Very interesting.
Valerie originally picked out the wrong person in a ID parade, and when she does pick Hanratty out the men in the parade are asked to say a phrase. But "fink" would have been quite common with Londoners at the time. Also Hanratty was a experienced car thief surely he would not have needed instructions in how to drive a Morris Minor?
Is the DNA evidence really that strong? the samples were subjected to amplification and in those days probably all stored together and not in separately sealed bags?
I am still very uneasy on this case.
He had a whole host of psychological issues though Rob, as well as physical, having undergone brain surgery, which could have caused coordination issues. His niece described him as a poor driver and he was, after all, a poor car thief, having been caught numerous times. He had wanted to progress as a career criminal to be a "stick-up" man. His thought processes to my mind meant he might well have had to take a pause during the crime and spend some time "finking."
I don't see Alphon in this light at all. That character was an arrogant individual who would not have paused in the middle of his crime to manifest weakness to his victims, but would have planned it out. I would also have expected a stern lecture on morality to the courting couple had he been hired to kill, as has been mooted by the Defence. Of course this could have happened and Storie could have left it out of her account, but the totality of the evidence including an alibi change during the course of the trial leads me to believe the correct verdict was reached.
