Childhood and Adolescence
James Hanratty was one of four sons born to James and Mary Hanratty, in Farnborough, Kent; the family later moved to Wembley. Hanratty's early years were much troubled; long before his trial for the A6 murder, he had already been described as a retard, a psychopath, and a pathological liar. By the age of 11 he had been declared ineducable at St James Catholic School, Burnt Oak, although his parents steadfastly refused to accept he was in any way mentally deficient and successfully resisted attempts to have him placed in a school for the educationally sub-normal. After leaving Kingsbury High in 1951 aged 15, Hanratty joined the Public Cleansing Department of Wembley Borough Council, where he worked as a refuse sorter. In July the following year he fell from his bicycle, injuring his head and remaining unconscious for 10 hours; he was admitted to Wembley Hospital for nine days.
Shortly after his discharge, Hanratty ran away from home to Brighton, where he was to find casual work with a road haulier. Eight weeks later he was discovered lying semi-conscious in the street, having apparently collapsed from either hunger or exposure. Initially admitted to the Royal Sussex Hospital, Brighton, he was transferred to St Francis’ Hospital, Haywards Heath, where he underwent a craniotomy following the erroneous diagnosis of a brain haemorrhage. The report made there acknowledged his unhappy home background (he claimed he was frightened of his mother and had no filial feelings towards his father) and his mental deficiency. 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.
Having embarked on a career of vehicle theft and housebreaking at the age of 17, Hanratty underwent psychiatric treatment as an outpatient at the Portman Clinic. The treatment was evidently ineffectual; he was soon arrested, convicted, and sent to the boys’ wing of Wormwood Scrubs, where he slashed his wrists. Placed in the prison hospital, he was declared a ‘potential psychopath’. After Hanratty's release his father resigned his job as dustman with Wembley council to start a window cleaning business with his son in a futile attempt to keep him away from crime.
At the age of 19, Hanratty was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in Durham Prison, where again he was identified as a psychopath. Only five months after his release, he was sentenced to three years’ corrective training at Maidstone Prison, where conditions were considered among the best in the UK. While at Maidstone, Hanratty came to the attention of a researcher, a ‘participant observer’ who lived and worked alongside the inmates; he was later to remark upon Hanratty’s ‘gross social and emotional immaturity’. After a failed escape attempt, Hanratty was transferred to Camp Hill Prison, Isle of Wight, and thence, following another bid for freedom, to Strangeways Prison, Manchester. Transferred briefly to Durham Prison, he was returned to Strangeways whence, having served his full term, he was released in March 1961, just five months before the A6 murder. Prior to the murder, he had been twice diagnosed as a latent psychopath.
None of Hanratty’s mental history was given during his trial for the murder.
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