Hanratty was arrested in Blackpool on 9 October 1961, picked out by Valerie Store on an identification, 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 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 reanable 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.
On 22 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. In March 2001, DNA sample extracted from Hanratty's exhumed body was matched by forensic experts to two samples from the crime scene.
On 10 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.
