Shape of Snakes

Letter to Sergeant James Drury-dated 1999

LEAVENHAM FARM, LEAVENHAM, NR DORCHESTER, DORSET DT2 XXY

Thursday, August 5, 1999

Dear Mr. Drury,

Following our conversation yesterday, I enclose a copy of a letter I received in 1985 from a colleague of Dr. Benjamin Hanley. the pathologist who performed the postmortem on Ann Butts. In view of your confidence in Dr. Hanley's findings, you may find it interesting reading. The colleague's name was Dr. Anthony Deverill and he worked with Benjamin Hanley from 1979 until Hanley's compulsory retirement on medical grounds in 1982.

Yours sincerely,

M. Ranelagh

PS: Following the investigations referred to in (3) of Anthony Deverill's letter, both cases (believed at the time to be murders) were referred back to the Court of Appeal and the convictions against two innocent men were overturned. The evidence provided by Dr. Hanley was deemed "unsafe" and the deaths of the alleged "victims" were subsequently ruled to have occurred from "natural causes."

PPS: I have several sets of the postmortem photographs.