James Hanratty (4 October 1936 – 4 April 1962) was one of the last criminals to be hanged in the UK. He was convicted of the murder of scientist Michael Gregsten, shot dead in his car near Clophill, Bedfordshire in August 1961. Gregsten's mistress Valerie Storie, was raped, shot and left paralysed in the same incident.
According to Storie, the couple were abducted at gunpoint in their car at Dorney Reach, Buckinghamshire, by a man with a cockney accent and mannerisms matching Hanratty's. The gunman ordered Gregsten to drive in several directions, before stopping beside the A6 at Deadman's Hill, where the offences took place. The prime suspects were Hanratty, a petty criminal, and Peter Louis Alphon, an eccentric drifter. Both these men changed their version of events several times, meanwhile Storie picked-out an innocent man at the first identity parade.
The 'Guilty' verdict was questioned by many who felt the evidence was simply too weak to justify conviction. However, a DNA test in 2002 was to prove Hanratty's guilt "beyond doubt".
Read more about James Hanratty: Childhood and Adolescence, The Investigation, The Trial, A6 Defence Committee, Official Inquiries, DNA Evidence and Appeal in 2002
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“Happy you poets who can be present and so present by a simple flicker of your genius, and not, like the clumsier race, have to lay a train and pile up faggots that may not after prove in the least combustible!”
—Henry James (1843–1916)