The true story behind the last man hanged in Ireland and the crime he committed.

Michael Manning was a newly married young man of 25 and a cartman of Limerick. On that Wednesday in November 1953 his life took a series of turns that would lead to the brutal death of a 65 year old nurse and his death by hanging in early 1954. In this new book exploring the murder and the events that led to it, Dermot Walsh brings to light new information from the original Garda file and interviews with the original investigation team.

Beneath the single eye of Cannock’s Clock, fate and circumstance combined to ill effect.

Born in Wexford 1945, Dermot Walsh worked his way up from junior reporter on a local weekly to the newsdesk of the Irish Independent by the time he was 26. He wrote for the Irish Press group and the Sunday Independent. He now works in PR and lives in Limerick.