James Hanratty - The Trial

The Trial

The trial started at Bedfordshire Assizes on 22 January 1962; it was originally to have been heard at the Old Bailey, as requested by Hanratty's defence counsel, Michael Sherrard QC, later CBE. It is not known why the trial was moved to Bedford, just nine miles from the murder scene, and where there was, unsurprisingly, strong local feeling against the defendant. Among the prosecution team at the trial was Geoffrey Lane, who was subsequently appointed Lord Chief Justice. The trial was to last 21 days, the longest in English legal history up to that time

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. At that time there was no conclusive forensic evidence to connect Hanratty with the car or the murder scene. Although Hanratty's blood group was the same as the murderer's, it was a common blood type shared by half the UK population, and there was no evidence that Hanratty had ever been in the Maidenhead area. Although he was a professional thief, he had no convictions for violence, and apparently had never possessed a gun. Moreover, the murderer drove badly, whereas Hanratty was an experienced car thief. Hanratty did not know either of the two victims, and did not appear to have any plausible motive to commit the murder.