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03/04/03 - Someone murdered
our Alison.. & we want JUSTICE
DARA deFAOITE
The Mirror
THE parents of Alison O'Shaughnessy spoke of their heartbreak
yesterday after a review probe into her murder revealed
no new evidence. Alison, 21, was stabbed 54 times and
left to die in her London apartment.
The murder was just 11 months after she got married to
Mayo man John O'Shaughnessy. Her husband's mistress, Michelle
Taylor, 18, and her sister Lisa, 17, were jailed for life
in 1992 for Alison's murder - but the Court of Appeal
quashed the convictions as unsafe and unsatisfactory because
of trial inaccuracies and prejudicial presspublicity.
But Alison's parents Breda and Bobby Blackmore were offered
fresh hope when the review investigation was launched
just before her 10th anniversary in June 2001.
Scotland Yard detectives had hoped new evidence allegedly
gathered by writer Bernard O'Mahoney and forensic evidence
from the time would lead them to the killer. Breda and
Bobby were delighted that police had not forgotten about
their girl. But the review came to an end late last year
as no new evidence had been brought forward.
Breda, from Co Kilkenny, told the Irish Mirror yesterday:
"We were hoping for something, no matter how small.
"We know who killed our girl and we desperately wanted
to see justice served. "It looks like the end of
the line now for justice for Alison, unless something
out of the blue turns up.
"We've really exhausted all avenues open to us but
Alison will never be forgotten. We owe her that. "But
I like to think Alison's killers are still looking over
their shoulders with the feeling that some piece of crucial
evidence will turn up to jail them.
"I believe they're serving their prison sentence
in that way. "We saw the murder review as a chance
to fight once more for Alison. "It's very disappointing
for the whole family that it has now ended but I suppose
it has given us a sort of closure on events. "We're
able to say, 'Look we've done all this and there's very
little more we can do'.
"At the same time, we're always hopeful that somehow
another nugget of evidence will come along." Police
recently interviewed Mr O'Mahoney and went through his
files, which he has now used in a book about the murder.
Breda said: "Unfortunately there was nothing in his
book that could be used to advance any prosecution."
Taylor had been having a long-standing affair with O'Shaughnessy.
Entries in her diary revealed in the original trial of
herself and younger sister Lisa included: "I hate
Alison, the unwashed bitch. "My dream solution would
be for Alison to disappear as if she never existed. "Then
maybe I could give everything to the man I love."
It was clear Taylor wanted the young Irish girl eliminated
from her sordid affair with 29-year-old O'Shaughnessy.
The prosecution alleged Taylor had killed Alison out of
a jealous sexual obsession. Alison's parents were satisfied
justice had been served on their daughter' s killers.
But this was not to last.
The Taylor sisters were released on appeal when a court
ruled that press reports had unfairly influenced the jury.
The Court of Appeal also dealt with the failure of police
to disclose evidence which undermined the prosecution's
case.
One witness, who claimed to have seen two girls running
away from the scene, had said the day before that one
of the girls may have been black. Mr and Mrs Blackmore
said when the Taylor sisters' were freed they "really
lost everything".
Breda added: "We didn't believe they had a chance
with an appeal. "We thought 'OK, it's their legal
right' but we really thought they' d be going straight
back to prison. "It was the biggest bombshell when
the reverse was suddenly happening."
Bobby said: "With the review closed, all avenues
are lost to us now." Bobby remains heartbroken by
the loss of his daughter. He said: "Alison' s death
is not just marked by a yearly anniversary. "It's
something that we live with every single day. "To
us, Alison was killed yesterday so I can't think in terms
of years or decades when it's just as vivid today as it
was on June 3, 1991."
Alison, who grew up in Crouch End, London, was buried
at Piltown cemetery across the road from the church where
she married O'Shaughnessy in July 1990.
But Taylor had had a fixation on the Mayo man and the
two even slept with each other the night before the wedding.
She was even seen in a passionate kiss with her newly
wed lover in video footage of the wedding day.
Breda said: "I couldn't believe it, John adored Alison.
I would never have suspected him of cheating." Breda
and Bobby met in London in the early 1960s and set up
their family home in Crouch End. Alison was born in 1969.
She had an older sister Susan and two younger brothers
Robert and Richard.
They lived happily there for almost 30 years before their
daughter was killed. But Alison's death and their reaction
to the appeal drove the Blackmores back to Breda's family
home in Piltown. Alison had only moved out of the Crouch
End home after her marriage.
Breda recalled: "I remember being so concerned about
where she was going to live. "They were going to
buy a basement flat with a window which looked up to the
street but I said to Alison 'imagine if you were in the
kitchen in a dressing gown anyone walking by would be
able to see in at you'.
"So I said to John 'no way, its not safe'. "There
was another place in bigger block of flats near by with
no lighted reception area which I also didn't think was
safe for Alison to be coming into alone so I asked them
to rethink."
The couple eventually settled on an apartment in Battersea
owned by John's aunt where Alison was murdered. Breda
said: "When I saw the place I thought 'grand', there
were people always coming and going, they were on the
second floor and she would be safe. "But now when
I think back it wouldn't have mattered where she'd lived,
that evil would have got to her."
Bobby and Breda were visited visit by members of London's
Metropolitan police late last September and told the murder
review had been "inconclusive" . Breda added:
"We know that there is little else we can do and
need to step back a little and contemplate this fact.
"But if something comes up again, even the smallest
thing, we'd be in there 100 per cent. "Alison has
to come first in all of this. She will never be forgotten."
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