Just before the defence opened its case, Hanratty changed part of his alibi. The Hanrattys were warm, gentle, determined people, unlikely parents of a man who had been convicted of shooting Michael Gregsten dead in a lay-by off the A6, raping his girlfriend Valerie Storie and then shooting her, leaving her for dead before driving off in the couple's car. Justice took the precaution of making thorough notes, and recording all telephone conversations with Alphon. Im a desperate man. Rachel Muir For Mailonline, Easter getaway havoc as more than 1,100 flights are cancelled with Heathrow airport blaming soaring passenger and staff rotas hit by Covid for long queues as fliers also endure chaos at Manchester and Gatwick, Oligarch who was once Russia's richest man says the nation's billionaire elites need to publicly declare Putin a war criminal to prove they do not work for the Kremlin, Covid lockdowns have left a generation of young children struggling to crawl, talk, share, make friends and use the toilet independently, Ofsted report finds. This time, she did. "I would be terrified of every unusual sound or knock at the door. This standard of travel plan isnt good enough in the modern age. Snus is a pasteurized, air-cured, smokeless and spitless tobacco, usually found in pouches. However, as Paul's book reveals, these words were a mask for her true feelings. 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. In 1962, at Bedford Jail, 25-year-old Hanratty became one of the final eight people in the UK to be executed before capital punishment was abolished. Was James Hanratty Guilty or Innocent? Nudds' statement also said that Alphon had stayed in the hotel as he claimed, and had remained in his room, Room 6, all night. I'm thinking." First sergeant epr bullets june 30, 2022 | | 0 comment | 2:40 pm. House-to-house inquiries have also been carried out. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images Gregsten's girlfriend, Valerie Storie, was raped, shot five times, and left paralysed. On 3 July 1957, aged 20, five months after his release from Wormwood Scrubs, Hanratty was sentenced at Brighton Magistrates' Court to six months' imprisonment (he served four) for a variety of motoring offences, including theft of a motor vehicle and driving without a licence. Where was the money going to come from? Hanratty was initially buried in the grounds of Bedford Gaol, but, on 22 February 1966, his remains were exhumed and re-interred in a grave at Watford, later shared with his aunt.[22][23]. Signing up to the newsletter is simple. Were they to marry? Having recently re-read the late Paul Foot's excellent book "Who killed Hanratty", which he painstakingly researched for over 5 years I remain convinced (rightly or wrongly) that the original suspect, Peter Louis Alphon, is the real murderer of Michael Gregsten. 22:52, 05 Apr 2022. He attempted to escape that facility as well, and was sent to Strangeways Prison, Manchester. Valentine's Day collision leaves moped rider with 'life-changing' injuries. 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. Neutral Citation Number: [2002] Crim 1141", "James Hanratty: Close to a final verdict? The day before he died he wrote a letter to his brother Michael in which he said: "I'm dying tomorrow but I'm innocent. Shortly after his return, Gregsten left his pregnant wife, Janet, and went to live in Windsor, inviting Valerie Storie to navigate for him during car rallies organised by the de Havilland car. ;Picture taken at home of Mrs. Janet Gregston with her two sons Anthony 3 and Simon (9) 1961. Rachel Muir For Mailonline mobile homes for rent in hammond, la / bourbon red turkey egg production / bourbon red turkey egg production They covered about 30 miles before the gunman ordered Gregsten to pull into a lay-by on the A6 at Clophill at around 01 . Was Michael actually going to leave his wife and two boys? [4][5][6][7] By 1937, the family had moved to Wembley in northwest London. RM ID: B5E30P Preview Image details Contributor: Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix / Alamy Stock Photo File size: 30 MB (1.3 MB Compressed download) Releases: Source: www.apartments.com. On the evening of August 22, 1961, a car containing lovers Michael Gregsten and Valerie Storie, was parked by a field near . Yet in spite of this, Valerie kept her silence, Paul explained. Crime A6 Murder of Michael Gregsten. What Is The Case Of Michael Gregsten's Suicide. He was a scientist at the laboratory and being a talented mathematician occasionally taught evening classes at St Albans Technical College, so extra money was coming in, but it nevertheless worried him. Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. It was now approximately 3am, six hours after the ordeal had started at Dorney Reach. The police issued an appeal to boarding-house keepers to report any unusual or suspicious guests. My evidence has never changed, neither have I ever had any doubts. But in May 2002 the Court of Appeal ruled that the DNA evidence had established his guilt "beyond doubt". Through the window of the car and despite the fading light, she could clearly see that he was wearing a suit and tie with a white shirt. The argument for contamination was dismissed as "fanciful" by the judges, who concluded that the "DNA evidence, standing alone, is certain proof of guilt". 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.". All of this money was anonymously donated to Slough Mobility Transport for the purchase of two new vehicles, one of which was named 'Valerie'. Storie was an assistant at the same laboratory and had been having an affair with Gregsten, although this did not become public knowledge until Storie wrote a series of articles for the popular Today magazine in June 1962, five months after the trial. [36] His DNA was compared with other DNA extracted from, firstly, mucus preserved in the handkerchief within which the murder weapon had been found wrapped and, secondly, semen preserved in the underwear worn by Storie when she was raped. Hanratty said he had called into a sweetshop in Scotland Road and asked directions to 'Carleton' or 'Tarleton' Road. Michael Gregsten is a 36-year-old research scientist at the Road Research Laboratory at Langley, near Slough. At 11.30pm, the man said he wanted food, and told Gregsten to start driving. The man then said he wanted to sleep, and that he would have to tie them up. In the evening of Thursday 24 August, the murder weapon, a .38 revolver, was discovered under the back seat of a 36A London bus, fully loaded and wiped clean of fingerprints. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Michael Gregsten with his wife Janet 1962 OLD PHOTO at the best online prices at eBay! 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. In October 2000, the Court of Appeal ordered the exhumation of Hanratty's body. Valerie wrote: "Hanratty committed a crime and was found guilty and was hanged. This should have been the end of the matter, but for the rest of her life Valerie was hounded by the media, campaign groups and celebrities including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who insisted Hanratty was innocent. This turned out to be untrue, as her and her boyfriend, Michael Gregsten, were held up by a gunman and held captive in Gregsten's car for five hours. In 2002 Valerie was finally vindicated when DNA evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt that Hanratty was guilty. The gunman ordered Gregsten to drive in several directions, before stopping beside the A6 at Deadman's Hill, where the offences took place. [29] Fox split from Jean Justice in the 1970s, but continued the fight to clear Hanratty until his death in 1999, three years before the Court of Appeal upheld the conviction on the basis of the DNA evidence retrieved from Hanratty's corpse. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. 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. I could not ever relax.". Sign up here. Sixty years ago today, on April 4, 1962, their attacker was one of the last eight people in the UK to be executed when he was hanged at Bedford Prison. 1945: Ex-soldier buried his wife on Anglesey beach after . Hanratty was sent to recuperate at an aunt's home in Bedford, a place he and his brother Michael had visited as children on holiday. Michael is married and he and his wife Janet have two boys, Simon, eight, and Anthony, nearly two.But Michael is having an affair with his 22-year-old lab assistant, Valerie Storie. "However, my MP joined the rebel cause, became embroiled in a committee set up to prove a miscarriage of justice, and had the temerity to write to me asking me to join it.". I looked in his eyes and he looked in mine. Hanratty was then charged with the capital murder of Michael Gregsten. She said: 'They have built their case on this myth and it has grown to become pure folklore. In 1999 the case was referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). This would be of no interest except for possibly the oddest coincidence in the case. Alphon was the son of a senior figure at Scotland Yard. 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. During one of the phone calls, he pronounced "think" as "fink".[20]. However, only two days later, Storie gave a different description of her assailant to the police. Gregsten was forced to drive down the A6 until he reached Deadman's Hill near Clophill, Bedfordshire. She then began to draft a book telling her story of what happened that night on the A6, and of the suspicions she endured for years after, but tragically she died in 2016 before she wrote it.