[0] Out of the grave after 39 years.. a murderer and rapist or an innocent man hanged?; HANRATTY DNA TEST.

Byline: JEFF EDWARDS Chief Crime Correspondent

THE tent over the grave of James Hanratty stood out, ghostly pale in the chilly pre-dawn darkness.

Against the canvas, picked out by the glare of arc lights, men's shadows could be seen, heads bowed, as a priest prayed.

Father Peter Fellows spoke of truth, justice and peace.

Then the gravediggers set about their task. It was three hours before they uncovered the Irishman's remains, which had lain in the ground since he was hanged 39 years ago.

Hanratty's body was exhumed to try and answer once and for all one of the greatest crime mysteries of modern times.

Were these the bones of cold- blooded killer known as the A6 murderer? Or were they the remains of a young victim of a terrible miscarriage of justice?

The debate over whether Hanratty shot dead scientist Michael Gregsten and shot and wounded his lover Valerie Storie has raged for nearly 40 years.

The operation yesterday to lift his body from the grave in Carpenders Park cemetery in Watford, Herts, is the final attempt to prove whether he was a murderer or a martyr.

Hanratty's body was driven to a mortuary in nearby Harrow.

There, British Home Office pathologist Nat Carey and specialists in DNA analysis took tissue samples to compare with evidence recovered from the victims at the time.

Hanratty, originally from Dundalk, was 25 when he went to the gallows. He had been convicted of murdering Gregsten and raping and attempting to murder Valerie.

Married Gregsten, 36, and his 22-year-old laboratory assistant had been having an affair. They were in his car near Taplow, Bucks, in August 1961 when they were ambushed by a gunman. He forced them to drive for two hours.

They finally pulled into a layby on the A6 at Deadman's Hill, near Clophill, Beds, where Gregsten was killed by two shots to the head. The killer then raped Valerie before firing four rounds into her body.

Valerie survived but was left paralysed. She later picked out Hanratty at an identity parade.

Hanratty always denied being the killer, claiming he was 250 miles away in Wales at the time of the murder. But he was found guilty and hanged at Bedford jail in 1962. Yesterday afternoon his remains and those of his aunt, Annie Cunningham, who was in the same grave, were reburied.

His family are convinced he was innocent. In a few weeks they will know the truth.

CAPTION(S):

RIDDLE: James Hanratty; SOMBRE: A policeman watches over the tent above Hanratty's grave; JOURNEY: Hanratty's body is driven away and the priest, right