However, she was certain that this occurred on Monday 21 August. James Hanratty denied shooting Michael Gregsten, a physicist, twice in the head last August. 22:52, 05 Apr 2022. She identified James Hanratty as her attacker during an identity parade. Valerie Storie after receiving treatment for stab wounds on the A6 where Michael Gregsten was murdered is taken to court during trial against James. The trial lasted 21 days, the longest in English legal history up to that time.[21]. 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! 96 Michael Gregsten Premium High Res Photos - Getty Images Two suspects were spotlighted for the attack, which was dubbed The A6 Murder. James Hanratty was eventually charged and executed, despite claiming his innocence. I know that because I was there. 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. [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. Their relationship started over a mutual love of car . [24] The Committee attempted to assist Hanratty in his defence, and later tried to disprove his conviction. The man then kept them there for two hours, chattering to them incessantly. Mr Gregsten's body was tonight identified by his wife, Janet. The case became a cause celebre, with politicians and pop stars, legal experts and writers joining the campaign to prove he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice. Valerie later wrote of it: "In times of trouble one could always go to one's MP and ask for, and possibly receive help and understanding. Secretly, however, she was drafting the contents of a book and writing hundreds of notes. A6 Murder who wrote the letter to Gregsten's boss complaining of the After leaving the school in 1951 at the age of 15, Hanratty, still illiterate, joined the Public Cleansing Department of Wembley Borough Council as a refuse sorter. Professor Hobbs described Valerie as a 'bloody minded and determined' woman with a charming character. Search above 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. When Alphon found out, he flew into a rage. He started to bombard his own solicitor with threatening phone calls and letters. 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. However, what isn't well known is Valerie's side of the story. The initial prime suspects were Hanratty, a petty criminal, and Peter Louis Alphon, an eccentric drifter. In October 2000, the Court of Appeal ordered the exhumation of Hanratty's body. map Storie drank gin and Pepsi, Gregsten had Double Diamond. Alphon resembled the Identikit pictures more than Hanratty did; Alphon never produced a convincing alibi; He provided a more credible motive than Hanratty could; He was a poor driver, as witnesses had seen the Morris Minor being driven erratically towards Redbridge Station; On 22 March 1967, Detective Superintendent Douglas Nimmo reported to, On 29 May 1996, Detective Chief Superintendent Roger Matthews reported to Home Secretary. You shot him. 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 knew the Bear Hotel, Maidenhead. At the time of France's second suicide attempt in January, one of the letters he left was addressed to the coroner, in which he wrote 'I am of sound mind and body. On 11 September, two cartridge cases were found in the guest basement bedroom of the Vienna Hotel, which were matched with the bullets that killed Gregsten and to the ones in the gun found on the bus. During the 60 mile journey, Michael and Valerie made 22 separate attempts to escape or frustrate the driver. Alphon was the son of a senior figure at Scotland Yard. His wife, Maureen Hanratty, said the family had been 'put through hell' because of the behaviour of the authorities. The A6 murder - Part 1 of 4 [Unresolved Murder] - reddit Valerie criticised the journalists who campaigned to prove Hanratty's innocence in an interview with the Mail on Sunday in 2002. On 14 October, Valerie Storie identified Hanratty in an identity parade, after each of the men in the parade had repeated the phrase used by the murderer: "Be quiet, will you? Valerie Storie - obituary - The Telegraph E-mail this story to a friend Watch/Listen Detectives search the murder scene Man finds A6. Of approximately seven bullets fired, five hit Storie; she fell to the ground next to Gregsten and played dead. First sergeant epr bullets june 30, 2022 | | 0 comment | 2:40 pm. If you do as I tell you, you will be alright., Extracted from The Long Silence: The True Story of James Hanratty and the A6 Murder by Valerie Storie, the Woman Who Lived to Tell the Tale by Paul Stickler. Despite being depicted in the media for decades as a woman who sent an innocent man to his death, Valerie kept quiet. The gunman ordered Gregsten to drive in several directions, before stopping beside the A6 at Deadman's Hill, where the offences took place. 