James Hanratty no credible alibi for the date in question, but repeated each time that he had nothing to do with the A6 murder. On 11 October, Hanratty was arrested by police in Blackpool, at the Stevonia cafe. On 14 October, Valerie Storie identified Hanratty in an identity parade, after each of the men in the parade had repeated the phrase used by the murderer: "Be quiet, will you? I'm thinking." Hanratty was then charged with the murder of Michael Gregsten. Hanratty's murder trial started at Bedfordshire Assizes on 22 January 1962; it was originally to have been heard at the Old
Treatment of slaves in the United States the British West Indies. However, he was not (as some have claimed) the first white person to have been executed for killing a slave. Records indicate at least two earlier incidents. On November 23, 1739, in Williamsburg, Virginia, two white men (Charles Quin and David White) were hanged for the murder of another white man's slave. On April 21, 1775, the "Virginia Gazette" in Fredericksburg reported that a white man (William Pitman) was hanged for the murder of his own slave. Laws punishing whites for punishing their slaves were weakly enforced or easily avoided. In "Smith v. Hancock", the defendant