True Detective October 2016

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James Hanratty, the subject of this month’s Crimes That Made The Headlines – Abduction, Murder, Rape And Uproar, was just 25 when he was executed at Bedford Prison in April 1962 – one of the last convicted killers to suffer the fate in Britain before capital punishment was effectively abolished. The Hanratty Affair was rarely out of the headlines at the time – and interest in the case has never ceased in the intervening years. It hit the headlines this year following the death of 77-year-old Valerie Storie whose life was changed forever after she and scientist Michael Gregsten were abducted at gunpoint at Dorney Reach, Buckinghamshire.

Marilyn Plantz was a born-again Christian whose belief in God seems to have given her strength at the time of her execution in Oklahoma’s State Penitentiary in May 2001. “I have overcome the world,” she told the warden. “Nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the love of God. If you all want to see me again, you must be born again.” In America’s Most Evil – Why Marilyn Went To The Death Chamber, John Sanders considers the horrific crime that put Marilyn on Death Row and the exceptional courage she showed in her last moments. Her story links to When Women Are Executed, in which Brian Marriner considers the condemned cell experiences of female killers of yesteryear. Don’t miss it.

Enjoy the read – and let us know what you think!

  • TD’s Crime Photos/Prize Competition
  • Killer’s Tears Fooled No One
  • Commonwealth Of Killing: Everyone On The Isle Was Fingerprinted
  • Make A Break: Wordsearch
  • America’s Most Evil: Why Marilyn Went To The Death Chamber
  • Your Letters / More of your views
  • Questions & Answers: Strange Case Of The Two Freds
  • When Women Are Executed
  • Crimes That Made The Headlines: Abduction, Murder, Rape And Uproar – The James Hanratty Affair
  • The Memorable Trials Of Norman Birkett: Northampton Murder: Body In A Blazing Car
  • Execution USA
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