Mr Harry Gleeson
President Michael D. Higgins has officially granted Ireland’s first posthumous pardon to a man from Co. Tipperary; hanged for murder over 74 years ago.
Mr Harry Gleeson was hanged having being wrongfully convicted of the murder of a mother of seven, namely Miss Mary ” Foxy Moll” McCarthy, in New Inn, Co. Tipperary. Mr Gleeson was executed by the then British hangman Albert Pierrepoint (1905 – 1992) in Mountjoy jail in April of 1941.
A recent review of the case found that then Gardaí and the Prosecution had withheld crucial information and fabricated evidence against Mr Gleeson, thus securing his execution.
The granting of this posthumous pardon yesterday by the Irish President, completely clears Mr Gleeson’s name and it is hoped that same, however late, will serve as a tribute to his memory.
It is understood that the government through the Department of Justice have expressed sympathy to Mr Gleeson’s family and indicated their intention to hold a commemorative event for family members, early in the New Year, when a more detailed explanation of the pardon will be forthcoming.
Go ndéana Dia trócaire ar a anam dílis.
About Time.