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 A cold case review sanctioned by former Justice Minister Alan Shatter in September 2013 on a man hanged for murder almost 74 years ago, is to receive a pardon.
Mr Harry Gleeson was executed for the murder of Miss Mary (Foxy Moll) McCarthy, latter who was found shot dead in Tipperary on November 21st 1940; executed by the then British hangman Albert Pierrepoint (1905 – 1992) in Mountjoy jail in April 1941. Pierrepoint executed at least 433 men and 17 women during his time as a hangman.
According to a fictional novel, The Dead Eight by Carlo Gebler, Moll McCarthy’s story truly begins with her mother, who was reportedly a woman of ‘ill repute,’ and who sold sex to improve her impoverished lifestyle during a sojourn in Dublin city. Moll, her daughter, lived in a children’s home here in Thurles, Co Tipperary for the first sixteen years of life and was never acquainted with her actual father.
Carlo Gebler paints Moll, like her mother, as somewhat of a promiscuous woman, even by the then standards of her time, having had numerous relationships with local men, both married and unmarried and also used these encounters to gain basic economic support, e.g. Unexplained Loads of Turf, Bags of Spuds, Groceries paid for at local shop etc..
Minister for Justice Mrs Frances Fitzgerald is due to bring a memo to Cabinet in the coming weeks recommending that Irish President Michael D Higgins now pardon Mr Gleeson.
Senior Counsel Mr Shane Murphy has since reviewed the case on behalf of the Department of Justice; based on new submitted and compelling evidence from the Irish Innocence Project, based at Griffith College in Dublin. New evidence is understood to relate to withheld information by the prosecution which shows a discrepancy in their case in relation to a local gun and ammunition register.
Evidence submitted is also understood to show that the then police involved may have encouraged witnesses to submit less than true statements relating to these events.
Mr Harry Gleeson, a neighbour of Ms Mary McCarthy, latter a single mother of seven, had first reported the discovery of her body and some 5 months later was hanged for her murder.
Previously this story was documented by the late broadcaster and journalist Mr Cathal O’Shannon (1928 – 2011) in a TV series entitled “Thou Shalt Not Kill, ” back in 1995. Perhaps it is time to dig into the archives and refresh our memories.
 Nenagh Gardaí are investigating the suspicious death of a young man here in Co Tipperary. The body of the young man, aged in his early twenties, was discovered at a house in Bruach Tailte, Nenagh, yesterday afternoon at approximately 4.30pm.
The man has now been named locally as Mr Pearse O’Brien from Belleen, (Portroe Rd / N.52) Nenagh and it is understood that the deceased, who worked in the construction industry, may have been attending a party at the location in which his body was discovered.
Mr O’Brien’s body remained at the scene up to this afternoon; awaiting the arrival of Assistant State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis to conduct a preliminary examination and Gardaí confirm that a full post mortem is expected to be carried out later at University Hospital in Limerick.
According to some local sources, it is understood that Mr O’Brien, who is survived by at least one sister, returned to Nenagh just prior to Christmas, intending to spend some time with his family, having emigrated to the area of Perth in Australia some two years ago.
The scene currently remains preserved for a technical examination and the Garda Technical Bureau are at the scene.
Go ndéana Dia trócaire ar a anam dílis.
UPDATE: (31/12/2014) A post-mortem carried out by the Deputy State Pathologist Mr Michael Curtis yesterday has now confirmed that Mr O’Brien’s death is not being treated as suspicious. The post-mortem revealed that Mr O’Brien’s death was brought about by natural causes and is being treated as a case of sudden death.
Our sympathies remain with his family and friends at this time.
 A 25-year-old male prisoner has been found dead in his cell at Limerick Prison.
The man, who is understood to have been serving a sentence for manslaughter, was found at about 4.00am this morning.
The man who is understood to be originally from Co Tipperary; from initial investigations is believed to have died from a drugs overdose.
Following standard procedures members of an Garda Siochana together with the Prison Service, are now conducting separate investigations surrounding this man’s sudden and unexpected death.
A post mortem is expected to be carried out on his body later today and the Prison Service confirm that they will not be releasing the man’s name until all of his next of kin have been informed.
Go ndéana Dia trócaire ar a anam dílis.
 A 76-year-old Tipperary woman, Ms Eileen Britton, has failed in her claim against the Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney, after slipping as she left the ballroom floor during an annual event known as the Lisdoonvarna Gathering, some five years ago.
At around 1.50am on the morning of Saturday November 27th in 2009, Ms Britton of Twomileborris, Thurles, Co Tipperary; then aged 71 years, had been leaving the dance floor, in the company of her husband, when she slipped and fractured her left wrist in two places.
Judge James O’Donohoe, sitting at the Circuit Civil Court in Tralee and who had adjourned this case from last Thursday in Killarney, for judgement having heard evidence for some three hours, found in favour of the Killarney hotel establishment.
Ms Britton, who admitted she was wearing dancing shoes with three-inch high heels, maintained the floor was unusually slippy and she had seen other people also slipping. The Gleneagle Hotel had vehemently denied accusations of using any form of dance powder on its floor, stating it was against the strict policy of the hotel to use any such substances on their maple floor, latter substances normally used in an effort to aid the easy foot movements of those dancing.
Summing up today Judge O’Donohoe stated that the Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney was a very well run establishment and was equally well maintained and Ms Britton, he stated, was involved in a somewhat hazardous activity, given her age.
Judge James O’Donohoe also awarded costs against Ms Britton.
More than 60 Gardaí, employed in the South Eastern region, have arrested six men as part of their ongoing operational set up to target, disrupt and eventually dismantle the illegal manufacturing and trafficking of medicines and other controlled drugs.
The searches began before dawn at some 20 locations; targeting the gangs and seizing six tablet-making machines, latter which had the capacity to make hundreds of thousands of controlled and illegal drugs.
All six men, believed to be from Kilkenny city, were detained as a result of a number of searches over the past year in which facilities used to manufacture medicines were discovered at locations here in Tipperary and also in Limerick, Kilkenny, Galway and Roscommon.
A number of searches were conducted in Kilkenny, Carlow, Glenmore, Bennettsbridge, Lismore and Waterford this morning, (16th December 2014). These planned searches involving Gardaí from the Kilkenny/ Carlow, Tipperary, Waterford and Roscommon backed up by members of the Regional Support Units and the Garda Dog Unit.
The six men, all ranging in ages from their mid 20’s to mid 40’s are now being detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at various Garda Stations in the South Eastern Region.
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