posted 13 Feb 2019, 13:17 by Oscar Duggan
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updated 13 Feb 2019, 13:18
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Brian Seery, a farm labourer and father of five, was executed on this day (13 February) in 1846, outside Mullingar Gaol, having been charged and found guilty of the attempted murder of Sir Francis Hopkins, a local landlord. This was in spite of what a contemporary observer (the author, Charles Dickens) described as, "extremely questionable evidence and his own persistent protestations of innocence."
The occasion of Brian Seery's murder by execution (which took place 173 years ago today) is marked by the publication of a new book by author and investigative historian, Jack Kiernan. However, I Declare Before My God: The Brian and James Seery Story deals with not one but two 19th century miscarriages of justice, in Ireland and Australia, resulting in the deaths of a father and a son, both sentenced to hang but in separate circumstances, 24 years apart and even on different continents.
When Brian Seery died, he left behind a wife and a young family, including a son, James, later to be sentenced to death in Australia, where he had moved to find work in the goldfields of the Gippsland region of Victoria. Charged and found guilty of the murder and mutilation of a body, he was sentenced to hang and executed on 14 November 1870, aged just 33 years.
James Seery, like his father before him, was sent to an early grave under very questionable circumstances. In the view of author, Jack Kiernan, in the Ireland or Australia of today, neither case would get into court.
Once again, Jack Kiernan carefully assembles the available evidence in a manner that lets the reader decide while, at the same time, leaving no doubt as to how he views the circumstances and the judgements that were handed down. He also offers a stinging critique of colonial attitudes and Ascendancy mindsets that resulted in many such travesties of justice.
posted 3 Mar 2018, 06:12 by Oscar Duggan
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updated 5 Mar 2018, 06:02
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The recent publication of Jack Kiernan's Why Did They Lie? – his investigation into some murky goings on during the Irish Civil War 1922-23 – has not gone unnoticed.
Westmeath Topic newspaper gave it front-page coverage in its 15 February issue, under the headline, An Explosive New Mullingar Book. Jack Kiernan's controversial 'take' sheds light on local Civil War story.
They go on to say:
"It has always been said that 'the truth can be blamed but it cannot be shamed' ... Jack Kiernan has succeeded in the past ... in producing books [seeking] to expose the truth about particular subjects, like the murder of Mary Walker in July 1909. ... It seems likely that Jack's latest book will create more controversy than any book of its kind in recent years ... Most authors are content ... to rely on what others have written but ... Jack Kiernan has gone to considerable lengths to prove the contentious – even explosive – claims which he puts forward. ... And much of his material comes from official records, like the Irish Military Archives and the Irish Newspaper Archives in Dublin. ... If his highly controversial claims are proved correct – and they are well supported and backed by fully available documentation – then some history books need re-writing." – Westmeath Topic, 15 February 2018. Digital editions available from newspaper's website
News of this timely and important publication has also gone out to Irish communities abroad. Jack recently gave an interview to Irish Radio Canada that was broadcast on 18 February. Hear what he had to say by downloading the podcast.
And there has been no shortage of interest from members of the public, with bookshops anxiously looking for new stock as existing copies 'fly out the door'. As well as being available to buy online (along with other books by Jack Kiernan), bookshops across the Irish midlands (e.g. Just Books in Mullingar) and from Dublin (Alan Hanna's Bookshop on Rathmines Road) to Galway (Kenny's Bookshop and Art Gallery) are stocking it.
Further information will be posted to this website as it becomes available. Keep in touch by signing up for e-mail alerts.
posted 11 Feb 2018, 16:09 by Oscar Duggan
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updated 11 Feb 2018, 16:09
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Press Release
issued 21 August 2013
"Is It Me? What do I know about it? I know nothing about it." These were the last words uttered by Joseph Heffernan as a free man, before he was taken into custody for the murder of Mary Walker in Mullingar, one July day in Mullingar in 1909. He was subsequently tried and convicted of the crime, becoming the last man to hang in Kilmainham Gaol the following January.
New information in the case of Joseph Heffernan is contained in the revised and updated edition of Jack Kiernan’s Is It Me? The Joseph Heffernan Story, which has just been published by The Manuscript Publisher. The book is also published in e-book format for the first time and available to buy through Kindle and Smashwords.
To coincide with the publication, a dedicated website allows you to browse sections of the book, to buy online, read and discuss the background to the case. A case summary is also available to download for free. This covers the main issues of contention in the case that was brought against Joseph Heffernan and which taken together, point to a miscarriage of justice.
In the original edition, which was published in 2011 and quickly sold out, Jack Kiernan first put forward his view that Joseph Heffernan was the victim of a miscarriage of justice: framed for the crime in a bid to conceal the identity of the real killer and likely to have been orchestrated at a fairly high level. Journalist, author and broadcaster, Joe Duffy described the book as "a riveting page-turner ... meticulously researched ... By the end, the reader is left in no doubt that beautiful young Mary Walker was the victim of a heinous crime, but that crime claimed another life the day Joe Heffernan fell to the hangman's rope."
The new information that has come to light since the original publication includes the background to Joseph Heffernan’s previous convictions, for which he served three prison terms. The circumstance of at least one of these convictions would no doubt would have swayed a judge and jury in their deliberations and was used against him in the trial. However, information that has come to light in the meantime shows that the the full facts surrounding this case are uncertain, meaning that Heffernan was entitled to the benefit of doubt.
Evidence is also presented corroborating the view that certain witnesses who testified against Heffernan may have been unduly pressured, induced or simply perjured themselves. These facts were not picked up on at the original trial. This adds further weight to the view that the Prosecution manufactured the crime to match the case they intended to present, rather than vice versa. Heffernan’s Defense, wittingly or unwittingly, may have been complicit.
Then there is confirmation of the existence of a military sex predator operating in the Mullingar area around the time. This would add sustenance to the contention that Joseph Heffernan’s conviction was the result of a sinister plot to protect the identity of the real killer.
The murder of Mary Walker shocked the nation and still reverberates locally, even after more than a century. Many people believed at the time that the right man was caught and paid for the crime with the sentence that was handed down. But rumours have always circulated about Joseph Heffernan’s innocence. One person who was always convinced of his innocence was Jack Kiernan’s grandfather, on his mother’s side, a Sheffield man, and former British soldier. He always claimed, right up to his death, that the wrong man had been executed for the crime and furthermore, he claimed to be aware of this long before he ever set foot in Mullingar.
It was around about the 100th anniversary of the murder, when local interest in the story was re-kindled, that Jack Kiernan took it upon himself to investigate - just to shed light on the episode and see if there was anything to his grandfather's claims. It would become an investigation that would consume all of his spare time over the next few years. He recounts in the book a particular episode, when he went to visit Mary Walker’s final resting place, in Leighlinbridge, Co. Carlow. His wife later suggested to him that it was as if Mary Walker’s ghost was guiding him along his path.
Is It Me? The Joseph Heffernan Story by Jack Kiernan is published by The Manuscript Publisher. RRP €14.99. It is also available in e-book editions. See the websites of The Manuscript Publisher and IsItMebyJackKiernan.com for more information.
ENDS
posted 30 May 2013, 06:07 by Oscar Duggan
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updated 11 Feb 2018, 16:06
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A revised and updated edition of Jack Kiernan's Is It Me? The Joseph Heffernan Story has been prepared and will be available soon in paperback. It is already available in e-book editions on Kindle and Smashwords.
This revised and updated account, includes material from files that were not available at the time the first edition went to print in 2011.
Pre-order your copy of the printed edition from our online bookshop today. The estimated publication date is July 2013. If you can't wait that long, why not visit Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk, to purchase the Kindle edition, suitable for reading on all Kindle compatible e-reading devices and apps.
For all the other common e-book formats (ePub, PDF, etc) please visit Smashwords.
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