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." When she refused, the man got out and forced her out of the car at gunpoint, pushing her on to the back seat, where he ordered her to undo her brassiere and remove her underwear before raping her. After forcing them to drive 60 miles, gunman James Hanratty murdered Michael before raping Valerie and emptying a number of rounds into her body. ON Tuesday, August 22, 1961, Michael Gregsten, 36, called at the home of his estranged wife at Sabine House, Abbots Langley, and, after taking his nine-year-old son, Simon, to play in Cassiobury Park, Watford, he collected his girlfriend, Valerie Storie, 22, from work. He then ordered her to drag Michael's body out of the car to the edge of the lay-by before ordering her to show him how to operate the vehicle. Case 172: Michael Gregsten & Valerie Storie : r/Casefile - Reddit Paul Stickler's book is available on Amazon here. In 2002 Valerie was finally vindicated when DNA evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt that Hanratty was guilty. Collect, curate and comment on your files. 50-year fight to clear James Hanratty's name - BBC News A BBC Panorama episode in 1966 included extracts from the Jean Justice tapes. [citation needed]. That's basically taking the rest of his brothers life with him, since he knew he wouldn't be cleared. Why is it called "Deadmans Hill"? - Maulden Village Free shipping for many products! [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. He was sent to the gallows at Bedford Prison on 4 April 1962, becoming one of the last people to be hanged in Britain before capital punishment was abolished. Hanratty's family and their supporters have continued to contest this conclusion and to press for a further review of his conviction. Storie recalled that he pronounced "things" as "fings" and "think" as "fink".[18]. Was a married man, he and his wife Janet had two boys, Simon, eight, and Anthony, nearly two. Michael Gregsten with his wife Janet before he was murdered in his car on the A6 by James Hanratty. There was plenty of evidence that Hanratty had been in London all day on Monday 21 August: in the morning he had deposited a suit into a dry cleaners' in Swiss Cottage; he had been to his friend Charles France's house on the Monday afternoon, and visited the Vienna Hotel in the evening. Case 172: Michael Gregsten & Valerie Storie - Casefile True Crime Something went wrong, please try again later. James HANRATTY - Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers the A6 Murder | blackpoolcrime Whilst he was a professional thief, he had no convictions for violence, and apparently had never possessed a gun, although he later admitted to the police that he had attempted to obtain one after his last release from prison in March 1961. If you do as I tell you, you will be all right.'. The unit should also be connected correctly to the power source. Lying next to Gregsten, semi-conscious, was Gregsten's mistress, Valerie Jean Storie (24 November 1938 26 March 2016). [citation needed] Police went back to Nudds, the hotel manager (who himself had a lengthy criminal record for fraud and other offences), who now said that his second statement was a lie, and his first statement, implicating 'Ryan', was in fact true. He would have been wrongly identified by three witnesses at identification parades; first as the person at the scene of the crime and secondly (by two witnesses) driving a vehicle close to where the vehicle in which the murder was committed was found. "[25], The journalist and campaigner Ludovic Kennedy wrote many articles asserting Hanratty's innocence. He also claimed the gun went off by accident. He was then buried in the grounds of Bedford Gaol. Paul Foot and some other campaigners argued elsewhere that the DNA evidence could have been contaminated, in view of the fact that the small DNA samples from items of clothing, kept in a police laboratory for over 40 years in conditions that, as they argue, "do not satisfy modern evidential standards", had to be subjected to amplification techniques to yield any genetic profile. DESCRIPTIONIn August 1961, a couple by the name of Michael Gregsten and Valerie Storie were sitting in their Morris Minor car in Dorney Reach, UK, when an in. She was of the opinion that it is for all of us to make the most of what we have been dealt.'. 83 Michael Gregsten Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images CREATIVE Collections Project #ShowUs Creative Insights EDITORIAL VIDEO BBC Motion Gallery NBC News Archives MUSIC BLOG BROWSE PRICING ENTERPRISE VisualGPS INSIGHTS BOARDS CART SIGN IN Images Images Creative Editorial Video Creative Editorial FILTERS CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO Ask the author: Jeremy Craddock on The Jigsaw Murders, Ask the author: Monica Weller on investigating a 50-year-old cold case. After holding them at gunpoint for two hours, Hanratty told Michael to start driving because he wanted food. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. Satisfied he had killed her, the gunman drove off southward with much crashing of gears, in the direction of Luton. They were, though, generally relaxed talking in their cornfield. Mr Gregsten's companion, Valerie Storie, was raped, shot and left for dead. They had finished the planning for the weekends rally, Valeries maps folded away in her shopping basket. Hanratty's initial defence was that he had been in Liverpool on the day of the murder, but then, halfway through the trial, he changed part of his story, claiming that he had in fact been in Rhyl, North Wales. 