Dark lives of 'Scissor Sisters' who decapitated and dismembered mum's boyfriend
It's been two decades since Linda and Charlotte Mulhall were infamously dubbed the 'Scissor Sisters', following one of Ireland's most "grotesque" murders.
The siblings viciously killed Farah Swaleh Noor, 40, their mum Kathleen's boyfriend, during a drug-fuelled bender. Linda and Charlotte decapitated Farah and cut off his penis before dumping his dismembered body in a canal. Chillingly, his head was never found.
Detective Garda Daniel Kenna once said: "I have worked on a lot of murders and murder is murder but in this circumstance, the fact that the body was mutilated in the way it was after the killing and the fact that it was done by women made it particularly gruesome."
Now, 20 years later, we delve into the chilling details of the case and uncover the contrasting lives of the two sisters now.
The murder
The horrific crime unfolded around St Patrick's weekend in March 2005 and began with a binge of drugs and alcohol for the sisters.
Noor, a married father of two with an alleged history of violence against women, including rape accusations, joined in on the partying.
He had settled in Dublin with Kathleen after they relocated from Cork. Throughout their relationship, she was reportedly hospitalised multiple times, once for fractured ribs.
But it was Noor who met a brutal end during a drug-induced frenzy fuelled by vodka and ecstasy. He is said to have tried to 'aggressively' pursue Linda before he was butchered and killed. Some accounts suggest the murder took place on March 20.
Charlotte stabbed Noor 27 times using a Stanley knife, while Linda struck him with a claw hammer, the Irish Mirror reports. The man's head and genitals were never found.
The violent siblings reportedly spent hours on the bathroom floor meticulously cutting up his remains and stuffing them into plastic carrier bags.
Linda and Charlotte then dumped Noor's limbs and torso into the Royal Canal before getting on a bus to Tallaght in southwest Dublin with the victim's head concealed. In the meantime, mum Kathleen helped clean the crime scene.
The killers thought they'd got away with the despicable crime, but around ten days later, Noor's leg was found floating in the canal - with a sock still attached.
Judge Paul Carney would describe it as "the most grotesque killing that has ever occurred" in his career.
Former Detective Superintendent Frank Keenaghan previously said: "This was a particularly gruesome and shocking crime and certainly everybody was aware of it. It was the talk of the country that this person should be murdered, stabbed, dismembered, and then the body part gotten rid of."
"And then when you look at it in the cold light of day, they're on the bus with the head, or having breakfast."
Despite Noor's alleged history of violence towards women, Keenaghan said that the manner of his death was inexcusable, saying: "There are ways of dealing with people and while he may have provoked Linda, she certainly could have gone to the guards and made a complaint and he would have, more than likely, been incarcerated. But to die in the manner he did, and to be dismembered the way he was, no human being deserves that."
Charlotte received a life sentence for murder, while Linda, found guilty of manslaughter, was sentenced to 15 years. Kathleen was given a five-year term for impeding the investigation by concealing evidence.
Charlotte Mulhall
Charlotte remains locked up and is the longest-serving female prisoner in Ireland. She is said to spend her time enjoying fitness classes and education.
She's even earned the label of a "model prisoner" after significantly improving her behaviour while locked up – though not without her share of scandal.
Despite now being held at Limerick prison, she used to be at Mountjoy Prison's female wing, where a disturbing photo was leaked.
The chilling image from 2008 captured Charlotte grinning as she held a large knife to a male prisoner's throat.
This raised serious questions about why male and female prisoners were mixing and how Charlotte had got her hands on the blade.
She was later accused of having an "inappropriate sexual relationship" with a male member of staff, and in 2014 she'd been reportedly caught with booze in her cell.
A year after, she reportedly found herself in segregation after burning the back of a fellow prisoner with heated hair tongs, according to the Irish Independent.
She also is said to have ran a hair and beauty salon called Head And Shoulders with her sister Linda, reportedly a twisted reference to how they hacked their victim's body.
Nowadays, reports from Limerick prison cast her in a different light. A source said in 2023: "She is no trouble at all and spends most of her time doing school and fitness classes. She just wants to get out and get on with her life."
Last year it was claimed that Charlotte was being granted trips away from the prison to prepare her for being a free woman one day. According to the Sunday World, one day trip saw her go to the cinema to watch horror sci-fi movie Alien: Romulus. Family visits have also reportedly been facilitated.
Prisoners who receive life sentences will always have conditions after release, but it is believed Charlotte may eventually be allowed out on licence, potentially sooner rather than later.
Linda Mulhall
Meanwhile, Linda was freed from prison in 2018 at the age of 43, having served time for manslaughter.
When approached by reporters upon her release, she simply said: "I just want to get on with living my life. I don't want to be giving any story."
Mum Kathleen has given some insight, however, hinting at fractions between her and Linda. After her daughter was released, she said: "I'm tired. I really am. Sometimes I just think I don't want to wake up anymore but then when Linda came out of prison it gave me a bit of hope to want to live again, but there was no contact from her. She wouldn't even answer a message that I sent her."
Despite the strained relationship, the mum-of-three appears to have a closer bond with Charlotte. She said in a different interview: "I only talk with Charlotte. She is my life. She is my only child and Andrew is my only son."
Linda meanwhile, who developed an interest in beauty therapy in prison, was later commended by her daughter, Nikita Mulhall, for removing "a dirty rapist off the streets".
Posting on Facebook, Nikita said: "Boils my blood no one will ever know the true story to what happened. If he was in prison and the three of them were in the ground, how much different would it have been?".
Fitness instructor and mum Nikita, previously honoured as player of the tournament at the 2017 Homeless World Cup, further added: "You've done your time, Linda, well done – go live your life, you deserve it."
"Then the night it happened, he messes with the wrong woman – he wasn't getting away with raping another woman that night."
Since gaining her freedom, Linda is believed to have relocated to the UK. A source told the Irish Sunday Mirror: "It's believed Linda tried to get a number to Charlotte recently in prison to contact her on.
"It was an English number which suggests she's over in the UK. There was speculation when she was first released that she would not stay in Ireland as she was too recognisable and would get hassled by the public. By all accounts she was a model prisoner when she was in jail and just wants to start over and get on with her life.
"The word is she was head over heels for a former prison officer and had it bad for him but it all ended. Without that romance, there was really nothing holding her to Ireland. Given her close relationship with Charlotte inside, it raised eyebrows that Linda hadn't popped over for a visit. But giving her sister a way to get in touch clearly shows Linda's looking to reconnect and check in on how Charlotte's doing."
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