by John Mooney
- Mark Twain
The interrogation of Linda Mulhall didn’t end with the confession. Although she had made a statement admitting her role in the killing, and co-operated as best she could, Mangan was legally obliged to follow up every line of inquiry. Foremost in his mind was the urgent need to locate the victim’s head, which was still missing. It was imperative that every effort be made to locate it as fast as possible for humane as much as evidential reasons.
The following morning, 20 August, he returned to Kilclare Gardens, accompanied once more by Hickey. They arrived in Tallaght about 11.20am.
Linda had been expecting their arrival and was waiting at the door. She invited them into the sitting room of the house. She looked apprehensive but more rested; she’d slept for the first time in months.
Mangan thanked her for being honest. He said he knew how difficult it must have been for her to confess, but assured her she had made the correct decision. He then explained that he would need her help to identify where she had buried the head. This had to be found.
The inspector was careful to explain that from now on, all his dealing would be formal. In other words, he would have to administer a legal caution to her. He proceeded to do so and she said she understood.
The two detectives knew Linda’s statements would eventually result in her being charged; therefore they made a point of constantly reminding her that she didn’t have to assist them in the inquiry. Linda, though, insisted she wanted to. Later that morning, she was taken to the Sean Walsh Memorial Park, off the Old Bawn Road. This was the location, she told gardaí in her statement, where she, Charlotte and her mother had buried Noor’s head and disposed of the knives.
The park itself is overlooked by the Dublin Mountains, and contains formal gardens with water features including ponds and waterfalls.
She directed the two detectives to one of the gardens opposite the Plaza Hotel. Her recollection of where she had hidden the evidence was clear. She directed them straight to a lake where she said the hammer and knives had been thrown. She then pointed to an area behind a park bench where she said Charlotte had dug a hole with a knife and buried the head.
The team had to treat each location as a crime scene. In this regard, Mangan had requested that other members of the team meet at the park to cordon it off.
These pieces of information, which effectively corroborated her story, were crucial to solving the case. Her help permitted the team to retrieve the knives and hammer used in the attack and dismemberment. Because of her willingness to co-operate, the team was able to build a detailed picture of the sequence of events as they had unfolded; certainly to the best of her recollection.
She left the park at noon accompanied by Mangan and Hickey, and next drove to a housing estate off the Tallaght by-pass. Once again, she showed a willingness to do whatever was necessary to assist the team, even though it was to her own detriment. While Hickey parked the patrol car, Linda took Mangan into Killinarden Estate.
She now retraced her footsteps. As she walked, she spoke to Mangan about what she had done. Mangan had been joined by Detective Sergeant Colm Fox, who coincidentally had been one of the first gardaí on the scene when Noor’s body was found.
Killinarden is a predominantly working class estate, which has suffered from social exclusion since it was built. Walking through the concrete jungle, Linda explained why she had taken the head from its original resting place. At the time, it made perfect sense; she was afraid someone would find it.
Fox listened attentively to the killer as she dictated what had happened, pointing out certain areas. When she finished, Mangan asked him to preserve the scene; they then returned to the car.
It would be incorrect to assume that Linda had enabled the inquiry team to break the case though. The information provided by Bakaar had done that, but she did reveal the specifics and most importantly why Noor had died. While it is conceivable that the Director of Public Prosecutions would have pressed charges on the basis of the forensic evidence obtained from Richmond Cottages; the reason behind the killing and why Noor had been dismembered would have remained a mystery.
Linda’s decision to come clean, more than anything else, gave the inquiry team the valuable information they required to pursue every aspect of the case. However, there is no doubt that she confessed because she could no longer live with the guilt. In some ways, she saw her co-operation with the team as an exercise in cleansing her guilt; she was doing the right thing by Noor, even though it would have calamitous consequences for her.
When she had finished clarifying the few remaining questions that were outstanding, she asked to be brought home. She was physically and mentally exhausted.
She wanted to be with her children. She planned to cook them a special dinner, she said, and make them a trifle. The remark struck many of the team as unusual, given the circumstances, though it reinforced the notion that she was a vulnerable woman.
The truth was that Mangan had enough information and crime scenes to search and examine. But he did ask if she could meet the next morning to clarify other outstanding matters, which had presented themselves. Linda, once again, agreed to meet without hesitation, though, there was purpose in the request from Mangan. He had a residual fear that she would change her mind, deny what she had said, and claim to have been coerced into confessing. He was experienced enough to know this was a distinct possibility and one that couldn’t be ruled out.
This partly explains why he proceeded to gather as many statements and as much evidence as was humanly possible.
The search of the lake in the Sean Walsh Memorial Park located the weapons that Linda had said were used to kill Noor. However, there was still no sign of the missing head. The search of the hillside where Linda had secretly buried it had revealed nothing. Mangan knew she wasn’t lying, which led the team to conclude it must have been moved elsewhere by a dog, or wildlife. There was no doubt this was a setback.
