It was full of her personal effects including her handbag, a wallet and a purse, a few pound notes and coins pushed inside them. In August 1961, Michael Gregsten and Valerie Storie were sitting in their car in Dorney Reach, UK when an intruder forced his way into the backseat brandishing a gun. Eventually, the jury retired. Michael was 14 years older than her and married with two children, though he was in the process of separating from his wife. But in May 2002 the Court of Appeal ruled that the DNA evidence had established his guilt "beyond doubt". Valerie criticised the journalists who campaigned to prove Hanratty's innocence in an interview with the Mail on Sunday in 2002. She identified Hanratty from a lineup and testified at his trial. Ask the author: Jeremy Craddock on The Jigsaw Murders, Ask the author: Monica Weller on investigating a 50-year-old cold case. Find the right content for your market. He leaves two sons, aged seven and two. In October 2000, the Court of Appeal ordered the exhumation of Hanratty's body. Alphon claimed he gave Gregsten two chances to get away but "each time the bloody man kept coming back". She was able to see only the body of the man between his waist and shoulders, but his smart appearance seemed at odds with his threatening behaviour. Police handout, showing James Hanratty in police custody, Lennon and Ono protest Hanratty's execution. Hanratty confessed to his defence barrister that he had invented part of the Liverpool story as he was unsure he could prove where he was. Author Paul Stickler said: 'This is a story that really does need to be told and it's not been told in the way that it should be before now. Michael wound down his window, only halfway, when a gun was thrust through the gap, its muzzle pointing directly at them. Of approximately seven bullets fired, five hit Storie; she fell to the ground next to Gregsten and played dead. , updated The Court concludes that this number of alleged coincidences mean that they are not coincidences but provide overwhelming proof of the safety of the conviction from an evidential perspective. 1945: Ex-soldier buried his wife on Anglesey beach after . 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.[8]. The gunman got out of the car and approached her; pleading for her life, she took a pound note from her pocket, screaming, "Here, take this, take the car and go." At 11.30pm, the man said he wanted food, and told Gregsten to start driving. Michael Gregston was murdered by James Hanratty 1962. He leaves two sons, aged seven and two. She was of the opinion that it is for all of us to make the most of what we have been dealt.'. Despite this, Michael was having an affair with his 22-year-old lab assistant, Valerie Storie. Signing up to the newsletter is simple. After some investigation, 'Ryan' turned out to be James Hanratty, a 25-year-old petty criminal with four convictions for car theft, larceny and burglary. Although Hanratty's blood group (O) was the same as the murderer's, it was a fairly common blood type shared by 36% of the British population, including Peter Alphon and, apart from Storie's identification, there was no other evidence that Hanratty had ever been in the Maidenhead area. View 1 apartments for rent in corsicana, tx. Shortly after his discharge, Hanratty left home for Brighton, where he obtained casual work with a road haulier. Michael Gregston was murdered by James Hanratty 1962. Valerie Storie was left paralysed after James Hanratty attacked her and killed her boyfriend in August 1961. Even Valerie's own Member of Parliament, Joan Lestor, insisted Hanratty was innocent, and once sent a letter to Valerie inviting her to join the campaign for the A6 Committee. I therefore have no fear of him. Nudds also now added that Alphon had left the hotel 'calm and composed'. However, she was certain that this occurred on Monday 21 August. It was clear he either had not driven before, or was unfamiliar with a Morris Minor. Inside a parked Morris Minor was a 36-year-old scientist, Michael Gregsten, and his 22-year-old girlfriend, Valerie Storie. Search above His wife, Maureen Hanratty, said the family had been 'put through hell' because of the behaviour of the authorities. Alphon was the son of a senior figure at Scotland Yard. No DNA other than Hanratty's was found on the handkerchief in which the murder weapon had been found wrapped. 2022 Casefile True Crime Podcast. She told them: "I have never had a problem with the truth. Yet in spite of this, Valerie kept her silence, Paul explained. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. The police issued an appeal to boarding-house keepers to report any unusual or suspicious guests. With the gun was a handkerchief which provided DNA evidence many years later. October 11th, 1961, James Hanratty was arrested for murder and rape. Valerie Storie did not recognise Alphon in an identity parade, and he was released four days later after being detained on a charge of assaulting Meike Dalal. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. Crime A6 Murder of Michael Gregsten. A man tapped on the driver's door window; when Gregsten wound it down, a large black revolver was thrust into his face, and a cockney voice said, "This is a hold-up, I am a desperate man, I have been on the run for four months. The prosecution was led by Graham Swanwick QC, later a High Court judge. [17], Late in the evening of Tuesday, 22 August 1961, Valerie Storie was sitting alongside Gregsten in his car in a cornfield at Dorney Reach, Buckinghamshire. [8], Hanratty claimed that he was staying with friends in Liverpool at the time of the murder, where he had also gone to see one of his criminal friends and former cell mate Terry McNally from Dingle to sell some jewellery. Miss Storie's mother, Mrs John Storie, said: "Michael came here last night and had tea with Valerie. 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 handicaps. [27] Justice encouraged the initially reluctant Fox to help him expose what he believed to be the fabrication of the case against Hanratty. Valerie and Lennon never met, but in 2001 she said: "I felt it was very ironic that he himself died by the bullet and it flashed through my mind that when the news came through that John Lennon had been shot and killed, I felt, well now John Lennon, you know what it feels like to be shot.". Valeries immediate instinct was that it was the farmer coming to find out what they were doing and to tell them to get off his land. As they sat there was a tap on the driver's window. Use in a presentation/talk (eg,Powerpoint and Keynote) or in an editorial newsletter. He always protested his innocence claiming he was 250-miles from the scene in a bed-and-breakfast in North Wales at the time of the attack. [4][5][6][7] By 1937, the family had moved to Wembley in northwest London. [28] However, Bob Woffinden wrote that there was only one occasion when Justice and Jeremy Fox supported Alphon financially, when Fox paid a hotel bill for him. During the 1990s, increasingly advanced DNA analysis techniques became widely available. The case involved the death of a man who lived not far from Hanratty and Mr Stickler thinks he could have heard about it while he was in prison for house breaking. Find Janet Gregsten stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. Following her death, author Paul Stickler was handed Valerie's extensive notes and files, allowing her story to finally be told. Results from testing in June 1999 were said to be strong evidence of a familial match - the evidential DNA was "two and a half million times more likely" to belong to James Hanratty than to anyone else. He argued that the evidence may have been contaminated because of lax handling procedures.[34][40]. James Hanratty was later tried, convicted and executed for the murder of Michael John Gregsten on the A6 road. Rachel Muir For Mailonline The hotel manager, William Nudds, made a statement to police naming the last occupant of the room as 'James Ryan'. However, only two days later, Storie gave a different description of her assailant to the police. The initial prime suspects were Hanratty, a petty criminal, and Peter Louis Alphon, an eccentric drifter. [citation needed] She remembered a man resembling Hanratty, and at first said he stayed there during the week of 1926 August but later said she couldnt really remember what week he did stay. The pair had been intimate for two years after meeting through work, and seemingly had spoken about marriage. On Tuesday, 22nd August, 1961, Michael Gregsten, 36, a research physicist, called at the address of his estranged wife at Sabine House, Abbots Langley, and after taking his 9-year old son, Simon, to play in Cassiobury Park, Watford, he collected his girlfriend, Valerie Storie, 22, from work, and he and Storie went in Gregsten's Morris Minor to the Old Station Inn, Taplow, near Slough. The car had been jointly owned by Gregsten's mother and aunt, and lent to the couple who, according to Storie, were planning to attend a car rally. On 11 October, Hanratty was arrested by police in Blackpool, at the Stevonia cafe. 10:56, 04 Apr 2022 He ordered them to drive to . By the time of his arrest for the murder of Michael Gregsten, Hanratty had already accumulated four convictions for motoring offences and housebreaking. The Long Silence, published in August 2021, is the first book to explain in detail the 'cat and mouse' drive and it has been heralded by many as a much overdue account. Journalists such as Paul Foot and Bob Woffinden campaigned for years to prove Hanratty's innocence, casting doubt on Valerie's evidence. They were confronted by a man with a gun. Michael gregsten wife / june 11, 2022 june 11, 2022 / were achilles and patroclus cousins. The dead man, who has been identified as physicist Michael John Gregsten, 34, from Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire, had been shot twice in the head with a 38-calibre revolver. He was found guilty for the murder of a 36 year old scientist Michael Gregsten in August 22nd 1961. If you do as I tell you, you will be all right.'. "Im a desperate man. He attempted to escape that facility as well, and was sent to Strangeways Prison, Manchester. (Known as the 'A6 Murderer' Known for Killing Scientist 'Michael Gregsten') 3 3 Birthdate: October 4, 1936 Sun Sign: Libra Birthplace: Bromley, Kent, England Died: April 4, 1962 Better known as the A6 Murderer, James Hanratty was one of the last people to be executed before capital punishment was abolished. I repeat that James Hanratty was guilty of the crime for which he was hanged. He had the same identifying manner of speech as the killer. However, as Paul's book reveals, these words were a mask for her true feelings. She retreated into her own world, while at the same time listening, watching and making notes of what was being said.". He was then buried in the grounds of Bedford Gaol. Peter Alphon died in January 2009 after a fall at his home. Two civil servants employed at the Road Research Laboratory at Langley, near Slough, Michael Gregsten and Valerie Storie, drew up in a Morris Minor car outside the Old Station Inn, a public house just outside the village of Taplow. This is a hold-up," a mans voice said. Snus is a pasteurized, air-cured, smokeless and spitless tobacco, usually found in pouches. While she died in 2016 before she wrote her book and told her story in her words, The Long Silence is a compelling read with never before heard details of what happened on that fateful night and the impact it had on Valerie's life. Hanratty said he had called into a sweetshop in Scotland Road and asked directions to 'Carleton' or 'Tarleton' Road. Secretly, however, she was drafting the contents of a book and writing hundreds of notes. The man then kept them there for two hours, chattering to them incessantly. [citation needed]. Or did Scotland Yard have the right man all along? Mr Gregsten's body was tonight identified by his wife, Janet. His last words to his family were "Mick, I am completely innocent. I know that because I was there. Was James Hanratty Guilty or Innocent? Even once she had been shot and was passing in and out of consciousness, she still managed to wave her petticoat to try to attract attention. . Keep an eye on the newspapers, this in years to come will come out.". However, what isn't well known is Valerie's side of the story. If he hand't been hanged, with life sentences meted out today, then he would be long out of prison. