken which could account for contamination. He also wrote a letter to the coroner, in which he referred to the great harm done to the family by Hanratty. 'What I do find distasteful is that the family's belief in their son's innocence has been boosted by campaigners who have given them false hope. [citation needed] She remembered a man resembling Hanratty, and at first said he stayed there during the week of 1926 August but later said she couldnt really remember what week he did stay. Case 173: Rocio Wanninkhof & Sonia Carabantes, Tributes pour in for Sloughs brave Valerie Storie. Even Valerie's own Member of Parliament, Joan Lestor, insisted Hanratty was innocent, and once sent a letter to Valerie inviting her to join the campaign for the A6 Committee. [41], Valerie Storie was quoted as saying "I identified the guilty man. The campaign got even more attention when Beatle John Lennon, and his partner, Yoko Ono, joined the campaign. No DNA other than Hanratty's was found on the handkerchief in which the murder weapon had been found wrapped. The murder weapon was recovered from a place on a bus which he regarded as a hiding place and the bus followed a route he could well have used. The trial lasted 21 days, the longest in English legal history up to that time.[21]. They are by no means risk free but if smoking a pack of cigs is like downing a bottle of wodka on one night, a nicotine pouch is like drinking a half pint in comparison in terms of health risk. map Storie drank gin and Pepsi, Gregsten had Double Diamond. James Hanratty was later tried, convicted and executed for the murder of Michael John Gregsten on the A6 road. Nudds' statement also said that Alphon had stayed in the hotel as he claimed, and had remained in his room, Room 6, all night. Select from premium Janet Gregsten of the highest quality. Storie recalled what the man had said about being on the run for four months, yet he was immaculately dressed in a dark three-piece suit and with well-shined shoes. With some justification it seemed, since Michael had a tendency to spend willingly rather than save. Hanratty was sent to recuperate at an aunt's home in Bedford, a place he and his brother Michael had visited as children on holiday. Detectives and tracker dogs have spent the day searching the surrounding area and so far two cartridges have been found. At about 6:45am on 23 August 1961, the body of Michael John Gregsten (28 December 1924 - 23 August 1961)[10][11] was discovered in a lay-by on the A6 road at Deadman's Hill, near the Bedfordshire village of Clophill, by John Kerr, an Oxford undergraduate conducting a traffic census. When she refused, the man got out and forced her out of the car at gunpoint, pushing her on to the back seat, where he ordered her to undo her brassiere and remove her underwear before raping her. This is a hold-up," a mans voice said. Despite being the victim of an unspeakable crime, Valerie found herself at the centre of a witch hunt committed to proving the innocence of the man she knew to be her attacker. Was James Hanratty Guilty or Innocent? [citation needed] Police went back to Nudds, the hotel manager (who himself had a lengthy criminal record for fraud and other offences), who now said that his second statement was a lie, and his first statement, implicating 'Ryan', was in fact true. Her wish was honoured when The Long Silence was released with the title that Valerie had planned to give to her book. No defence on the basis of mental history was raised at Hanrattys trial. It also tells the true story of Valerie's complicated relationship with 36-year-old Michael. Valerie Storie after receiving treatment for stab wounds on the A6 where Michael Gregsten was murdered is taken to court during trial against James. Hanratty said he had called into a sweetshop in Scotland Road and asked directions to 'Carleton' or 'Tarleton' Road. [15][16] Storie, an only child, lived with her parents in Cippenham, a suburb of Slough. Since his death Hanratty's family and supporters have fought to prove that, although a petty crook, he was not a killer. [45][46], This article is about the 1961 murder on the A6 road in England. Justice took the precaution of making thorough notes, and recording all telephone conversations with Alphon. Hanratty telephoned Scotland Yard several times, saying he had fled because he had no credible alibi for the date in question, but repeated each time that he had nothing to do with the A6 murder. Valerie Storie did not recognise Alphon in an identity parade, and he was released four days later after being detained on a charge of assaulting Meike Dalal. He also claimed the gun went off by accident. ;Picture taken at home of Mrs. Janet