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/


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/


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

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Aidan Hanigan, “It’s good to see being justice done, says unfaithful husband” in The Irish Press (25 July 1992) p. 6

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“Shaughnessy slams report of girlfriend” in The Irish Press (14 June 1993) p. 10

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Michael Conway and Mairead Carey, “Parents of sisters wrongly convicted of Shaughnessy killing speak out” in The Irish Press (18 August 1993) p. 4.

“Alison: No case against police” in The Irish Press (17 November 1994) p 14

John Aston, “Taylor sisters win legal plea over trial coverage” in The Irish Independent (7 December 1994) p. 8

“Alsion case pair sue pal who fought to free them” in The Evening Herald (15 June 1995) p 20

Aileen Hickie, “Stalker on the prowl” in The Irish Independent (16 June 1995) p. 10

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“Murder case due lose plea” in The Irish Independent (12 December 1995) p. 8

Tom Reddy, “Murder girl’s family to sue freed sisters” in The Irish Independent (31 July 1997) p 4

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“Murder case ‘could re-open’” in The Irish Independent (13 March 2001) p. 7

Nicola Anderson, “Now all we want is justice” in The Evening Herald (31 March 2001) p. 4-5

“Eleven years ago Alison O’Shaughnessy was brutally knifed to death. Now her tragic story is to be told again” in The Evening Herald (10 October 2001) p. 29

Larissa Nolan, “My daughter’s killers never to go behind bars” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/my-daughters-killers-never-to-go-behind-bars-26209973.html (26 June 2005)