The Notorious A6 Murder - James Hanratty - Deadman's Hill, Nr Clophill, Bedfordshire, UK - Infamous Crime Scenes on Waymarking.com

The layby still exists and is a popular walking area as Maulden Woods adjoins it. The busy A6 has traffic roaring past constantly most of whom are oblivious to the murder that happened here. There follows a Wikipedia account of the murder:

James Hanratty (born October 4, 1936 in Bromley, Kent, England died April 4, 1962 in Bedford Prison, Bedford, Bedfordshire, England and was the eighth to last person in Britain to be hanged for murder[citation needed] after being convicted of carrying out the notorious 1961 "A6 murder". The guilt of the later convicts was never in doubt, but Hanratty's guilt has been disputed. Hanratty was a professional car thief, convicted of the murder of Michael Gregsten at Deadman's Hill on the A6, near the village of Clophill, Bedfordshire, England, on August 22, 1961. Further, Gregsten's companion Valerie Storie was raped and shot non-fatally during the incident. Charges on these additional crimes were kept in reserve.

The case was a cause célèbre for opponents of the death penalty, who maintained that Hanratty was innocent and sought to draw attention to evidence that would cast doubt on the validity of his conviction. However, following an appeal by his family, modern testing of DNA from his exhumed corpse and members of his family convinced Court of Appeal judges in 2002 that his guilt was proved "beyond doubt".

Michael Gregsten was a scientist at the Road Research Laboratory at Slough. Valerie Storie was an assistant at the same laboratory, and was having an affair with Gregsten, although this did not become public knowledge until much later. Michael Gregsten's body was discovered in the lay-by on the A6 at Deadman's Hill at about 6:30 on 23 August 1961. Valerie Storie was lying next to him semi-conscious. The evening after the murder, Michael Gregsten's grey 1956 Morris Minor was found abandoned behind Redbridge tube station in London.

Please refer to Wikipedia for more information as the story is very detailed. To this day the murder is still talked about and many connected to the trial died mysteriously afterwards.

Date of crime: 08/23/1961 Public access allowed: yes Fee required: no Web site: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   11/07/2009 bill&ben visited it