The Dream Solution: The Murder of Alison Shaughnessy - and the Fight to Name Her Killer

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At the trial it was claimed that the sisters had tricked Alison Shaughnessy into letting them into her flat and then stabbed her to death. The two sisters were seen at the Churchill Clinic in the south Lambeth Road, four miles away, at 6pm. The final straw may have been, alleged the prosecution, when John told Michelle only days before the murder that he was planning to give up the flower arranging sessions he did with her every Monday, which was the only time they had together and when they invariably had sex. Michelle and Lisa Taylor were found guilty of killing Alison Shaughnessy, but released after an exhaustive campaign by O'Mahoney—who then came around to an opposite view of their innocence.

The Taylor sisters were found guilty of the murder in 1992, but one year later their convictions were overturned by the Court of Appeal because the prosecution had failed to turn evidence over to the defence, and because the sensationalist media coverage may have influenced jurors. Both Dr Unsworth-White and Dr Ford had asked about a reward offered by Barclays, but police revealed only that Dr Ford had inquired. The 27-year-old man is alleged to have told a social worker shortly after the death that he had killed a woman in Battersea.

The police considered whether Michelle and Lisa Taylor could be charged with perjury or perverting the course of justice (they could not be re-charged with murder because of the double jeopardy laws in place at the time). However, the High Court judges disagreed, saying of the publishing of the image of Michelle and John kissing at the wedding headed 'Cheat's kiss': "It cannot be said to be an inappropriate description.

A witness reported seeing two women running from Shaughnessy's building after the murder, and fingerprints found at the scene matched those of Michelle and her sister Lisa Taylor, who claimed never to have been there. At the end of the trial, and after only five and a half hours of deliberation, the jury found the Taylor sisters guilty of murder by a unanimous verdict. She gave an accurate description of what Alison had been wearing and told the police that she must have come in after six, because the Six O’clock News had already started on the BBC. Ann and Del Taylor commissioned a speech expert, Peter Wright, to analyse her final interview with police. The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited.A careful reading of the diary entries thereafter would have shown her growing disaffection with him, and sympathy with Alison. J.’) Tapp, a close friend who also worked at the Churchill, said that Michelle and Lisa were with her, watching Neighbours, during the critical 5. As the Court of Appeal was told, while ignorance and confusion may have been used as an excuse for not revealing evidence during the miscarriages of justice of the 1970s and 1980s, by the time of the Taylor sisters' Old Bailey trial last year there can have been no doubts.