Free The Torso in the Canal by John Mooney Page A

vanished. He knew there was no point, that I had met someone else. He didn’t even come to see our son. It was over.’
    The conversation she shared with the detectives revealed more clues. She too mentioned Kathleen Mulhall, specifically that she had called her saying Noor was beating her.
    ‘She had started to call me asking for help. She said that Farah was beating her. She was very upset and was looking for help. I didn’t really know what to say because I had moved on, but she seemed desperate.
    ‘She asked me for advice. I remember one time, when she called late at night; she said she had got my telephone number from his phone. She was looking for advice. I advised her to leave him. I said he would never change. She wanted to know had he ever beaten me or attacked me. I told her the full story, and urged her to leave. I told her about the abuse.’
    Kathleen, she said, always called late at night and was polite.
    ‘On one occasion, she told me she was pregnant and that she was calling because she knew I was also pregnant.
    ‘But I later found out that she never was. She knew I was in a new relationship but I told her to leave him. I remember telling her that he would never change and that something awful would happen if she didn’t.’
    That was the last call. She never heard from Kathleen after that. This didn’t perturb her too much, for obvious reasons.
    As the gardaí chatted to her in the living room of her council home, they next found out that Noor and his girlfriend had moved to Cork for a time. The woman said she had last seen him in September 2002, almost a year after the relationship ended.
    This evidence was crucial, but her son was vital. If the torso and body parts found in the canal were indeed those of Noor, it would be his son’s DNA that could confirm it. The detectives thanked her for her time and then took a DNA swab from her son’s mouth. It was a simple process that could solve a complex case. As they left, they said they’d be in touch.
     
    *****
     
    Once Bakaar and Hyland made their statements, Linda and Charlotte Mulhall, and their mother, Kathleen, became suspects. This led detectives to the flat at Richmond Cottages on 21 May. When members of the team knocked at the door, they were told Kathleen had moved out. While this was not proof of any crime, it suggested that something had happened, at least—that she and Noor were no longer together.
    In a strange twist of fortune, the fact that Kathleen had vacated the premises assisted the investigation team, as they were permitted entry to the flat by the new tenant Caitriona Burke, who lived there with her three-year-old son. She had thought nothing of moving into the flat and agreed to help the Garda in any way she could. The detectives asked if she had noticed anything unusual. Her answer was honest: she hadn’t. Though, when she thought back, she did recall a big blue ring on the floor at the bedroom door, and some missing carpet.
    The missing carpet had been discovered by chance. When she had moved a double bed, she saw there was no carpet but just a concrete floor.
    ‘It was like it was just patched up to give the impression that there was carpet on the floor. The carpet at the window of the patio door just looked as if it was hacked,’ she told the detectives.
    However, she never saw any blood stains. Figuring that a forensic examination of the flat could only produce results, Mangan asked if the occupant would allow members of his team to examine the scene. If his suspicions were correct, he knew the flat at Richmond Cottages would contain traces of blood; if Noor had been killed here, it would have to.
    In almost all cases where the victims of murder have been killed in a violent fashion, traces of important evidence are left behind. Mangan knew a murderer could dispose of a victim’s body and mop up the blood, but without some heavy-duty cleaning chemicals, evidence would remain. Microscopic particles of blood left at the