THIS is the picture of the mysterious man who trained to be Ireland's first and only hangman.

James O'Sullivan from Cork city was so fearful of his true identity being revealed that he insisted on being given false papers when he travelled to England to receive instructions from the famous British hangman, Albert Pierrepoint, in 1945.

But the 46-year-old appeared to lose his nerve and stepped aside to allow Pierrepoint to carry out what was to be his first hanging two years later. He subsequently vanished without trace.

Now historian Tim Carey is hoping to discover what happened to him for a new television documentary.

"It's just one of these really-off-the wall stories that's unfinished. We don't know what his motivation was or what happened to him afterwards."

There are only two letters which document the story of James O'Sullivan, and both were unearthed by Mr Carey in the personal papers of former Mountjoy prison governor Sean Kavanagh.

In one written in 1941, the prospective hangman provided a series of cloak and dagger directions so he could be identified when he dismounted the train at Heuston Station.

"I shall carry on my left arm fawn colour shower proof coat - I shall go towards the engine and remove my hat and rub my forehead for a moment."

When he was given the job in 1945, he went to England for training under the assumed name 'Thomas Johnson'.

The state was forced to rely on Pierrepoint again after the disappearance of Mr O'Sullivan.

In total, there were 29 people hanged for murder in the state between 1922 and 1954.

It is not known where Mr O'Sullivan went but Mr Carey is investigating a possible link in Africa.

The Labour TD Joe Costello was backpacking around Swaziland in 1979 when he met a native African family who sang 'Galway Bay' to him and had an immense knowledge of Irish culture. They said their late father had been Irish - and a hangman.

Mr Carey, whose documentary is in pre-production, has asked anyone with information to contact him via Midas Productions at 01 6611384.