James Hanratty: The A6 Murder

Among the prosecution team was Geoffrey Lane who would later become Lord Chief Justice. The defence for Hanratty initially appeared sound as they claimed their client was in Liverpool on the day of the murder. For some unknown reason Hanratty then claimed he was in Rhyl in North Wales. Their was no forensic evidence to support the case against Hanratty other than the fact that he was a known petty criminal, not noted for violence or handling guns, but had at least been picked out by Ms Storie herself.

Hanratty’s blood group was the same as the murderer, but it was a common blood group shared by millions. Still there was nothing linking him to being near the scene of the crime. Also Hanratty did not know the two victims and had no logical motive for abducting them.

Although the first statement by Hanratty, that he had been in Liverpool on the day of the crime, was later dismissed by the defence, it was shown that the defendant had been in London. Hanratty had definitely collected a suit from a dry cleaners in Swiss Cottage and also been to a friend’s house on the afternoon of Monday the 21st, before staying at the Vienna hotel in the evening. His defence argued that it wasn’t possible for him to have gone to Liverpool the next day and then returned to London to carry out the crime at 9pm. Despite this compelling argument there was little information revealing where Hanratty actually was on the night of the murder on Tuesday the 22nd.

Shortly afterwards Hanratty changed his alibi. It must have appeared odd to the jury that he now claimed to have been in Rhyl, in north Wales on the day of the murder. His reason for providing the Liverpool alibi was he said because he didn’t know how he could prove where he really was. But the Rhyl alibi appeared to have greater potential for witnesses who may have seen him. According to the defendant he went to the Welsh coast town in order to fence a stolen watch. He had arrived late on the evening of Tuesday the 22nd and stayed at a boarding house near a railway station. Hanratty described the hotel, his attic room and a green bath, which was inside it.

Investigations tracked down the hotel and its landlady, Mrs Grace Jones. The room Hanratty said he stayed in seemed to match his description and Mrs Jones did remember a man resembling Hanratty during the week of 19-26 August.

However, the prosecution took advantage of the fact that Mrs Jones’s hotel registers were in disarray and little conclusive evidence could be gleaned from them. The prosecution also brought in several witnesses which showed that all the rooms were occupied at the time. Jones was accused of lying in order to get publicity for her hotel.

Despite the claim that all the rooms had been full, the defence managed to prove that the attic was empty on the night of the 22nd. This was the bedroom that Hanratty had described as having a green bath.

After six hours the jury returned to ask the judge for a definition of ‘reasonable doubt’. Nine hours later they entered a unanimous verdict of guilty.

The defence put forward an appeal, but this was dismissed on 9 March despite a petition being signed by more than 90,000 people. Hanratty was hanged at Bedford Prison on 4 April 1962.