*****
Regardless, Mangan and Hickey returned to Kilclare Gardens the next morning, arriving there at 11.50am. This time, the door was answered by one of Linda’s children. They were polite and mannerly, and asked the detectives to go into the sitting room and take a seat.
As they waited, John Mulhall Snr came into the room. He shook their hands before offering tea and biscuits once again. He then left the room and called Linda downstairs.
She looked flustered. She apologised for leaving them waiting. As was now procedure, she accompanied them to the station where she was cautioned. Mangan informed the Duty Sergeant that she was there of her own free will and had volunteered to be interviewed. Linda confirmed this was the case. The three were then shown to an interview room. Hickey inserted an audio tape into a recorder and administered a legal caution. They once again told her she was free to leave at any time, for the benefit of the tape.
This interview was conducted with the intention of corroborating the information she had provided with the items retrieved from the park the day before.
Mangan began by explaining that he wanted to ask her specific questions about the scenes they had visited. He also explained that he wanted to drive her into the city, where she could identify specific locations while being filmed. This would confirm the facts she’d already disclosed. Linda, once again, said, ‘That’s grand.’
That interview began with a series of straight questions.
‘In your statement, you referred to Charlie. Is that your sister Charlotte?’
‘Yes.’
The questions that followed were simple but they had a purpose. They showed Linda reaffirming what she had earlier said. If an allegation was to be raised at a later date in a trial situation, the team would be able to show that Linda had confessed to the crime over a number of days, and reaffirmed her story.
‘You mentioned that you had ecstasy with you. How many did you have?
> ‘About ten.’
‘How many did you take?
‘I know I said one, but when I went back home there was none left. I do know me mam only crushed up one, and put it into Farah’s drink.’
‘Were they a particular type of E.’
‘I think they were butterflies,’ she added.
The interview continued.
The detectives took her through her story once more; they went over the actual murder and the events that preceded it.
The interrogation was difficult for Linda in many ways. She constantly cried, forcing the detectives to stop certain lines of questioning; though every time, she insisted on continuing.
An important part of this interview was her absolute denial that her father had been involved in the killing.
In the interview, she denied categorically that she told him about the killing, or what had transpired. She said he hadn’t known about anything.
‘Did you ever tell your dad?’ the detectives asked.
‘No.’
‘Your dad had no part in this?’ they asked again.
‘No.’
This could not have been true, as he had visited the flat hours after the killing.
They also asked about the dismemberment and disposal of the body. Linda said she couldn’t remember the specifics; she was telling the truth.
‘How long did it take? Hours?’ asked Mangan.
‘No I don’t know. I remember some things. I remember about the bag.’
‘How long would it have taken for you to go to the canal with the parts?’
‘About six times.’
The detectives needed specifics; so they encouraged Linda to tell them as much as possible, even to give them information that she saw as irrelevant. They asked more questions about the weight of the bags, and the route taken from the flat to the canal, to ensure she was telling the truth.
Emotional and tearful, she explained the sequence of events; how she had walked from her mother’s flat, on to Main Road, and to the canal. She withheld nothing.
The focus of the interview then changed. The detectives concentrated on showing that Linda must have been involved in the killing, as she knew the details. This again was aimed at revealing her knowledge of the killing to make sure she was not accepting responsibility for a crime she didn’t commit, or possibly trying to protect others.
‘As regards clothes, we found jeans in the canal. Was he wearing jeans?’ they asked.
‘Don’t know,’ she answered.
‘Underpants. Was he wearing ones that night?’ was the next question.
‘Yes.’
‘Any reason why they were left on him?’ they asked.
‘I don’t know.’
‘He had jewellery. Where did it go?’ they asked.
‘Charlotte sold it or gave it away.’
The detectives were particularly keen to know who knew what. Had she discussed the killing with anyone? This was of vital importance.
‘After he was killed, did you meet and discuss it many times?’
‘Not really. We did not even talk about it. I could see the way Ma and Charlotte had changed; they could see how I had changed.’
She broke down once again. At this point, Mangan offered to terminate the interview. She was now crying uncontrollably and couldn’t be consoled. More than anything, the gardaí didn’t want to be seen to have pressurised her into saying anything or making a confession. This became a common theme in their dealing, though, in fairness, Linda never held back any information.
She continued to dictate her story. She next spoke about plans she had fermented in her mind if she were to be charged. She had spoken to her brother James, not about the killing, but about who would care for her children should something happen to her.
‘When I say I talked to James, I asked him to look after the kids if anything happened,’ she told them. The day’s interview concluded on that note.
As they left the interview room, she asked to be taken to a toilet. It was now 1.55pm in the afternoon. Mangan was now armed with more hard information. As they left, he told Sergeant Duncan Byrne they were leaving Tallaght Station to point out scenes.
