AT 8AM on April 4, 1962 a hush descended over the crowd gathered on the pavements opposite the dour red-brick walls of Bedford Prison. Their placards and shouted slogans were silenced as the word from inside the studded oak doors confirmed that James Hanratty had been hanged for murder.
It was a crime that became known as the A6 Murder and even now, 60 years after that fateful morning, it remains one of the most controversial cases in British legal history.
The story began on the evening of August 22, 1961 when Michael Gregsten, a 36-year-old scientist at the Road Research Laboratory in Slough, and 22-year-old Valerie Storie, an assistant at the same laboratory, were out together in a grey four-door 1956 Morris Minor. Michael, who was separated from his wife and two young children, and Valerie were having an affair.
After a drink in a local pub they
