D I A R Y

Voice from the Grave ‘There came boom and bust, bankruptcy, depression. Great public thieves came along and picked the pockets of everyone who had a pocket.’

John Steinbeck writing about the year 1900 in EastofEden(1952)

£25 for published contributions advise on the effects of opencast mining on health, which resulted in New South Wales turning down one scheme and Queensland ruling that there must be a buffer zone of at least two kilometres around open-cast mining operations in populated areas to safeguard people’s health. Dr van Steenis said: ‘New South Wales did lung tests in 800 children which proved what I was saying. Lung function is down 20 per cent in children living two miles from an opencast mine. It’s like a judge saying he’s not going to listen to the expert witness at a trial.’

Dr van Steenis may yet stop the mine – 18 out of the 20 schemes for open-cast mines that he has been involved with so far have been overturned.

Hanratty campaign This April marks the fiftieth anniversary of the execution of James Hanratty for the notorious A6 murder. While that might make it old news for some, others keep plugging away to prove that Hanratty was innocent of the murder.

Norma Buddle first became interested in the case in 1962 when her mother told her that an innocent man was to be hanged. Two decades later her parents moved to Prestatyn, the neighbouring town to Rhyl, where Hanratty always maintained he had been at the time of the murder. It was during a stay at her parents’ bungalow that Norma came across

Paul Foot’s book, Who Killed Hanratty? ‘I had met Paul Foot in the 70s at a political meeting and heard him speak many times, so I was very intrigued to discover he had written this wonderfully researched book on the Hanratty case,’ says Norma.

When she asked if she could borrow the book, one of the librarians came over to discuss the case. ‘She had gone to school with Ivy Vincent’s daughter and had lived close to Mrs Jones, Betty Davies and Margaret Walker [together with Ivy Vincent these were Rhyl witnesses who had confirmed Hanratty’s alibi] and knew them all very well. She was at pains to point out what decent people they all were – a view echoed throughout my research among the small community of people still left in Rhyl who remember the case.’

Inspired by her findings, Norma has now put together three painstakingly researched booklets on the case that bring together evidence discovered by journalists and authors. She is now planning a fourth booklet to coincide with the anniversary of Hanratty’s hanging. This will cover the 2002 Hanratty appeal and the DNA evidence used by the prosecution. As we have previously reported, the Hanratty family’s solicitor,

J U N E A N D G E R A L D b y N A F

Not many dead

Important stories you may have missed

Parts of England suffering from drought have been warned that those conditions will continue into the summer if there is insufficient rain this coming winter. BBC Radio 2 news

A 35-year-old man will appear in court today charged with eating a page of a police officer’s notebook. The Oxford Times

The town council’s community and civic resources committee discussed whether there should be corporate wear for female councillors but decided not to buy scarves for female councillors. Marlborough &Pewsey

Gazette &Herald

A Christmas tree intended for a town centre display was reported stolen yesterday – but was discovered to have been moved to a storage depot for safekeeping.

Scotsman

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Sir Geoffrey Bindman, hopes to get the case referred back to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that there are new doubts over the DNA evidence.

You can buyNormaBuddle’s booklets for £3 each from Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, King’s Cross, London N1, or online at www.housmans.com/books.php

Gazumping with heart A cheering story for these

February 2012 – THE OLDIE 9