Writing for Fun
May 2016
The Judgement - Bob Wendelkin
'My client has shown that he was in Wales so could not have been anywhere near the A6 at the time of the Murder. That ladies and gentlemen of the Jury concludes the case for the defence.'
'Thank you, as it is getting late I will leave my summing up until the morning. The court will now rise,' said the Judge as he eased himself out of his chair and felt the load go on to his poor old knees.
'The court will rise,' shouted the usher.
The Prisoner at the bar was taken down, the barristers collected their papers together, and the people present in the court made their ways to the exits.
It had been a long case that had gone on for a couple of weeks; it concerned the shooting of a man and the wounding of his travel companion on the A6 by a gunman who had forced his way into their Morris Minor at the point of a gun. He had forced the couple to drive along the A6 to Dead Man's Hill, where after a few hours he shot the man in the head twice and killed him he then raped the girl and finally he shot her several time. She managed to survive by pretending she was dead although she had sustained injuries that left her paralysed for the rest of her life. The murderer made off in the car and left her and the body at the side of the road.
The body of the man and the surviving girl were discovered in the morning and the search for the Murderer commenced.
The car was found in London but there were no fingerprints of any use in tracking down the killer. The only witness who could identify the killer was the girl, but she said the killer had worn a handkerchief over his face the whole time and it was dark. She said that she would recognise his voice as he talked for most of the night and had a distinctive London accent.
The breakthrough came when the gun was found hidden on the back seat of a No. 36A bus. It was wrapped in a used handkerchief but all the fingerprints on the gun had been wiped off.
A hotel keeper of the Vienna Hotel found two cartridges in a room in his hotel and said the room had been occupied by a man who called himself Ryan.
Also staying at the hotel at the same time was a guest who was called Peter Alphon and it was likely that he may have stayed in the same room or it may have been in the basement room of the hotel.
Alphon was picked up by the Police but in an identity parade the shot girl failed to identify him. So the search continued for Ryan.
Eventually he was traced to Blackpool and he was identified as James Hanratty. He was a petty criminal was concerned with car theft and some other types of criminal activity.
He was reported as saying that a good place to hide things was on the back seat of a bus.
He was arrested and he had dyed his hair orange and in the identity parade all the individuals were asked to wear caps over the heads. Valerie Storie, the girl, had to ask each person on the parade to say some words; from this she was identified Hanratty.
During this time Alphon was saying that he had shot Gregsten and raped the girl. At a future date after the trial he said that he had been paid £5000 to kill Gregsten as he was having an affair with the 22 year old girl, but there was no corroboration to this assertion.
At the trial Hanratty at first said he was in Liverpool at the time of the murder and gave a description of the room he stayed in and the land lady confirmed that he had stayed at her digs.
Later on during trial he changed his alibi that he was actually in Wales where he was trying to sell a watch that he had stolen.
The only real case that was against him was the identification of the 22 year old girl, who only really recognised him by his voice.
This was the main evidence that the Jury had before them to make a judgement which could mean that the defendant would have an early morning appointment with Harry Allen, the Pubic Hangman.
'You have all heard the evidence presented by the Prosecution that puts Hanratty in the area, he was identified mainly by his voice by the girl victim and witness to the murder,' said the Judge.
'The Defence have shown that Hanratty was nowhere near the A6 at the time of the murder that he was in Wales trying to sell a stolen watch and they have witnesses to show that he was there.
'Your task is do decide the guilt or innocence of this man and may God give you the wisdom to do so. You may now retire to consider your judgement and return a verdict.'
'It seems that I have the job of being foreman of this jury, so I suppose I have to try to put some order to this case.'
'We must put out of our minds that we may send a man to his death if we find him guilty. That is the task of the Home Secretary to have the final say. Our task is to make a Judgement on the evidence not the punishment. Can I have a show of hands who think he is guilty,' said the foreman of the jury.
The jurors then put their hand up who thought he was guilty. The foreman counted them and found that five people thought he was guilty.
'Could I have a show of hand who think he is not guilty.' The foreman counted four hands who thought he was innocent.
'Those who don't know.' The final pair of hands were raised.
'Then we will have to review the evidence, as we have five for guilty, four for not guilty, two uncertain and myself for guilty,' said the foreman.
'The girl was very certain that she identified the man who raped her and shot Gregsten, there was no doubt in her mind that he did it. She was with him for several hours even though he was masked she said that she recognised his voice.'
'You're right, even though there was no fingerprints in the car or on the gun she was very certain. He is also a petty criminal, from his own lips he said he was trying to sell a watch that he had stolen at the time of the murder. So the world will be better off without his type. So I've changed my mind to guilty,' said one of those who was uncertain.
'I'm not certain that we can accept a guilty verdict because he is a petty criminal.'
'No, it's not just that I now think the girl's evidence is quite strong, so I now think he is guilty.'
'That's seven for guilty and four for not guilty and one for reasonable doubt,' said the foreman.
The discussion between the Jurors continued. The argument continued and gradually the decision began to sway towards a majority in favour of a Guilty verdict. Only one juror held out about there being Reasonable Doubt. After six hours of discussion the Jury went back to the court to ask the Judge for the legal definition of Reasonable Doubt.
The Jury return to their room to discuss the verdict further. They reviewed the evidence. They considered the probability that the Hotel Keeper was right and that Hanratty was at his Hotel on the night of the murder and not in Wales. That he was alleged to have said that the best place to hide anything was on the back seat of a bus, and the 36A passed close to the Hotel.
Finally after nine hours they returned to the court and gave their verdict of Guilty.
'Prisoner at the Bar you have been found Guilty and it's my duty to pass sentence. Do you have anything to say?'
'Yes, sir, I'm innocent, I didn't murder anyone or rape the Girl,' said Hanratty.
The Judge then had the black cloth placed on his head and passed the sentence of the Court. 'You have been found guilty. Your will be taken from this place to a place of execution where you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead, and may the lord have mercy on your soul. Take him down'.
A few weeks later in Bedford Jail James Hanratty, still protesting his innocence, had a meeting with Harry Allen the Public Executioner.
As a personal opinion I, on the evidence and the fact that a Death Sentence was involved, I would not have given a guilty verdict.
His Family tried for over thirty years to get the verdict reversed and prove him innocent.
It was only in 2002 when the DNA evidence was reviewed that the semen on the girl's knickers and the mucus on the handkerchief that was wrapped around the gun was matched to a tooth extracted from Hanratty's exhumed body. Finally proving that the Judgment of the Jury was correct.