Britain's highest court has rejected a bid by relatives...

Britain's highest court has rejected a bid by relatives of James Hanratty, one of the last men hanged in Britain, to clear his name 40 years after he was executed for murder. The three law lords, members of the House of Lords, ratified a decision in May by the Court of Appeal saying DNA evidence taken from the hanged man's exhumed remains in 2001 proved Hanratty's guilt.
The lords refused leave for Hanratty's brother, Michael, to take his fight any further. Hanratty was hanged on April 4, 1962, after being found guilty of what became known as the A6 murder after a road in Bedfordshire near which scientist Michael Gregston was shot and killed.
His girlfriend, Valerie Storey, was raped, shot and left paralysed for life. She had identified Hanratty as the man who shot her and killed Gregston. At the appeal court, it was argued Hanratty's conviction was "fatally flawed" due to "extensive and inexcusable non-disclosure" by police handling the case and "malpractice on a substantial scale" of a detective.
Doubts about Hanratty's conviction arose soon after his execution and played a significant role in Britain's abolition of the death penalty three years later.