I have to say I have mixed feelings about the television documentary, Cold Case Collins, broadcast on RTE 1 last night. The first three parts were largely taken up with the acting out of a fictitious investigation of the death of Michael Collins in 1924, two years after the event by two Gardaí.
I found this confusing as I was constantly trying to figure out what was newly found historical research and what was fiction.
The most important new discovery from the programme came in part four when the results of an examination of Michael Collins’ cap was revealed.
Signs of blood were found both on the inside and on the outside of the cap.
The real bomb shell came when it was disclosed that signs of an entry wound were found, for the first time, on the left side of the cap, which meant that the bullet that killed Michael Collins entered slightly above and behind the left ear.
Yet at least one of the experts on the programme seemed to suggest that the bullet was fired from more or less straight in front of Collins from the direction of Long’s lane.
Since Michael Collins was facing west firing his rifle at the IRA men running up Long’s lane when he was shot and the entry hole in the cap was on his left side, then surely the bullet must have been fired from the south.
Tim Crowley
