05/11/01 - Author's part in bid to free sisters
Peterborough Evening Telegraph

A DECADE ago, the horrific stabbing of pretty bride Alison Shaughnessy shocked the nation. The 21-year-old was just beginning a new life with her husband when she was attacked in her south London home.

Pathologists said she had suffered more than 50 stab wounds in the frenzied attack, and it was not long before the finger of suspicion pointed to the women Alison had thought of as friends - Michelle Taylor, then 21, and her sister Lisa, just 19.

The two sisters were jailed for the murder, but a year later were freed on appeal after the police admitted evidence had been withheld. Now city author and former gangland boss, Bernard O´Mahoney, has told the full story of the fight to free them.

In The Dream Solution Mr O´Mahoney, who lives in Stanground, recounts his involvement in the sisters´ appeal, his affair with Michelle and his subsequent rift with the sisters. Mr O´Mahoney was attending a family member´s trial at the Old Bailey when he wandered into the courtroom in which the Taylor sisters were being tried.

"I became very interested in their case, and when the verdict was announced I was convinced a major miscarriage of justice had occurred," he said. He began writing to Michelle, who had been having an affair with Alison´s husband, John, and a close bond developed.

He freely admits that he used "unethical methods" to try to drum up public support to discredit the prosecution case. But, in the end, the sisters were set free because a witness said he believed one of the attackers may have been black information the police had withheld.

Once free, Michelle and Mr O´Mahoney began an affair. However, he did not find happiness with her. "I don´t know what people will think of me when they read it. I can only tell it like it was."

A documentary about the Taylors, called Double Jeopardy, is being shown on Channel 5 tomorrow, at 8pm.