Prison Knife Images Probed

An investigation has begun after photographs showing murderer Charlotte Mulhall holding a knife in prison appeared in Irish newspapers.

The Prison Service has confirmed it has opened an inquiry after the images appearing of Mulhall holding a large knife to the neck of another prisoner in Dublin's Mountjoy Prison.

The photograph was apparently taken with a mobile phone in the kitchen of the Dochas Centre, the female prison in Mountjoy, some time before early July.

Mulhall (24), a mother of one, was given a life sentence in December 2006 for murder, and her older sister, Linda (31), a mother of four, was given a 15-year term for the manslaughter of Farah Swaleh Noor, who had been dating their mother, Kathleen.

Charlotte stabbed the victim up to 20 times with a kitchen knife, while her sister admitted hitting him "a good few times" in the head with a claw hammer.

After killing Mr Noor, both sisters spent hours sawing up his body in their mother's Dublin apartment at Richmond Cottages, Ballybough.

They later dumped his limbs and torso in the nearby Royal Canal before taking his head on the bus to Tallaght where it was hidden in a park, before being disposed of in another location. The head and penis of the victim, who was from Kenya, have never been found.

The Labour Party's justice spokesman, Pat Rabbitte, said the publication of the photograph raises "serious questions" about the adequacy of security procedures within the prison system.

He asked how Mulhall could be in possession of a potentially lethal knife, and why male and female prisoners were allowed socialise in jail.

He also said the photograph raises doubts about the Government's commitment to halt the use of mobile phones in Irish prisons.

However, according to Irish Prison Service statistics, more than 2,000 mobile phones were seized by prison authorities last year.

Of those, 718 phones were found in Mountjoy, the highest total for a prison in the State, followed by 255 seized in Limerick Prison.

Since May 2007 the Prisons Act has made it an offence to have a telecommunications device in prison, and the offender may be fined €5,000 and imprisoned for one year by the District Court, or both.

On conviction on indictment, a fine of €10,000 or imprisonment for five years or both may be imposed in the Circuit Court.

See: Mulhall Mother Charged Over Noor's Death

(BMcC)