Hanratty, James

James Hanratty was convicted in February 1962 of murder and received a sentence of death. Mr Hanratty was executed in April 1962.

The CCRC inherited an application for review of the conviction from the Home Office in March 1997.

Enquiries by the CCRC revealed substantial new evidence not previously seen by any court.

Although this evidence had been available at the time of trial, there was no indication that it was either known or made available to the defence.

The CCRC considered that had this material been disclosed it would likely have materially affected the conduct of the defence.

In addition, Mr Hanratty’s conviction was referred on the basis of affronts to modern standards of fairness in the conduct of the investigation and prosecution, particularly regarding the amount of material that had not been disclosed.

The CCRC referred the conviction in March 1999.

The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in April 2002.