The Irish Crown Jewels: Ireland’s Greatest Unsolved Heist
28 October - 19 mins
Podcast Series
Newstalk Daily
In Paris last week, thieves pulled off an audacious €88 million heist at the Louvre — but it’s not the first time priceless crown jewels have vanished from a supposedly impregnable fortress.
Back in 1907, Dublin Castle — the heart of British rule in Ireland — was the scene of a theft so bizarre it remains unsolved to this day. The Irish Crown Jewels, a dazzling collection of emerald- and diamond-studded regalia, simply disappeared from a locked strongbox with no sign of forced entry.
Sir Arthur Vicars, the man in charge, blamed poison; Scotland Yard blamed whiskey. And suspicion soon fell on Francis Shackleton (brother of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton), a charming chancer with debts,...
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