TWO books by the North-East's JFK assassination expert could explode myths surrounding the president's death.

Stanley academic Mel Ayton is having two controversial books published this year.

The first, Questions of Conspiracy, provides evidence that John Kennedy was killed by a single bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald.

The second, Questions of Controversy, aims to shatter myths surrounding the Kennedy brothers' philandering and chequered political careers.

The first book, a revised edition, subtitled Beyond the Shadow of a Reasonable Doubt, will include new evidence to support the single-bullet theory, including computer simulations and laser trajectory studies of the fatal bullet.

Mr Ayton is not convinced by the latest evidence from America which supports a conspiracy theory on the assassination, and claims the fatal bullet did not come from Oswald.

Don Thomas, a statistician with the US Department of Agriculture, shows that gunshot impulses picked up on a policeman's microphone at the exact time Kennedy was shot came from the direction of the infamous grassy knoll.

Mr Thomas suggests that this evidence was dismissed by the House Committee on Assassinations in 1978, the body set up to look again at the 1964 Warren Commission report, because it failed to synchronise several recordings of the same sounds.

When played together, they coincide with the moment he was shot.

But Mr Ayton said: "Something like 90 per cent of people believe a conspiracy theory on this, therefore I'm swimming against the tide of received opinion.

"This theory isn't necessarily wrong. It's just that they should have printed both sides of the story."

He said conspiracy theorists were a bit like Elvis fans. They don't listen to others, and anyone else must have a hidden agenda.

"Also, this story is full of holes," he said.

"It gets some dates wrong and describes the famous Abraham Zapruder cine film, the film everyone recognises, as being shot by John Zapruder.

"If they get the little things wrong, how can you expect people to take the big theories seriously?"

Questions of Conspiracy: Beyond the Shadow of a Reasonable Doubt, will be available, priced £16.95, from Woodfield Publishing in the autumn.

Questions of Controversy: The Kennedy Brothers, will be available from the University of Sunderland Press in the summer.