PRISON GARDENER

Killer who helped bury man alive working as gardener at Mountjoy out

side prison walls

• Published: 16:30, 5 Oct 2023
• Updated: 16:30, 5 Oct 2023

A KILLER who helped bury alive a man after he was shot is working as a gardener at Mountjoy jail.

Michael Dickenson, 55, is one of a number of inmates that looks after the plants on the prison grounds.

And although the job takes him outside the prison’s walls he is banned from going into the street or mixing with the public.

A prison source said: “He works on the grounds of Mountjoy within the extended prison area.

“This means sometimes he is out at the front looking after the flower beds and sweeping.

“He may be outside of the prison but he is still on the campus and is observed by security cameras and guards.”

The Co Wicklow man was jailed for life in 2012 over the brutal murder of Stephen O’Meara, 26.

The victim was last seen alive on August 6, 2009 in the Rosehill estate in Wicklow town.

His body was found five months later on Christmas Eve in a shallow grave in woods at Redcross, Co Wicklow.

The trial heard that Dickenson drove Mr O’Meara to a wood to meet a man, Clement Byrne, to settle a €15,000 drug debt.

Dickenson said another man jumped out of the forest and shot him and he claimed he was forced to help bury Stephen.

The shooter was never caught and Byrne was jailed for eight years for manslaughter in January 2013.

The Mountjoy source added: “Michael Dickenson is no danger to the public looking after the flowers out front.

“He is known as the gardener of Mountjoy in here.”