As they drove to Fitzgibbon Street, Linda asked could they stop and get coffee. She had a splitting headache. Retelling the story affected her greatly.
Mangan drove on to the station but brought her to the station’s kitchen when they arrived. There, Linda made coffee for them all and smoked a cigarette. Her mind was in turmoil now. She kept having flashbacks; she replayed the killing over and over again.
They left the station an hour later in a patrol car. As they drove through the north inner city, Linda said she recognised the Sunset House Pub and directed Hickey to turn left and left again ,and then right into Richmond Cottages.
She then pointed out No. 17.
Mangan then asked her to step out of the car and point out the flat where she had killed Noor.
The front door was locked but Mangan rang the bell and one of the other tenants answered. She then walked into the hall and pointed out Flat No. 1. It was the first time she had been to the flat since the killing.
As she did this, she broke down crying; she was uncontrollable. She could not look anyone in the face. Instead she just cried and cried. Returning to the scene of the killing was too much. Mangan asked if she wanted to go home; she said yes without hesitation. He took her straight home.
The offer did not have the calming affect the detectives had hoped for.
During the 40 minute drive to Tallaght, Linda cried, this time hysterically. She said she’d always been in the wrong place at the wrong time. She spoke about how Noor had beaten her mother up too. She also spoke about self harm and how she couldn’t get Noor’s face out of her mind. She was a troubled woman.
There was nothing the detectives could do; they could offer her no solace as they both knew she would most likely be charged. Instead they allowed her to speak.
They arrived back at the Mulhall house at 3.30pm. Mangan walked her back into the house.
When Linda saw her father, she hugged him and kissed him, almost leaning on him.
John Mulhall Snr thanked the gardaí, and Mangan told Linda to call him on his mobile if she needed anything. She said that she’d help him further if he needed things clarified. She hugged him and thanked him for his kindness.
That afternoon was a difficult one. Mangan figured Linda wasn’t a ruthless killer, yet she had committed a ruthless crime. However, he couldn’t ignore the emotional turmoil she appeared to be in. He had never dealt with a killer like this before. There were still lingering doubts over the involvement of her father.
When they left the house, the two detectives went straight to Killinarden Hill, which was now being searched. The search teams had found nothing. When he was informed of the news, the two went back to the incident room.
*****
While the gardaí continued to forensically examine the crime scenes, they didn’t approach Linda again until 2 September. There was no point. They had, by this stage, retrieved what they could find from the Royal Canal and the park in Tallaght, but they could still not recover Noor’s head. They knew Linda hadn’t lied when she said she had disposed of the head in Killinarden but it just wasn’t there anymore.
Accompanied once again by Hickey, Mangan called to see Linda at her home. They found her in an advanced state of depression. She looked unwell; in fact; she looked shattered. She was a broken woman.
This analysis was confirmed when she told the gardaí she was having difficultly sleeping, although she felt better having confessed. She asked if her mother and Charlotte had talked to the gardaí yet, but showed no reaction when she heard they hadn’t.
The purpose of Mangan’s visit was to ensure he had as m
uch evidence as possible to press charges against her, though in essence he wished to establish specifically who had done what. This would allow him to bring charges against Charlotte, Kathleen and anyone else involved.
In this regard, he wanted her once again to point out the various crime scenes, and to retrace the route they had taken in the city centre. Linda agreed to this but said she couldn’t do it right then as she had no babysitter, but that she would gladly do it another day.
Before Mangan left he advised her to see her doctor about getting sleeping pills to help her. Both gardaí were struck by Linda’s appearance, which seemed to be deteriorating rapidly.
When Hickey and Mangan next returned to Kilclare Gardens, they found Linda in the kitchen ironing. She looked slightly better. As they had a cup of coffee, she revealed that Charlotte had told her that she planned on turning herself in. He had heard all of this before.
Mangan didn’t pass any remark on this, but asked Linda if she could now go with them to clarify some things in relation to the crime scenes. He explained that this would be video recorded. She readily agreed, and once she had been officially cautioned, they headed off towards Killinarden Hill.
There they met Detective Garda Dominic Cox, who Mangan explained would record her on film. The four walked into the field where Linda said she had buried Noor’s head. She pointed out the same place as she had previously shown him. Furthermore she said that she was certain she was in the right place. Although they hadn’t found Noor’s skull, Mangan figured she was telling the truth; there was no reason for her not to.
The next place they visited was the boardwalk in central Dublin, where she had taken drugs before the killing. Linda was unemotional as she showed the gardaí which bench they had sat on as they drank vodka and consumed the ecstasy tablets.
She then retraced her steps until they drove to Ballybough Bridge.
From a distance, Linda confirmed that it was the bridge where they had dumped the body parts.