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. Flatline intro and Come play with me intro and outro www.dl-sounds.com, Logo and website design Paulina Szymanska, James Hanratty: The A6 Murder Crime Files, Tributes pour in for Sloughs brave Valerie Storie Slough & South Bucks Observer, Man is charged with A6 murder The Guardian, Court told of A6 car chase The Guardian, Calls to Yard in A6 case The Guardian, Hanratty family in new appeal against murder conviction BBC News, Police denial of concealing evidence The Guardian, Lay by murder gun identified The Guardian, New search in lay by murder The Guardian, Lennon film on the A6 murder found The Observer, Fresh confession revives Hanratty doubts The Guardian, Appeal court to reveal Hanratty murder case The Guardian, DNA hampers effort to clear Hanratty The Guardian, Murder casebook: James Hanratty Crime and Investigation Network, A miscarriage of justice? [8], The first policeman on the scene was handed a census form on which Kerr had written down Storie's account of what she recalled at that moment; the document was never seen again. A woman who was raped and shot in a car with her lover - and was then hounded by people who were convinced her attacker was innocent, has told her story in a new book from beyond the grave. The author now hopes that the posthumous autobiography will be turned into a film so that more people can learn about what she endured. With the gun was a handkerchief which provided DNA evidence many years later. Bitterness continued in 1970 when the A6 Committee held a public meeting in Bedford to raise awareness of their concerns. Accidentally swallowed a nicotine pouch He then stated that he had in fact been in the Welsh coastal town of Rhyl. (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. 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.". What Is The Case Of Michael Gregsten's Suicide | ipl.org 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. Long before his trial for the A6 murder, he had already been described as a retard, a psychopath, and a pathological liar. Against the wishes of his parents, Hanratty's body had been exhumed and his DNA was compared to that found on Valerie's underwear and the handkerchief in which the murder weapon had been hidden. But for the next 40 years Valerie was slammed by campaign groups and celebrities who were convinced Hanratty was innocent, making her reluctant to speak to the media during her lifetime. This was the beginning of the crime which would see Michael murdered and Valerie raped and shot before being left at Deadman's Hill on the A6. 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. The full text of the Court of Appeals Decision: This page was last edited on 26 January 2023, at 14:31. The Beds 'A6 Murderer' who was one of the last people hanged in the UK Hanratty would be convicted after a trial lasting almost four weeks but his execution marked the beginning of a forty-year journey of cries of a miscarriage of justice, media frenzies, legal arguments, criticism of the police, a referral to the Criminal Cases Review Commission and finally a Court of Appeal ruling in 2002 when DNA evidence would finally put an end to the furore; he was indeed guilty. Get in touch for any commercial. No defence on the basis of mental history was raised at Hanrattys trial. Despite this, she was hounded by the media and celebrities, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who criticised her for allegedly sending an innocent man to his grave. And when she was found the following morning she was able to give a hugely detailed description of what happened. Michael Gregsten with his wife Janet before he was murdered in his The manager of the Alexandra Court Hotel reported a man who had locked himself in his room for five days after the murder, and the police picked him up. At about 6:45am on 23 August 1961, the body of Michael John Gregsten (28 December 1924 - 23 August 1961)[10][11] was discovered in a lay-by on the A6 road at Deadman's Hill, near the Bedfordshire village of Clophill, by John Kerr, an Oxford undergraduate conducting a traffic census. ;Picture taken at home of Mrs. Janet Gregston with her two sons Anthony 3 and Simon (9) 1961. 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. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. The hotel manager, William Nudds, made a statement to police naming the last occupant of the room as 'James Ryan'. According to Storie, the couple were abducted at gunpoint in their car at Dorney Reach, Buckinghamshire, by a man with a Cockney accent and mannerisms matching Hanratty's. Paul's book describes the events in great detail of the night in illuminating detail, based on Valerie's accounts.