Letter: Mistake that hanged Hanratty
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: Your report on the Hanratty case (27 January) mentioned that the only eye-witness to the crime, Valerie Storie, "failed to pick him out on the first identity parade". The reality was worse than that: James Hanratty did not take part in the first ID parade, and Miss Storie picked out someone wholly unconnected with the case.
Even in those days witnesses were asked to be certain before making any identification. The scale of the mistake was underlined during Hanratty's trial when Mr Justice Gorman told jurors that the man wrongly identified might have faced grave consequences had he not had a sound alibi. Miss Storie could hardly have given a more convincing demonstration of her unreliability, yet was still allowed to go on to pick out Hanratty from a later line-up, her identification becoming what the judge called the linchpin of the prosecution case.
PETER KIRKER
Bilsthorpe, Nottinghamshire
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments