There was a sea-change in conditions at Mountjoy Prison after the long-serving governor John Lonergan retired in July 2010. He was replaced by the tough, no-nonsense Ned Whelan. Whelan had been the governor of the country’s highest-security jail – Midlands Prison, in Portlaoise – and was used to dealing with tough criminals. He would not be intimidated, despite threats to his life soon after he arrived in Mountjoy. Whereas Lonergan refused to install nets in the exercise yards to make it more difficult for people to throw in drugs to the prisoners, Whelan immediately adopted a zero-tolerance approach to illegal drugs and sanctioned sophisticated anti-drugs nets. This led to several violent confrontations, with large groups of prisoners unhappy that they could no longer get easy access to narcotics as they had been doing for years. As well as targeting prisoners, Whelan also introduced mandatory searches for staff to prevent rogue officers from acting as drug dealers while being paid a good wage by the Prison Service.
In March 2011 it was reported that Linda Mulhall had become a grandmother at the tender age of thirty-four. The report claimed that Linda’s son had become a dad two years previously when he was just sixteen years old. The report was never confirmed, but if it is true, it would mean that Kathleen Mulhall would have become great-grandmother at just fifty-four years of age, which may be some sort of record, although not one that most people would brag about.
In March 2011, on the sixth anniversary of the murder, this author again spoke to Farah Noor’s family in Kenya. The dead man’s son Mohamed Said was now nineteen years old. In the years since the brutal killing of his father, Mohamed had developed into a very promising swimmer and had represented his district. His mother, Husna, revealed how her son wanted to confront the Mulhall girls and beg them to reveal where Farah’s head was. She said she blamed Kathleen Mulhall for what happened and that she hopes she rots in hell. ‘My son would like to go to Ireland to talk to Kathleen. He wants her to look him in the eye and tell him she is sorry for his father and want to ask why was he killed. When Kathleen sees Mohamed, she will think it is Farah. They look very alike. I hate Kathleen; she is sick. She ruined her life and her family’s life and also the life of my family. I hope she is never happy for the rest of her life and pays for what she did.’
Husna revealed how she cannot find peace knowing some of her husband’s mutilated body parts have never been found. ‘I want Kathleen to say where Farah’s belongings are. He stayed in Ireland for ten years but there was nothing left of him, not even a T-shirt. I want to know where they went. I wish I could have Farah back to be buried in Kenya, but he is in pieces now and is in a grave in Ireland. Of course I would like Farah’s head and all of Farah’s body back, but I wouldn’t like to see him like that because he was my husband and I would feel bad.’
Husna also said she felt let down by the Irish State because the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal had still not paid her any compensation. She said it had been fifteen months since she’s last heard from them and it was four years since she had made her initial application. The forty-year-old mother said, ‘I don’t understand why it has taken so long. Farah was killed nearly six years ago and we filled out all the papers and the last ones were done fifteen months ago. We have heard nothing since.
‘I have a son and daughter in high school here and have no money since Farah died. I work as a waitress in a restaurant but the salary is low. I was told by the authorities that my family would be compensated, but nothing has happened and we have been left abandoned. I rang a detective who worked on the case but he said he was retired and could do nothing to help. I feel abandoned and cannot survive without this money I was told I was going to receive. Farah sent his family money every month and our lives are very hard since this stopped.’
Husna also revealed how the kindness of ordinary Muslims in Mombasa. ‘Farah’s mother gives us money and the local Muslim community also supports us because the children are orphans. When Farah died I had to stay indoors for over three months under Sharia law and could not leave the house while I was mourning my husband. I could not work or earn any money, so local people gave us money to help us live and [they] still do.’
Husna’s frustration was obvious and it was clear that she and her family were struggling to make ends meet. ‘I don’t understand why it has taken so long. The gardaí have told me I am entitled to this money but still I hear nothing. All the paperwork is done, so I pray that I get it soon,’ she added.
In May 2011 RTÉ finally broadcast its programme on the Scissor Sisters, which was part of a series entitled Killers. It had been filmed over three years previously but hadn’t been broadcast because RTÉ was concerned that it might influence Linda Mulhall’s appeal.
In the programme Detectvie Garda Dan Kenna, who had by then retired from the force, gave an interview and spoke of how he believed that John Mulhall played a far bigger part in the killing of Noor than has been admitted. He said, ‘I always believed that John Mulhall had a more active role at some stage. We’re not sure what his role was, but we know there was contact between the father, his wife, and two children. The taking of his own life would not be in keeping with the character of John Mulhall, and we’re unsure why that man took his own life. We have accounts of him beating his wife, Kathleen, and his children during their early years. Perhaps the burden of it was too much for him to bear, and the only way for him to deal with it was to take his own life.’
Kenna admitted that the truth of exactly what happen at Richmond Cottages on the night of Farah’s brutal death will probably never be fully ascertained. ‘We will never establish for certain what went on in Richmond Cottages the day Farah was killed. We are happy we have established the murder scene: we had ample evidence to support the fact he was murdered in that flat. We only have the accounts of Linda Muhall and Charlotte Mulhall to tell us what happened. We have a separate account from Kathleen Mulhall that distances her from the killing. We will never know how they could dismember a body in that area and leave so little evidence. You have to remember this was a living human being who had just been killed, whose body was still warm. For him to be cut up in the manner he was, into so many separate pieces in such a small area, and to leave no trace of that part of the crime poses the question of whether he was actually dismembered at the same location.’
As this book goes to print, in October 2011, Katheen Mulhall is due to be released from the Dóchas Centre, after serving her sentence for covering up Farah Noor’s killing. It is unclear what the future will hold for her. Sources say that she will most likely move back to the UK and try to rebuild her life and put her bloody past behind her. She had expressed an interest in trying to adopt Charlotte’s son but this never got off the ground because of the circumstances surrounding what happened on the fateful night in March 2005. No health authority would let Kathleen adopt a young child after the lengths she went to to cover-up what happened in her flat.
The Mulhalls notoriety endures, their grim story forever etched on the nation’s consciousness. Linda and Charlotte still have many more years to serve in prison but there is no way they will do their time in private; they will always be in the media spotlight, for the public still has a huge interest in the Irish Scissor Sisters. We have certainly not heard the last of them.
List of Illustrations
Linda and Charlotte Mulhall on their way into the Central Criminal Court in Dublin. © Courtpix
Farah Swaleh Noor on holiday with friends, in happier times.
The front of Flat 1, 17 Richmond Cottages, where Farah Swaleh Noor was murdered. © Sunday Tribune
Kathleen Mulhall.
Charlotte Mulhall, captured on CCTV camera on her way to dump Farah Noor’s body in the Royal Canal, at Ballybough Bridge.
Linda Mulhall, filmed with Farah Noor’s remains in her backpack.
A CCTV image of the Royal Canal on the morning after the murder, 21 March 2005.
A team of detectives look on as Farah Noor’s remains are recovered in eight pieces from the Royal
Canal, Dublin. © Collins Photo Agency
Gardaí search for evidence on the banks of the Royal Canal, at Ballybough Bridge. © Kyran O’Brien/Evening Herald
A garda patrols the crime scene at Ballybough Bridge. © Gerry Mooney/Evening Herald
Gardaí spent hours searching the grass beside the canal, looking for evidence. © Kyran O’Brien/Evening Herald
CCTV image of Charlotte Mulhall, which were examined against their garda mug shots.
CCTV image of Linda Mulhall, which were examined against their garda mug shots.
The Crimestoppers poster that led Ali Abubakaar to come forward and suggest that Farah Noor was the man whose remains had been found in the Royal Canal.
Superintendent John Leahy and Detective Inspector Christy Mangan (now Detective Superintendent) appeal for the public’s help in identifiying clothing found with the remains in the Royal Canal. © David Conachy/Indpendent Newspapers
The photograph of Farah Noor released by gardaí after he was identified.
Farah’s remains are lowered to their final resting place in Glasnevin Cemetery. © Independent Newspapers
The ‘Scissor Sisters’ get into a prison van on their way back to Mountjoy Women’s Prison. © Sunday Tribune
Linda Mulhall standing outside the court during a break in the trial. © Collins Photo Agency
Charlotte Mulhall on her way into the Central Criminal Court in Dublin. © Courtpix
Detective Garda Kevin Keys and Sergeant (now Detective Sergeant) Liam Hickey. © Sunday Tribune
Detective Inspector Christy Mangan arriving at the Coroner’s Court for Farah Noor’s inquest. © Liam Mulcahy/Independent Newspapers
Raonaid Murray, the seventeen-year-old murdered in Dun Laoghaire in September 1999. Farah Noor bragged that he was responsible for her killing.
