|
Kill Total: |
1 |
Kill place: |
Clophill, Bedfordshire |
|
Kill date: |
22nd August 1961 |
Victim(s): |
Michael Gregsten |
|
Date of Birth: |
4th October 1936 |
Marital Status: |
|
|
AKA: |
A6 Murder |
Occupation: |
Thief |
22nd August 1961, Michael Gegsten and his
mistress Valerie Stone, were sitting n his car in a
field, they were hijacked by am an with a gun, the man
made them drive around for hours, eventually ending up
at Deadmans Hill on the A6 just outside Clophill,
Bedfordshire. Gregsten moved and made Hanratty jump,
Hanratty fired two shots into Gregsten's head, after a
while Hanratty made Miss stone get out of the car, in
the dark he fired five shots into her, she slumped next
to Gregsten and passed out, the injuries left her
paralysed from the wait down, for the rest of her life.
Hanratty was arrested in
Blackpool on 9 October 1961, picked out by Valerie Store
from an identification parade , and sent for trial. The
whole trial centred on the issue of identification.
Hanratty claimed to have been in Rhyl on the day of the
murder, 200 miles away from the murder scene in
Clophill, Bedfordshire.
Following 9½ hours, the jury convicted Hanratty of the
murder of Michael Gregsten. James Hanratty was then
sentenced to death by hanging. He was hanged at Bedford
Prison on 4 April 1962.
The Aftermath
There has been a great deal of controversy regarding the
conviction and execution of James Hanratty. The
controversy is mainly concerned with the question of
correctly identify the suspect. Also the need to
established beyond reasonable doubt that the
suspect was the guilty person.
James Hanratty's remains have since been exhumed from
Bedford Prison, and reburied in Carpenter's Park
Cemetery, which is located near Bushey in Hertfordshire.
22nd March 2001, James Hanratty's remains were
exhumed so that a DNA sample could be taken for
analysis. The results showed there was a 2.5 million to
one chance that the samples came from someone other than
Hanratty. DNA sample extracted from Hanratty's
exhumed body was matched by forensic experts to two
samples from the crime scene.
10th May 2002, the Court of Criminal Appeal (Lord
Chief Justice Woolf, Lord Justice Mantell and Mr Justice
Leveson hearing the appeal) ruled that Hanratty's
conviction was not unsound and that there were no
grounds for a posthumous pardon.
TOP
Have your
say about this case in our USER FORUM >>>