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. The Criminal Cases Review Commission announced yesterday that the case of. Police believe the couple, both employees of the Road Research Laboratory near Slough, were confronted by a man with a gun as they were parked on Dorney Common in Berkshire yesterday evening. Clear my name.". Within a few days, the defence had checked and assembled a new alibi for Hanratty. I'm thinking." You don't want it to be blown out. [citation needed] Hanratty's defence claimed that Mrs Dinwoodie was mistaken about the date. She was always absolutely certain that she was right, there was no question about that.'. He certainly didn't know what he alleged that Mrs Gregsten was the prime mover in commissioning the murder. The trial lasted 21 days, the longest in English legal history up to that time.[21]. It details 22 attempts made by Michael and Valerie to escape or frustrate the gunman, including hatching a plan to drive into a policeman if they came across one on the journey in order to get his attention. In essence its her posthumous autobiography.". He then retrieved a cloth from the duffle bag, covered Gregsten's bloodied head with it, and ordered Storie to clamber into the back of the car, over Gregsten's body. The case for Hanratty's innocence was pursued by his family as well as by some of the opponents of capital punishment in the United Kingdom, who maintained that Hanratty was innocent and sought to draw attention to evidence that would cast doubt on the validity of his conviction. [43][44][citation needed], Valerie Storie died on 26 March 2016 aged 77 in the Cippenham house where she had been born. Save up to 30% when you upgrade to an image pack. The police raided the hotel, and questioned Nudds again, who then changed his story, claiming that Alphon had in fact been in the basement and 'Ryan' in Room 6 but, for reasons unknown, had swapped rooms during the night. Circa 1962. Hanratty's uneducated London accent and his 'very large icy-blue eyes' enabled Valerie to identify him from a line-up and she later testified at his trial. Even when she was vindicated at a trial in 2002, she said little more than a few words publicly. During 1962, the case caught the interest of London businessman Jean Justice, the son of a Belgian diplomat and partner of barrister Jeremy Fox. After nine hours, they returned to the court and entered a unanimous verdict of guilty. I looked in his eyes and he looked in mine. See the latest news in your area enter your postcode below or visit InYourArea: This story is well known and Hanratty, often referred to as the A6 Murderer, has become Bedfordshire's most notorious killer. The man tied Storie's hands behind her back with Gregsten's tie and then saw a duffle bag containing some clean clothing. E-mail this story to a friend Watch/Listen Detectives search the murder scene Man finds A6. 'Feral pigeons' are terrorising Biggleswade's businesses, meeting hears, The 'infestation' has grown to around 50 pigeons, according to one town councillor, Closures expected with Lloyds Pharmacy set to sell off stores across UK, This follows the news that the pharmacy brand is also closing all of the 237 Lloyds outlets inside Sainsbury's, More than 40,000 defrauded from Luton Borough Council during cyber-attack, Councillor Rob Roche, portfolio holder for finance, said: "Money stolen from the council is money stolen from the residents of Luton. The 'A6 Defence Committee' was a self-appointed group of campaigners and activists, who included the journalist Paul Foot and the Labour politicians Fenner Brockway and Joan Lestor, the former and current MPs for the Eton & Slough constituency where Valerie Storie lived. Storie recalled that he pronounced "things" as "fings" and "think" as "fink".[18]. Mr Stickler said: 'She was absolutely measured and calm and wholly consistent from minute one to the very end. [45][46], This article is about the 1961 murder on the A6 road in England. By the age of 11 he had been declared ineducable at St James Catholic High School, Burnt Oak, Barnet, although his parents steadfastly refused to accept he was in any way mentally deficient and successfully resisted attempts to have him placed in a special school. Gregsten was found shot dead in a car on the A6 in Deadman's Hill, Bedfordshire, and his girlfriend Valerie Storie was raped . They drove around the suburbs of North London, apparently aimlessly. Get in touch for any commercial. The circumstances of Hanratty's introduction to France's family, and the reasons for the crippling sense of guilt harboured by France for the harm he felt Hanratty had inflicted on them, so great that it could only be expiated by suicide, remain a mystery.[8]. She didn't change her story one iota.'. In July of the following year he fell from his bicycle, injuring his head and remaining unconscious for 10 hours; he was admitted to Wembley Hospital, where he remained for nine days.

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