Gregston with her two sons Anthony 3 and Simon (9) 1961. Miss Storie's mother, Mrs John Storie, said: "Michael came here last night and had tea with Valerie. Just before the defence opened its case, Hanratty changed part of his alibi. The story of the A6 Murderer in Bedfordshire is infamous, but the story of one of his victim's has remained untold, To stay up to date with all the latest news from across Bedfordshire sign up to our free newsletter for daily updates and all the latest breaking news. Satisfied he had killed her, the gunman drove off southward with much crashing of gears, in the direction of Luton. On 19 March 1997, the Home Office referred the case to the new Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) where Baden Skitt chaired the investigation. ease arkansas phone number Hanratty was then charged with the capital murder of Michael Gregsten. Awesome. Shortly after his discharge, Hanratty left home for Brighton, where he obtained casual work with a road haulier. Michael J. Gregston [, GRO Register of Marriages: SEP 1951 5f 1655 WOOD GREEN - Michael J. Gregsten = Janet Phillips or Kinnock, GRO Register of Deaths: JAN 1995 38C 7831 24 HORSHAM - Janet Gregsten, DoB = 9 Jan 1930, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Wrongly hanged: Hanratty is found innocent", "40 years after his execution, appeal judges say DNA is certain proof of Hanratty's guilt", "Hansard (for the 2 August 1963 sitting)", "We will never know the truth about the A6 killer", "After 36 years, Hanratty is set to be cleared", "Appeal Court to review Hanratty murder case", "England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Decisions. He was a scientist at the laboratory and being a talented mathematician occasionally taught evening classes at St Albans Technical College, so extra money was coming in, but it nevertheless worried him. They compared his DNA to that found on Valerie's underwear and the handkerchief in which the murder weapon had been contained, and found a conclusive match. Professor Hobbs described Valerie as a 'bloody minded and determined' woman with a charming character. [24] The Committee attempted to assist Hanratty in his defence, and later tried to disprove his conviction. [37][38] However, they further went on to note, in the summary of their judgement: The DNA evidence does not stand alone and the Court refers to some of the more striking coincidences in the light of the DNA evidence if James Hanratty was not guilty. We'll also send you alerts about important breaking news. At about 9pm on August 22, 1961, Michael Gregsten, 36, and his girlfriend Valerie Storie, 22, were sitting in their Morris Minor 1000 car in a lay-by at Dorney Reach, Buckinghamshire, when. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. [12] Gregsten had been shot twice in the head with a .38 revolver at point blank range; Storie had been raped, and then shot with the same weapon, four times in the left shoulder and once in the neck, leaving her paralysed below the shoulders. Journalists such as Paul Foot and Bob Woffinden campaigned for years to prove Hanratty's innocence, casting doubt on Valerie's evidence. Police believe the couple, both employees of the Road Research Laboratory near Slough, were confronted by a man with a gun as they were parked on Dorney Common in Berkshire yesterday evening. At about 9pm on August 22, 1961, Michael Gregsten, 36, and his girlfriend Valerie Storie, 22, were sitting in their Morris Minor 1000 car in a lay-by at Dorney Reach, Buckinghamshire, when there was a tap on the driver's window. Find the right content for your market. Save up to 30% when you upgrade to an image pack. Circa 1962. She wanted to write a book to finally give her version of events but did not get round to this before her death in 2016. Valerie later wrote of it: "In times of trouble one could always go to one's MP and ask for, and possibly receive help and understanding. Through the window of the car and despite the fading light, she could clearly see that he was wearing a suit and tie with a white shirt. The Police tracked down a Mrs Dinwoodie, who served in a sweetshop in Scotland Road, and who recalled a man like Hanratty asking for directions. The 'A6 Defence Committee' was a self-appointed group of campaigners and activists, who included the journalist Paul Foot and the Labour politicians Fenner Brockway and Joan Lestor, the former and current MPs for the Eton & Slough constituency where Valerie Storie lived. Was Michael actually going to leave his wife and two boys? Despatched to the youth wing of Wormwood Scrubs, he slashed his wrists; placed in the prison hospital, he was declared a 'potential psychopath'.