Search for remains of man who was issued with Ireland’s first posthumous pardon halted

Harry Gleeson

The search for the remains of the country’s only person to be given a posthumous pardon for a murder he did not carry out have come to a grinding halt again.

Harry Gleeson, 38, a popular hurler and fiddle player, from Holycross, Co Tipperary, was executed in Mountjoy in April 1941, for the murder of mother of seven, Mary McCarthy who was also from the county.

Ms McCarthy’s murder was perpetrated by local gunmen who made sure no one stood up to defend Mr Gleeson.

Mr Gleeson’s wrongful conviction and the death of Ms McCarthy became the subject of several books and a documentary by the late Cathal O’Shannon.

In 2015, 74 years after his hanging, then Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald issued the State’s first posthumous pardon for Mr Gleeson, who had always protested his innocence.

However, last February the Department of Justice admitted that they could not find his remains, following a five-year search of the grounds at Mountjoy Prison where executed prisoners would have been buried.

A Department of Justice spokesperson said the project (of recovering Mr Gleeson’s remains) has, “been disrupted as a consequence of the restrictions on movement in response to Covid-19 and the many demands arising for the relevant agencies involved.

“It remains the Department’s objective to do what can be done to identify and return the remains of Mr Gleeson to his family.” 

The Department added that no financial costs of the search for Mr Gleeson’s remains had been incurred this year so far but that the ”total expenditure to date by the Department is €26,300 arising over 2017-2019.

Harry Gleeson

“Additional costs have been incurred at prison level in terms of equipment rental, services and ground works.” 

The Department spokesperson went on to add that it is “studying how to reactivate this process (search) in consultation with the relevant organisations.

“While the main body involved is principally the Irish Prison Service, the local authority (in this instance Dublin City Council ) would also have a role in due course as the licensing authority in respect of exhumation licenses.” 

The case of Mr Gleeson’s wrongful execution had been taken up by the Irish Innocence Project, which investigates possible wrongful convictions of those who claim factual innocence, following requests from his nearest living relatives.

An American pathologist helped prove Mary McCarthy’s time of death coincided with a time that Gleeson had an alibi for.

He was granted the pardon after the re-examination of a large amount of information relating to his case.

However, over the past five years attempts have been made by the Department to locate Mr Gleeson’s remains and continue to prove unsuccessful.

It had been hoped that the remains could be exhumed and reinterred in his native Holycross.

Tipperary author Brendan Lynch who wrote about the murder in the Drop of Rainmemoir was advised almost four years ago by Justice Minister Fitzgerald that there was proving to be some difficulty in finding Gleeson’s remains.

A year later, new Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan in written correspondence with Mr Lynch, confirmed that his Department was, “continuing to engage directly with the Irish Prison Service in this matter.

“A body of work was undertaken aimed at establishing information about the possible location of the buried remains of prisoners executed at Mountjoy Prison."

The letter continued: “As part of this information gathering process, a ground survey was also undertaken in 2017 and the results of the survey remain under consideration at present.” 

Mr Lynch, who backs the return of Gleeson’s remains for burial in Holycross said: “Harry is long overdue respect of a return to his native Tipperary. My big concern is the inordinate delay in returning poor Harry's remains to his family.

“The perpetrators of two murders (Ms McCarthy’s and Mr Gleeson’s) may, sadly, have escaped but it will be some comfort to Mr Gleeson’s family and supporters to see him finally back at rest in his native Tipperary if and when that ever happens.”