On Saturday, 8 March 1958, Wexford businessman William Hannan was found unconscious and seriously beaten at his newsagent’s shop, The Dainty, on Cinema Lane.
The 65-year-old shopkeeper died the following morning from his injuries.
Chief Superintendent T. Collins and Superintendent George Lawlor, head of the Technical Bureau in Dublin, led the murder investigation. During the first few days, investigators determined that Hannan had served his last customer at 10.40pm, ten minutes before gardaí found him with serious head injuries. That customer was a Welsh-born shoemaker, Mr C. Jones, who had called into the shop to buy chewing gum.
Approximately 30 gardaí searched the area, discovering footprints, fingerprints, and a 15-inch steel bar on the roof of Hannan’s premises. Made in County Wexford four years earlier, the bar was polished brightly and tapered at one end. Its lack of rust suggested it had not been lying on the roof for long.
Members of the Technical Bureau conducted an inch-by-inch survey of the rooftops, photographing fingerprints before sending them to Dublin.
Gardaí believed the attacker or attackers entered the shop shortly after 10.40pm and struck Hannan 14 times on the head with a blunt, heavy object. Four men playing cards in the house next door heard the commotion. One of the card players, William Scanlon, ran outside and knocked on Hannan’s door. After receiving no answer, Scanlon called the gardaí.
Investigators suspected the killers had been interrupted by the knock and fled through an upstairs window onto the roof. They then ran across rooftops and walls until they found an exit on Henrietta Street. Gardaí arrived approximately ten minutes after being called and found Hannan unconscious.
During the investigation, gardaí questioned several people, including many young men who had left the Wexford area shortly after Hannan’s death. Officers conducted house-to-house inquiries and circulated descriptions of two men seen in the area that night. They also took fingerprints from local men who were interviewed.
Gardaí later circulated the descriptions to British towns and cities as they explored the possibility that the perpetrators had fled Ireland. Supt Lawlor flew to Birmingham to make inquiries.
In Wexford Town, officers focused on Maudlintown, interviewing people and searching grounds. Archived articles from The Irish Times show that they believed the attackers may have remained in the town.
One of the men at the card game told gardaí he had heard a woman’s voice shout, “Don’t do it!” However, investigators did not believe a woman could have been involved, as they felt a woman could not have climbed across the roofs and escaped quickly enough.
The investigation failed to produce any leads. Gardaí also ruled out the steel bar found on the roof as the murder weapon.
In September 1958, a garda spokesperson informed the press that the investigation was still active, stating, “We never lose hope and are always prepared to wait for the day when new information emerges that will lead us to the killer or killers.”
The murder of William Hannan remains unsolved.