| The Dream Solution
- Articles |
04/04/01
- New probe for cleared 'murder' sisters
by Patrick McGowan
Detectives investigating the murder 10 years ago of Alison Shaughnessy
are said to be ready to question two sisters whose convictions
for murdering her were quashed. Michelle and Lisa Taylor were
cleared of any involvement in the murder after newly-wed Alison,
a 21-year-old bank clerk, was stabbed 24 times at her Battersea
home in June 1991.
Michelle, 30, was having an affair with Alison's husband, John,
at the time of the murder. Advances in DNA techniques are behind
the reopening of the case. A tiny drop of blood found on one of
Michelle's jackets - too small to be tested 10 years ago - will
now be tested to see if it is Alison's. A suspected murder weapon
will also be tested by scientists.
The campaign to set the Taylor sisters free following their conviction
was led by Michelle's former lover, Bernard O'Mahoney. It is thought
likely he will also be interviewed. The sisters' appeal succeeded
in 1993 on the basis that media coverage had prejudiced their
trial.
The prosecution alleged that Michelle had stabbed Mrs Shaughnessy
in her flat while Lisa stood guard by the door. The motive was
obsessive sexual jealousy. Michelle, who was recorded on the Shaughnessys'
wedding video kissing the newly-weds, had written in her diary:
"I hate Alison, the unwashed bitch ... My dream solution
would be for Alison to disappear as if she never existed and then
maybe I could give everything to the man I love."
Last week Mrs Shaughnessy mother, former nurse Breda Blackmore,
spoke about her daughter's death. "I suppose it's been particularly
hard to deal with Alison's death because we feel justice was never
done - no one has been punished for her death. But maybe - hopefully
- that will change, now that the case is to be reviewed."
A series of murders in London and the rest of the country are
being reviewed in light of scientific advances. In February, Scotland
Yard announced that the Shaughnessy murder was being reviewed
by officers led by Det Supt Peter Lowten to see if new techniques
could help to find the killer. |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
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