How one of the Guildford Four Paul Hill married into the Kennedy dynasty after 15 years in jail for horrific bombing he didn't commit and now mourns daughter Saoirse, 22, who died from suspected drugs overdose

• e-mail

A member of the Guilford Four who was wrongly convicted of the 1974 pub bombings, before later marrying into the Kennedy family, is mourning the death of his daughter from a suspected drug overdose.  

Paul Michael Hill, 66, spent 15 years in prison for a crime he did not commit before marrying Courtney Kennedy - the daughter of assassinated presidential candidate Robert Kennedy.

The couple's daughter Saoirse Roisin Kennedy-Hill, 22, was found dead at the Kennedy compound on Cape Cod yesterday. 

Though Mr Hill has yet to publicly comment on the tragic death of his daughter, a Kennedy family statement said: 'Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse.' 

It is the latest tragedy to have befallen Mr Hill, who had a Hollywood movie made about his life in 1993, four years after his release from prison. 

The film charted his life before and after being wrongly convicted alongside friends Gerry Conlon, Paddy Armstrong and Carole Richardson for the horrific 1974 bombings at the Horse & Groom and the Seven Stars pub in which four off-duty soldiers and one civilian were killed. 

Paul Michael Hill, 66, was wrongly convicted of the 1974 Guildford pub bombings and spent 15 years in prison before marrying into the Kennedy family and having a Hollywood film made about his life. Mr Hill is the father of Saoirse Roisin Kennedy-Hill, 22, who was found dead at the Kennedy compound on Cape Cod, on Thursday

Born in west Belfast in 1954, to a protestant mother and catholic father, Mr Hill was the eldest of five children and a spirit of defiance ran through him from an early age. 

He said in a 1994 interview that he would 'take a thrashing before I'd do something I didn't want to do'.

At the age of just seven, the Irishman announced to his family that he was moving in with his grandparents because of his poor relationship with his father.

Years later, this defiance helped him endure 15 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.  

Mr Hill married Courtney Kennedy (right with Hill) - the daughter of the assassinated presidential candidate Robert Kennedy, who was murdered five years after his brother John - in 1993

His conviction was finally quashed as unsafe in 1989 and Hill was released from prison. 

A 1993 film about the Guildford Four, In The Name Of The Father, which starred Daniel Day Lewis as Mr Conlon and John Lynch as Mr Hill, was nominated for seven Oscars.  

In 1990, a year after his release, Mr Hill was invited alongside Gerry Conlon to testify before a congressional hearing on human rights.

It was there that he met Ethel Kennedy, the mother of his future wife, Courtney.

Mr Hill's rise from being convicted alongside friends Gerry Conlon, Paddy Armstrong and Carole Richardson for the horrific 1974 bombing of a Surrey pub (pictured) in which four off-duty soldiers and one civilian were killed, is a remarkable one

Mrs Kennedy was the widow of Robert 'Bobby' Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 while running as the Democrats' candidate to be President.

His brother, President John F. Kennedy, had been shot dead just five years earlier.  

Mrs Kennedy was impressed by Mr Hill and later recalled 'What he said, and how he said it, was very powerful.' 

She quickly introduced herself and invited him to her family's New York home to meet Courtney. 

Mr Hill met Courtney Kennedy in her apartment in New York in 1990 after her mother Ethel gave him the family's address. Ethel Kennedy met Hill in 1990 when he testified before a U.S. congressional hearing on human rights

Courtney, a former human rights activist and representative for a UN Aids foundation, said of their meeting in her apartment: 'He was so charming and we soon realised we had the same humour to face adversity.' 

In a 2002 interview with the Scottish Herald, Courtney said that, despite the social gulf between the then couple, there were a 'lot of similarities' which made them feel as though they had something in common. 

'He lost an enormous portion of his life and I lost my father and that took away something profound from me,' she said. 

'There was the sense that we had something in common with each other.' 

Mr Hill agreed, saying he was not fazed by the majesty of the Kennedy family. 

'I don't get fazed by anybody,' he said. 

Courtney, a former human rights activist and representative for a UN Aids foundation, said of their meeting in her apartment: 'He was so charming and we soon realised we had the same humour to face adversity. Above: Courtney with Mr Hill in 1994

Mr Hill admitted that his prison experience had left him scarred and 'angry' and his temper took its toll on the couple's marriage. They separated in 2006

'I've been through too much to be fazed by the Kennedys.

'They happen to be a normal family who have been beset by tragedy.' 

After a three-year courtship, the pair got married on a yacht in the Aegean sea. 

Their two-month honeymoon was spent in Ireland, and for Mr Hill's 39th birthday, an all-night party was thrown in which 40 members of the Kennedy family turned up. 

Courtney, who was herself one of 11 children of Robert and Ethel, said at the time: 'It was amazing, they all looked like Kennedy's'.

She went on to accompany him on his speaking engagements and the couple had their daughter, Saoirse Roisin Kennedy-Hill, in 1997. 

In a 2002 interview with the Scottish Herald, Courtney said that, despite the social gulf between the then couple, pictured left in 1994, there were a 'lot of similarities' which made them feel as though they had something in common

But Mr Hill admitted that his prison experience had left him scarred and 'angry' and his temper took its toll on the couple's marriage. 

'I lose it. It's difficult dealing with it. Courtney finds it hard to deal with,' he said. 

He would often wake up screaming and sweating after having 'terrible nightmares', Courtney said. 

'It was a terrible thing to see and I just used to wish there was something I could do,' she said. 

'But he just needed to go through it and, you know, after ten years, 12 years, he hasn't had too many for a while.'

However, after 13 years together, the couple separated in 2006. 

Saoirse and Courtney Kennedy are seen outside the White House in 2015. Saoirse was found dead at the Kennedy Compound on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Thursday

Saoirse Kennedy-Hill advocated for women's rights and the #metoo movement as part of her education at Boston College

Mr Hill has not yet spoken publicly following his daughter's death.  

The Kennedy family said after she was found at the Kennedy Compound on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, following a possible drug overdose Thursday: 'Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse.'

The statement quoted her grandmother, Ethel Kennedy, as saying: 'The world is a little less beautiful today.'