Isaac Butt

He used that money to hire one of the best lawyers in Ireland to lead his defence.

His name was Isaac Butt, and he had been described by the London Standard as the greatest living advocate at the time across the whole of both islands.

He originally came from my own home county of Donegal, and in fact even attended the same secondary school as I did, before going to study law at Trinity University.

He was a professor of political economy at Trinity from 1836 to 1841, and passed the bar while holding that post.

From his testimony, the body showed no direct evidence of violence, but also no evidence of drowning.

This was in contradiction to his initial report, where he had said that Maria had died by either drowning or strangulation.

Isaac Butt was quick to leap on this, and then in his cross-examination tried to get the doctor to admit that Maria could have had an epileptic fit in the water and drowned.

Maria's father had died of epilepsy, although she had never shown any evidence of it herself.

He took some solace in the fact that he had acquired a man that was widely regarded to be the best barrister and one of the brightest minds on the island of Ireland.

A recently elected MP called Mr Isaac Butt to act on his behalf.

Later in his career, Isaac Butt was to become a leading proponent of the Home Rule movement that sought the restoration of Parliament in Ireland.

But now, in December 1852, he was ready to defend Kirwan, whom he firmly believed to be innocent of the charge of murder.

The prosecution led by John George Smiley QC and acting on behalf of the Crown were about to allege that William Kirwan, far from being the respectable husband and businessman that he portrayed himself as, was a callous killer who planned the murder of his wife to protect his reputation and to allow him to live full-time with his mistress and children.

Alice Abernethy, who lived near the lady's bathing place, described hearing a terrible screech coming from Ireland's Eye and from the particular direction of the long hole.

The screech was followed by two more that she thought to be cries of a woman.

Isaac Butt pointed out to the jury that Alice's house was more than a mile from Ireland's Eye and was situated around the side of the hill.