Dublin-dwelling Boer War veteran Thomas Doyle hated his sister Josephine. So much so that in 1906 he was sentenced to three years penal servitude for wounding her.
When he came out of prison he went back to live with her in the familys tenement house at Grants Row, a narrow lane running from Lower Mount Street to Grand Canal Street. He had hardly settled down in the house before he cut her throat with a razor, so severely, according to a doctor, that she must have died within seconds.
While the blood was still gushing from her throat Doyle turned on his brother William and tried to cut his throat too. Then he went happily along to Lad Lane police station and told the astonished desk sergeant what he had done. Here I am, do what you like with me, he added.
Rather surprisingly, the jury at Green Street Courthouse threw out the murder charge and decided that Doyle was guilty only of manslaughter. For that, on FEBRUARY 4th, 1910, he was sentenced to 15 years penal servitude.