A man has been cleared of the murder of a woman for which he was hanged in 1941 – 74 years too late.
Harry Gleeson from Co. Tipperary is the first person ever to receive the posthumous pardon by the Republic of Ireland for the murder of Moll McCarthy, who he found in a field with two shotgun blasts to her face.
His pardon was instigated by significant new evidence unearthed by the Irish Innocence Project based at Dublin’s Griffiths College, which showed a serious miscarriage of justice regarding the prosecution of the historic case.
The project team, while working alongside the Justice for Harry Gleeson group, found that prosecutors withheld evidence, statements were falsified and a witness was even beaten to secure a guilty verdict against Gleeson.
Dean of law at Griffith College and project director, David Langwallner, told the Irish Times : ‘Nothing can adequately comfort those who have fought to exonerate Harry Gleeson but this posthumous pardon and the clearing of the good name of Mr Gleeson is a proud moment for everyone involved.’
Professor Diarmuid Hegarty ,the president of Griffith College concluded: ‘This case was a tragic miscarriage of justice and the hanging of Mr Gleeson for a murder he never committed is a dark stain on the memory of the State.
‘However his posthumous pardon shows that justice is not blind to injustice.’
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