Killing of Lizzie O'Neill

Lizzie O'Neill (also known by the alias Honour Bright) was fatally shot in Ticknock, County Dublin, Ireland in June 1925.[1][2]

Before her death

Lizzie O'Neill lived in the Liberties area of Dublin and worked as a sex worker near St Stephen's Green.[1][2] She worked in Pyms, a clothing shop, but lost her job when she became a single mother.[3] Frank Duff visited a house she was staying at while doing charitable work for the Legion of Mary.[3]

Witness statements

One of O'Neill's fellow sex workers said that a man had paid her and told her that he had been robbed of eleven pounds and a silver cigarette case earlier that evening.[1] He was angry and said he was armed.[1] He asked the woman's help in finding the thief and indicated that a man in a nearby car was a friend who was a superintendent in the Garda Síochána and would round up sex workers if the thief was not found.[1] Another sex worker said she saw O'Neill and another sex worker with two men in a grey sports car outside the Shelbourne Hotel.[1]

Leonard's Corner and Upper Clanbrassil Street, looking towards Robert Emmet Bridge

The last sighting of O'Neill that evening was of her getting into a car with two men at Leonard's Corner on the South Circular Road, Portobello, Dublin.[2] She was found dead the next morning from a gunshot wound.[2] The car was traced to a Dr. Patrick Purcell of Blessington, County Wicklow who admitted being in Dublin on the evening in question with Garda Superintendent Leo Dillon.[1]

Trial

The trial began on 30 January 1926.[1] There was great interest partly due to the status of the accused.[2] The defence argued that two witnesses, a taxi driver and a Garda constable, were lying.[1] The jury acquitted the accused on the grounds that there was sufficient doubt.[1][2]

Dr Purcell emigrated to England due to difficulties with people in Blessington after the acquittal.[1]

See also

References
  1. Blain, Emma (5 June 2008). "An Honour Killing". Evening Herald. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  2. Luddy, Maria (2007). Prostitution and Irish Society, 1800-1940. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521709057. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  3. Curtis, Maurice (2015). To Hell or to Monto. The History Press Ireland Ltd. ISBN 9780750964760. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
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