Scissor Sister Charlotte Mulhall has been refused temporary release from jail for Christmas.
The Irish Mirror learned the 37-year-old requested temporary release from Limerick Prison where she is nearing the end of her life sentence for the murder of Farah Swaleh Noor in 2005. She had hoped to spend the festive period with family in Dublin after she was granted day release this year.
But her request for freedom for the festive season was turned down – as were many requests by life prisoners. This Christmas 129 inmates were granted temporary release, all but three of them already serving time in open facilities.
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Sources say Mulhall is now inching ever closer to freedom with these increasingly frequent visits and if she continues to be of good behaviour and engage in courses, she could soon be let out for several days in a row. She has taken a few classes behind bars and is working towards becoming a “model prisoner”.
If Mulhall is to walk free next year, she will have served 16 years for the notorious killing of her mother’s partner, in which she was assisted by her sister Linda. Though she could soon enjoy complete freedom, Charlotte’s status as a “life” prisoner will never change and should she ever get into trouble on the outside, she could be immediately returned to jail.
Under temporary release the killer would be required to sign on and notify authorities of her whereabouts at all times. Her sister Linda Mulhall is already free, having served 15 years for manslaughter while Charlotte, who stabbed Noor up to 20 times with a kitchen knife, was convicted of murder.
The brutal killing which shocked the nation happened in the apartment of their mother Kathleen at Richmond Cottage, Ballybough in North Dublin. While Charlotte stabbed Noor, Linda struck him with a hammer – with them claiming he tried to rape one of them.
They then chopped up his remains in their mother’s flat and dumped Noor’s limbs and torso in the Royal Canal before taking his head on the bus to Tallaght, South Dublin, where it was hidden. Irish Prison Service figures revealed just 3% of all inmates are granted temporary Christmas release.
A spokesman said: “Other criteria taken into account include the nature and gravity of the offence, length of sentence served to date, prior record on temporary release, behaviour while in custody and previous criminal history.”
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