Hanratty: The Whole Truth

James Hanratty was innocent of the murder of Gregstone and the rape of Valerie Storie. The book by Paul Foot tells the true story of what happened that night.

Peter Alphon (the original suspect) was the true killer and rapist. He could not drive and needed instructions from Valerie Storie on how to drive. Yet Hanratty was a car thief so would have had no trouble in driving a Morris Minor. Alphon was paid to break up the liaison between Gregston and Storie. £5,000 was paid into his bank account that has never been accounted for.

Valerie Storie's original description of the killer was dark hair with dark deep set eyes. She then changed it to 'fair hair with big blue saucer like eyes' - quite a difference! The police did not want to know about new witnesses or new evidence. Good defence witnesses could have been called but only the police knew about these at the time of the trial, and they were not called.

It has been proved that Hanratty was in Liverpool on the day of the 22nd and then travelled to Rhyll that same day and spent the night in a guest house. Six good and reliable witnesses can testify to this with documentary proof of the date they spoke to Hanratty (the 23rd).

Hanratty's blood group was Group O Negative - quite rate. The semen found in Valerie Storie was Group O - the same as over half the population.

DNA in 1961 was careless and Valerie Storie's underwear was kept in the same bag as the clothes belonging to Hanratty. Because of the ignorance in 1961 about DNA, the samples were contaminated.

Peter Alphon was the (self confessed) killer and he had the motives. He was also seen in the area of Taplow in the days before the murder.

Ask yourselves this: Why would a petty thief like Hanratty - who had no convictions for violence and had never owned a gun, wish to travel to Dorney Reach, enter a deserted field, ask the occupants to drive an erratic route that took hours, and then kill somebody? It just doesn't make sense. However, if you ask the same questions of Peter Alphon everything slots into position and makes perfect sense.

Has anyone wondered about the amazing coincidence of the Vienna Hotel? That both Hanratty and Alphon stayed there on the same night? Hanratty was fitted up by his 'friend' the conman Dixie France who had a huge grudge against him for personal reasons. He supplied the gun to Alphon and gave him the instructions on what to do. Dixie France planted the gun and shells under the bus seat and then rang the bus garage to tell them where to look.

It's all very complicated, but please....don't rely on biased accounts to give you the truth. Read some books about the case.

On May 10, 2002, the Court of Appeal dismissed the posthumous appeal of James Hanratty for the 1961 A6 Murder. Two excellent documentaries were put out by rival TV channels about that time; this is one of them. Although it is primarily about Hanratty, future generations would do well to consider it a tribute to Valerie Storie, a remarkable woman who died in April 2016 aged 77, not bad for a paraplegic.

She is given much space here to tell her harrowing story, but no trigger warnings or safe spaces for a woman who suffered a fate worse than rape. She did not suffer fools gladly, she said.

If you are not au fait with the case, this is as good a place as any to start. It covers all the angles from before that fateful night when after kidnapping Michael Gregsten and his lover at gunpoint, James Hanratty murdered him in cold blood before raping Miss Storie then emptying his gun into her and leaving her for dead.

The investigating team led by Basil Acott did a stellar job, refraining from the temptation of framing the first suspect Peter Alphon, and following a trail that led to the small time wannabe gangster who had "done the lot" - one of the clues that helped fasten the noose around Hanratty's scrawny neck.

Campaigner Jean Justice is described as a playboy, but later in the programme his true colours are revealed. Another rich kid with too much time on his hands was the odious Paul Foot who latched onto inconsistencies in the evidence building an absurd conspiracy theory around them.

The prosecution case was not very slim as claimed by a senior police officer interviewed here; another senior officer who was given the task of reinvestigating any possible involvement of Alphon was not fooled.

There is a touch or unintended humour when the family of Hanratty and their fellow campaigners make a ludicrous about face. When DNA tests were ordered, Michael Hanratty said it was like winning the lottery, but when DNA pointed at the only credible suspect, Bindman lawyer Tamsin Allen was quick to dismiss it.

Valerie Storie said Michael Gregsten was her first true love and her last. Although she accepted their affair would have burned out, the crimes of James Hanratty shattered her life and so many others, and for what? Thankfully his father James Hanratty Senior died long before science confirmed a truth he would never have been able to accept.