Linda Mulhall crying outside the Central Criminal Court during a break in proceedings. © Collins Photo Agency
Linda and Charlotte Mulhall, accompanied by a prison officer, outside the Four Courts complex in central Dublin. © Sunday Tribune
The controversial photograph of Charlotte Mulhall joking with a fellow Mountjoy inmate as she holds a knife to his throat. © Evening Herald
Kathleen Mulhall fled to the UK and managed to avoid detection until December 2007. © Mark Condren/Sunday Tribune
Farah Noor with the family he left behind in Kenya.
Farah Noor’s nineteen-year-old son, Mohamed Said, wants to confront the Mulhalls about why they butchered his father.
Farah Noor’s Kenyan wife, Husna, and their eldest daughter, Somoe, who died shortly after hearing of her father’s murder.
Linda and Charlotte Mulhall on their way into the Central Criminal Court in Dublin. © Courtpix
Farah Swaleh Noor on holiday with friends, in happier times.
The front of Flat 1, 17 Richmond Cottages, where Farah Swaleh Noor was murdered. © Sunday Tribune
Kathleen Mulhall.
Charlotte Mulhall, captured on CCTV camera on her way to dump Farah Noor’s body in the Royal Canal, at Ballybough Bridge.
Linda Mulhall, filmed with Farah Noor’s remains in her backpack.
A CCTV image of the Royal Canal on the morning after the murder, 21 March 2005.
A team of detectives look on as Farah Noor’s remains are recovered in eight pieces from the Royal Canal, Dublin. © Collins Photo Agency
Gardaí search for evidence on the banks of the Royal Canal, at Ballybough Bridge. © Kyran O’Brien/Evening Herald
A garda patrols the crime scene at Ballybough Bridge. © Gerry Mooney/Evening Herald
Gardaí spent hours searching the grass beside the canal, looking for evidence. © Kyran O’Brien/Evening Herald
CCTV image of Charlotte Mulhall, which were examined against their garda mug shots.
CCTV image of Linda Mulhall, which were examined against their garda mug shots.
The Crimestoppers poster that led Ali Abubakaar to come forward and suggest that Farah Noor was the man whose remains had been found in the Royal Canal.
Superintendent John Leahy and Detective Inspector Christy Mangan (now Detective Superintendent) appeal for the public’s help in identifiying clothing found with the remains in the Royal Canal. © David Conachy/Indpendent Newspapers
The photograph of Farah Noor released by gardaí after he was identified.
Farah’s remains are lowered to their final resting place in Glasnevin Cemetery. © Independent Newspapers
The ‘Scissor Sisters’ get into a prison van on their way back to Mountjoy Women’s Prison. © Sunday Tribune
Linda Mulhall standing outside the court during a break in the trial. © Collins Photo Agency
Charlotte Mulhall on her way into the Central Criminal Court in Dublin. © Courtpix
Detective Garda Kevin Keys and Sergeant (now Detective Sergeant) Liam Hickey. © Sunday Tribune
Detective Inspector Christy Mangan arriving at the Coroner’s Court for Farah Noor’s inquest. © Liam Mulcahy/Independent Newspapers
Raonaid Murray, the seventeen-year-old murdered in Dun Laoghaire in September 1999. Farah Noor bragged that he was responsible for her killing.
Linda Mulhall crying outside the Central Criminal Court during a break in proceedings. © Collins Photo Agency
Linda and Charlotte Mulhall, accompanied by a prison officer, outside the Four Courts complex in central Dublin. © Sunday Tribune
The controversial photograph of Charlotte Mulhall joking with a fellow Mountjoy inmate as she holds a knife to his throat. © Evening Herald
Kathleen Mulhall fled to the UK and managed to avoid detection until December 2007. © Mark Condren/Sunday Tribune
Farah Noor with the family he left behind in Kenya.
Farah Noor’s nineteen-year-old son, Mohamed Said, wants to confront the Mulhalls about why they butchered his father.
Farah Noor’s Kenyan wife, Husna, and their eldest daughter, Somoe, who died shortly after hearing of her father’s murder.
Table of Contents
Dedication page
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
Author biography
Acknowledgements
Introduction
CHAPTER 1 The Day of the Murder
CHAPTER 2 The Clean-up
CHAPTER 3 The Aftermath of the Murder
CHAPTER 4 The Garda Investigation
CHAPTER 5 Betrayal and Arrests
CHAPTER 6 The True Life of Farah Noor
CHAPTER 7 Linda’s Confession
CHAPTER 8 Charlotte’s Confession
CHAPTER 9 Farah and Kathleen
CHAPTER 10 Tragic John Mulhall
CHAPTER 11 Life Behind Bars
CHAPTER 12 An Awkward Family Reunion
List of Illustrations
The Irish Scissor Sisters Page 33
