120 - Dear Diary: The murder of Alison Shaughnessy

In June of 1991, 21 year old newly-wed Alison Shaughnessy was found lying in a pool of blood at the entrance to her flat in London by her husband John. After a stalled police investigation, two women were arrested and tried for Alison's murder.

But is it possible that what was presented to the court as motive for her murder, gleaned from a 21 year old woman's diary, had pointed police in the wrong direction?

Who killed Alison Shaughnessy?

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Theme Music:

Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Additional Music: Allemande (Sting) by Wahneta Meixsell. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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Music:

Kevin McLeod, Quinns Song : The Dance Begins. (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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Sources:

“Irish girl murdered in London” in The Evening Herald(5 June 1991) p. 57

Aidan Hennigan, “Murder to be reconstructed”, in The Evening Press (5 June 1991) p. 5

Bernard Purcell, “Knife killer ‘was waiting for Alison’” in The Evening Herald (5 June 1991)

p. 10

“Young wife slain in flat” in The Irish Independent(5 June 1991) p. 1

“Killer’s face ‘scratched’” in The Evening Herald (6 June 1991) p. 2.

“London murder shock” in The Munster Express (7 June 1991) p. 13

‘Late Mrs A Shaughnessy” in The Roscommon Herald (21 June 191) p. 10

Feargal Keane, “Alison a serial killing?” in The Evening Press (24 June 1991) p. 1

“Alison: £25,000 reward” in The Irish Independent (30 July 1991) p. 3

“Alison breakthrough” in The Evening Herald (8 August 1991) p. 19

“Sisters charged with girl’s murder” in The Kilkenny People (16 August 1991) p. 1.

“Sisters remanded for murder” in The Irish Independent(10 august 1991) p 3

“Refused Bail” in The Munster Express (13 September 1991) p. 12

‘Alison killing: man bailed” in The Irish Independent(8 November 1991) p. 24

“Sisters charged with bank clerk’s murder” in The Munster Express (13 December 1991) p. 1.

“Sisters ‘cut throat’ of lover’s Irish wife” in The Irish Independent (28 January 1992) p. 43.

For a full list of sources, please see www.mensreapod.com