12/08/91 - Continuation Of Statement Of John Patrick Shaughnessy

Continuation Of Statement Of John Patrick Shaughnessy
Age Of Witness (Date Of Birth) 29 Yrs 071261 Dublin
Occupation Assistant Purchasing Manager

Consisting Of 7 Pages
Dated 120891
Signed John Shaughnessy
Signature Witnessed By Andrew Gallagher Dc

This Is A Continuation Of My Statement Which Was Started On Friday 090891.

Around The Time I Began Work At The Churchill Clinic I Became Aware Of A Girl Called Michelle Taylor. I Don't Know The Exact Date That She Started But It Was More Or Less Around The Time That I Started. She Worked In The Accounts Department Which Is On The Fourth Floor Of The Clinic.

At This Time I Was Going Out With Alison And Had Been For Quite Some Time. I Never Really Took Much Notice Of Michelle Then. And Due To The Fact That I Was Firstly Working As A Porter And Then In Theatre I Didn't Really Have Much Contact With Her.

In About 000189 Michelle Taylor Was Admitted To The Clinic To Have An Operation On Her Knee And As With All Members Of Staff She Was Visited By Other Staff. This Is Something That Is Done In The Hospital Whether You Know The Person Well Or Not.

I Therefore Visited Michelle On A Few Occasions. But I Should Say That These Visits Were Often For Only A Few Minutes Duration. Just To Say Hello To. And Ask How She Was. An Example Of How The Staff Get On There Is That My Boss Alan Tuck Was Admitted As A Patient And I Remember That Michelle Made Him A Cake As A Get Well Present.

At This Stage I Found Her A Pleasant. Outward Type Of Person But I Would Not Say She Was Pretty. Around This Time I Moved To A New Position Within The Clinic As A Storeman In Stores. Which Is In The Basement Of The Building. In 000289 Michelle Put Out A General Invitation To Clinic Staff To Attend Her 18Th Birthday Party At Her House In Forest Hill.

Another Member Of Staff Who I Have Previously Mentioned. Pauline Gross Asked Me To Accompany Her To The Party. For Some Reason. I Cannot Remember Why Now. Alison Was Not At The Party Nor Was Pauline's Husband Tim. Myself And Pauline Got A Cab From The Clinic To Michelle's House In Forest Hill And I Remember That We Had Trouble Finding The House.

I Can't Remember Much About The Party Except That It Was A Quiet Do. I Remember That I Saw Michelle's Sister Lisa There. But At This Stage I Didn' T Really Know Them. I Remember That We Didn't Stay Too Late. Possibly Until About 0100 And We Got A Lift Home With Anne Marie Owens And Her Boyfriend Martin.

I Don't Know His Surname. I Remember That I Spoke Very Little To Michelle That Night. Whilst I Was Employed In Stores I Began Helping Out With Purchasing And This Brought Me More Into Contact With Michelle. In That When An Order Was Made We Would Authorise The Invoice And She Would Pay The Cheque. She Was Our Direct Link With Her Department.

As A Result Of This A Relationship Developed Between Us And I Can't Remember How But It Culminated In Us Sleeping Together In My Room But I Can't Remember Who Instigated It. This May Have Been Around 000389. To My Knowledge Michelle Was Not A Virgin. I Remember She Told Me That She Had Had A Serious Relationship With A Man Called Peter.

She Talked Very Highly Of Him And She Thought A Lot Of Him. She Said His Job Took Him To America A Lot And That Was Where He Had Met His Wife. I Know That He Used To Come Over Quite Often On His Own And They Used To Meet Or He Would Visit Her House. But I Don't Know If They Were Sleeping Together On These Occasions Or Not.

Michelle Was On The Pill And I Did Not Use Any Form Of Contraception. Making Love With Michelle At This Stage Was Not A Regular Thing. Perhaps Only About Twice A Month And This Took Place In Either My Room Or Her Room At The Clinic. During This Time Alison Was Still Living With Her Parents In North London. At This Stage I Would Say I Liked Michelle A Lot But I Did Not Love Her.

Making Love To Her Was Something That Just Happened And Wasn't Planned. I Would Say That Michelle Did Most Of The Running As It Were. And Was Always Offering To Help Me With The Gardening. However Michelle Never Really Showed Her True Feelings And I Always Felt Quilty After We Made Love.

By Telling Michelle That We Should Stop Seeing Each Other And Keep Our Relationship As Being Good Friends And That She Should Find Someone Else And Someone Of Her Own To Turn To With Her Problens. But Things Seemed Somehow To Go Back To The Way They Were Between Us.

In I Think 000489 I Became Engaged To Alison And I Remember That The Matron At The Clinic. Patti Thow. Gave A Party In Her Office To Celebrate The Occasion. People From All The Departments Were Invited And Alison Came Over From Her Work. Michelle Was Also There And I Remember The Party Started At About 1200 Noon And Lasted For About 2 Hours.

