Michael Manning - the last execution to take place in the Republic of Ireland.
Michael Manning - the last execution to take place in the Republic of Ireland. Manning was a 25 year old carter who lived in Clare Street, Limerick. There was some evidence of insanity in his family and he was said to be of low IQ. On the day of the murder he had been drinking heavily. His victim was 65 year old Catherine Cooper, a staff nurse at Barrington's Hospital in Co. Limerick, who had been to visit a former matron on the evening of Wednesday, the 18th of November 1953 and decided to walk the two miles home, instead of taking the bus. She was attacked in Castletroy that night and her battered body discovered on the main Limerick to Dublin Road. A man’s hat was found at the scene which looked like the one Manning normally wore. It was described as a “Mountie’s hat” and was thus very distinctive. The Gardaí (Irish police) visited him at 2.30 a.m. the following day and he immediately confessed. Manning described the attack to the Gardaí as follows: “I saw a lady walkin