The murder of Dublin prostitute Lizzie O’Neill – a century-old mystery with links to WB Yeats, a GP and a garda

Gardaí outside the inquest into the death of Lizzie O'Neill in July 1925

Patrick McGarty

Just after 7am on June 9, 1925, timber carter Pat Reilly was walking to work near the crossroads at Ticknock in the foothills of the Dublin mountains.

He came across a young woman dressed in a grey tweed suit and pink blouse who was lying on the side of the road. Initially thinking she was asleep, Mr Reilly tried to wake up the woman, but then he noticed blood on her blouse.