Editing James Hanratty (section)

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{{Quote|The DNA evidence does not “stand alone” and the Court refers to some of the more striking coincidences in the light of the DNA evidence if James Hanratty was not guilty. 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. He had the same identifying manner of speech as the killer. He stayed in a room the night before the crime from which bullets that had been fired from the murder weapon were recovered. The murder weapon was recovered from a place on a bus which he regarded as a hiding place and the bus followed a route he could well have used. His DNA was found on a piece of material from Valerie Storie’s knickers where it would be expected to be if he was guilty; it was also found on the handkerchief found with the gun. The Court concludes that this number of alleged coincidences mean that they are not coincidences but provide overwhelming proof of the safety of the conviction from an evidential perspective.|The UK Court of Appeal rejecting Hanratty's posthumous appeal in 2002.}}

'''James Hanratty''', AKA '''The A6 Murderer''' and '''James Ryan ''' (October 4<sup>th</sup>, 1936 - April 4<sup>th</sup>, 1962) was a British criminal and one of the last eight people to be hanged in Britain, for the murder of Michael Gregsten and the rape and attempted murder of Valerie Storie. Although there was substantial doubt about Hanratty's guilt at the time, most doubts were quashed in 2002, when Hanratty's posthumous appeal was rejected on the grounds of DNA evidence that proved his guilt. His motivation is unknown, but it is known that he was diagnosed as a psychopath in 1955.