THE BIZARRE news which greeted Frank Johnson on his arrival back at Brixton Prison one evening after a routine remand court hearing simply made his mouth drop open. The startling revelation, which was relayed to the Tipperary man by a fellow prisoner, would have provided a scene for the vintage sit-com Porridge if the consequent events had not been so tragic and their effect long-lasting.

Johnson, along with two other individuals, had been charged with the murder of John Sheridan, a Mayo man for whom Johnson worked as a assistant in his newsagent shop in London’s East End. In a savage and apparently motiveless attack, the 60-year-old shopkeeper was dowsed with petrol and torched. He died three weeks later.

One evening in Brixton Prison, where Johnson was awaiting trial for the killing, another prisoner Mike Regan asked Johnson how his appearance at the Old Bailey had gone that day. Johnson told him that the hearing had not gone ahead as his solicitor had flu and could not attend court. Regan then informed the astonished Johnson that his solicitor David Jonas was not ill at all and was in fact ensconced in a cell in the same prison.