Spike Island opens to the public today and we look back at its darkest history

MURDERERS, bigamists, rapists, cattle-rustlers and escape artists; a real rogues’ gallery awaits the day-trippers who arrive at Spike Island’s €5.5 million visitor attraction when it reopens to the public today.

This famous prison hosted everyone from the likes of high-society artist Willam Burke Kirwan, convicted of the violent murder of his young wife, to a homeless teenager-turned-killer.