After That I Took The Rest Of The Day Off And Took Alison To Petroni's Restaurant For Lunch. Petroni's Is Opposite Kennington Police Station. I Have Been Asked What Michelle's Reaction Was To Me Getting Engaged. I Cannot Remember Her Having Any Reaction. There Certainly Wasn't A Row Or A Scene Between Us.

If There Had Been I'm Sure I Would Have Remembered It. Staff At The Clinic Knew In Advance That I Was Getting Engaged To Alison And The Party In Matron's Office Had Been Arranged Some Weeks In Advance. Also Alison Used To Visit Me At The Clinic Quite Frequently After She Finished Work. So There Was No Secrecy Involved As Regards Myself And Alison.

On Our Engagement Alison Bought Me A Gold Ring With A Black Stone And A Playboy Motif On It. I Wore This Ring On The Fourth Finger Of My Left Hand Up Until My Wedding. Since Then I Have Worn It On The Fourth Finger Of My Right Hand And My Wedding Ring On My Left.

I Never Take My Rings Off. As Far As I Am Aware There Was No Ill Feeling Between Myself And Michelle Over My Engagement To Alison And We Continued To Speak On A Friendly Basis. However I Would Say That Around This Time I Was Not Seeing Michelle On An Intimate Basis. That Is I Did Not Make Love To Her.

I Should Also Mention That At No Time Did Michelle And Myself Ever Go Out As A Boyfriend And Girlfriend. In 000689 Myself And Alison Had A Two Week Holiday In Ireland. We Always Took Our Holiday In June For Some Reason. Whilst I Was Away One Of The Ladies In The General Office Called Marion Styles Covered My Flower Arranging For The Clinic Whilst I Was Away.

I Don't Remember Anything Else Happening After That As Regards My Relationship With Michelle. I Remember At Some Point Michelle Saying To Me That She Would Like To Meet Alison But I Can't Remember When This Was. I Recall A Christmas Do Organized At The Hispaniola Boat Restaurant In 1989 When Michelle And Her Sister Lisa Were There.

I Took Alison Along. From I Started Going Out With Alison I Always Took Her To Do's Organized By The Clinic And I Used To Give Her Stick Because All The Barclays Bank Do's Were For Staff Only. Although If Alison Was At A Do I Would Always Make A Point Of Meeting Her Afterwards So That I Could Make Sure That She Got Home Safely Afterwards.

Michelle During This Time Was Still Offering To Help Me Out And I Remember Her Offering To Help With The Christmas Trees At The Hospital. I Should Mention That When Someone Has A Birthday In The Clinic There Is A Drink In The Clinic. On My Birthday On 071289 Michelle Bought Me A Twisted Gold Plated Chain As A Birthday Present.

I However Have Never Bought Her A Birthday Present. In Fact I Don't Even Know When Her Birthday Is. I Did Not Receive A Present From Her Last Year However. From About A Year Or A Year And A Half After I Started Going Out With Alison She Would Quite Frequently Stay The Night With Me In My Room At The Churchill Clinic And Occasionally She Stayed During The Week As Well.

During This Time I Would Say That The Relationship Between Myself And Michelle Became More Intimate Again And We Began Sleeping Together Occasionally. I Would Say That Between Christmas 1989 And 000690 We Would Have Made Love On Average About Once Every Two Weeks. This Would Normally Happen On Nights When I Did The Flower Arranging At The Hospital.

Although Michelle Was Not Helping Me Do The Flowers She Would Come For A Chat Or Pop In After Her Classes. I Have Always Done The Flowers On A Monday Night. We Made Love During This Time Either At My Room Or Michelle's Room. It Would Be Unfair To Say That It Was Always At Her Instigation. Because I Would Equally Initiate The Love Making Myself.

I Should Say That At No Time Did Michelle Ever Take Priority Over Alison And Although I Cared For Michelle I Loved Alison. And Michelle Knew I Would Never Leave Alison. I Told Her That She Should Find A Boyfriend Of Her Own. I Don't Know Why I Got Involved Like This With Michelle.

It Was Just A Situation I Got Into. I Tried On Quite A Few Occasions Both Before And After Marriage When I Told Michelle That Our Relationship Had To Stop But That We Could Still Be Friends. On A Couple Of Occasions We Would Have An Argument About This As She Didn't Seem To Grasp What I Was Trying To Say Then On Other Occasions She Would Agree.

But Within A Short Time Things Would Somehow Return To The Way They Were. I Do Remember One Night I Told Michelle That I Loved Her But I Didn't Mean It. I Remember It Was After I Had Been Drinking And Was "The Drink Talking."

This Statement Temporarily Concluded Due To Time Of Night 2130.

It Began At 1715 At Kennington Police Station. To Be Re-Commenced 130891.