Harry Gleeson: A pardoned man finally laid to rest

Kevin said having Harry’s name cleared was a huge achievement, but it wasn’t the final stage of his journey.

“We have a good, big family; there were people we did this for, and we knew it was time to get Harry home,” he said.

It took eight years and many meetings with the Republic of Ireland’s Department of Justice (DoJ) before the process of exhuming Harry’s body began.

“We had little documentation, but there was a registration book at Mountjoy Prison; Harry’s death record said where he was buried—the rear of an old hospital within the prison,” Kevin added.

He said the DoJ was “willing to leave no stone unturned”.

An area on the grounds of Mountjoy Prison was excavated in January to recover the remains of 29 prisoners executed between 1923 and 1954.

A huge amount of work went in to open the area of the prison, and there was a lot of anxiety over whether anything would be found.

“The real work was happening; we weren’t naive; the remains could have been someone else; it was only 1000 square metres, but you had gas, water, and electric services through the decades; we were worried,” said Kevin.

By March, about nine remains had been recovered, and the Gleeson family was told Harry could be one of them.

“The DNA process took some time, but we were ecstatic—it was a weird, surreal time.”

After the remains of Harry Gleeson were confirmed via DNA processing, the family were ready to give Harry his final journey home.