IRA members Patrick Maher and Edmund Foley stand in the courtyard of Mountjoy Prison. They were last people to be executed Britain during the Irish War of Independence. Hanged along with the two men was a Black and Tan who had been convicted of murder by his own side (Dublin, 1921) [762 x 987].
by lightiggy
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[Patrick Maher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Maher_(Irish_republican))
[Edmund Foley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmond_Foley)
The execution of [RIC constable William Mitchell](https://heritage.wicklowheritage.org/places/dunlavin-2/the-dunlavin-tragedy-murder-suicide-and-the-execution-of-william-mitchell-in-1921) was intended to be a demonstration of even-handedness. However, in reality, he was arbitrarily singled out.
* William Mitchell was not British. He was an Irish collaborator.
* The murder was purely non-political and would not qualify as a war crime.
* Mitchell and fellow Black and Tan Arthur Hardie murdered Arthur Dixon, a wealthy English magistrate, during a robbery.
* Others had committed far worse crimes and faced minimal, if any consequences.
* Mitchell wasn’t the triggerman. Hardie had shot Dixon, but killed himself during the investigation.