KATHLEEN Mulhall was genuinely shocked when they were all taken in for questioning about Farah Noor's murder on 3 August 2005. She had stressed to her daughters Linda and Charlotte that there was no evidence against them. She went to Kilclare Gardens (where Linda and Charlotte lived) the day after the arrests, and Linda told her that Charlotte was in Mountjoy over outstanding warrants. When they spoke about the previous day, Kathleen shook her head sadly and said: "It was James, it was James.

There were things being said that were only said to James." She could not believe that her first-born child had betrayed her.

Two days after she was released, she went into Fitzgibbon Street Garda Station asking to speak with Garda Sheelagh Sheehan. She wanted her passport and social welfare card returned and was carrying a photograph of Farah. She started crying and said that the photo was all she had left of her boyfriend. Kathleen claimed she slept with it under her pillow at night. She said she'd been involved in a brief relationship with a Russian man named Alex, but he'd left her when she told him that her ex-boyfriend had been murdered.

Over the next few weeks, Kathleen started to cut off all contact with her family and moved to Carlow without telling anybody. She had no friends or family there but it obviously felt far enough away from Dublin. She began to lose contact with her two daughters during this time and didn't return any of Charlotte's many phone calls. Charlotte only heard that Kathleen was in Carlow from somebody she knew who had spotted her mother.

Linda confesses On 2 September, Kathleen was back in Dublin, collecting her dole money at North King Street Social Welfare Office. She had just left when she saw DS Gerry McDonnell coming towards her.

She warmly greeted the detective sergeant and asked him was there any chance she could get a lift with him to the post office in Dorset Street.

McDonnell agreed to take her and during the short journey, he told her that Linda had confessed to them. She claimed that Kathleen had asked her two daughters to murder Farah Noor in her flat at Richmond Cottages on 20 March, adding that Linda had made an official statement and that Kathleen would have to respond to the allegations in some way. She agreed to ring McDonnell after she'd had a chance to speak to her two girls. She got out of the car, saying she would talk to him later.

Kathleen Mulhall never made any contact, however, and the guards spent a week trying to get in touch with her, without any success. Kathleen had a lot of time for Garda Sheelagh Sheehan, who had interviewed her a couple of times on 3 August. On 13 September, Sheehan found out that Kathleen had secretly moved to Carlow.

Detective Superintendent John McKeown travelled down to Carlow District Court that afternoon and made an application for the re-arrest of Kathleen Mulhall for the murder of Farah Swaleh Noor. The application for a warrant was granted.

The following morning Det Sgt Gerry McDonnell, Det Gda Pat Keegan and Gda Cliona O'Brien drove to Carlow, arriving at 84A St Mary's Park at 12.35pm. When Kathleen opened the front door, she was officially arrested and taken to Mountjoy Garda Station for questioning. Kathleen said she needed cigarettes and they stopped at a garage just outside Carlow. She tried to talk to DS Gerry McDonnell about the case during the car journey, but he said they couldn't discuss it until they got to the station.

They arrived at Mountjoy Garda Station at 2.05pm and the 49-year-old was processed and told that Linda had been charged with Farah's murder. Kathleen said she wanted to talk to her solicitor. Daragh Robinson spoke to her by telephone at 3.07pm and made plans to go to the station to see his client. Kathleen was then interviewed from 4pm to 6.26pm by NBCI Detectives Malachy Dunne and Pat Flood. Detective Superintendent John McKeown granted a sixhour extension to her detention period after this.

Disclosure forestalled Det Sgt Gerry McDonnell and Det Gda Pat Keegan went into the interview room at 6.50pm and asked her to tell them the truth about what had happened in her flat at 17 Richmond Cottages on 20 March. Kathleen agreed to tell the men exactly what had occurred and she had just started to open up when there was a knock at the door. The detectives were informed that Peter Mullen, a colleague of Daragh Robinson's from Garret Sheehan's office, had arrived at the station and wanted to speak to their client. Kathleen initially indicated that she didn't want to see the solicitor, but then changed her mind and said she'd see him for five minutes.

The interview was suspended at 7.04pm and before Peter Mullen went off to a private room to advise Kathleen, DS Gerry McDonnell told him that she was just about to tell them what had happened when he arrived. During her session with the solicitor, Kathleen also consulted with Daragh Robinson. She spoke to him two more times by phone, at 7.05pm and 7.25pm respectively.

The interview resumed at 7.38pm and, between that time and her eventual release at 12.15am, Kathleen maintained she had told the gardai when she was detained on 3 August. She denied any knowledge of her boyfriend's murder. She also claimed she didn't know anything about Linda admitting to carrying out the killing and pointing the finger of blame at her. She was asked how she felt about Farah Noor's death and replied: "If you loved someone and they were found chopped to bits, how would you feel?"

She wouldn't concede that Farah had been murdered in her flat and denied that he lived with her because he "never spent a full week there".

Turned to prostitution Det Sgt McDonnell and Det Gda Keegan asked her if she spent every night at the flat. Kathleen replied: "Actually no I didn't . . . the nights I didn't stay there, I was out selling myself for money."

She told the detectives that she had turned to prostitution to earn money to send back home to Farah's family in Kenya. She claimed: "I started going up to Baggot Street to get money for Farah to send to his family, but he didn't know I was going up there." She said that she had only started working the streets around the south city in the weeks before the murder because she was worried that Farah was claiming social welfare cheques he wasn't eligible for as he was working.

When questioned, she couldn't remember how many nights she had worked in and around St Patrick's Day because she was drinking a lot, but thought it was probably "a good few". She claimed that it was Charlotte who had introduced her to prostitution when she was short on cash.

She claimed her daughter had brought her to an area called Lad Lane, just off Baggot Street, and showed her what to do to sell herself for sex, for 50 or 60 a go. Kathleen hadn't even known that the notorious red-light area had existed until her daughter brought her down. After that, she regularly worked the streets for extra cash. She was never arrested by the guards and said she used to spend nights in clients' houses, before getting a taxi home the next morning.

She claimed that on the day of her boyfriend's murder she spent the early afternoon drinking with him and her two daughters and stopped at an off-licence on the way home for some cans and vodka. After buying the drink, she said: "I went off on my own, maybe down the street, I didn't go home that night. Farah said he was going to see an ex-girlfriend, I was going my own way."

She also denied that Farah and herself had an argument and denied they had a relationship:

"No, me and Farah weren't a couple. We didn't have a relationship. He was my friend." The detectives could not believe what they were hearing.

Kathleen claimed that when Farah left her on O'Connell Street (on the night of the murder) he promised to phone, but she never heard anything from him again. She said she walked down O'Connell Street, across the quays in the direction of Baggot Street, where she spent the night on the game. She drank the vodka as she went, to give her the courage to put herself in the potentially dangerous situation of selling herself for sex in a dark alleyway. After finishing her stint on the streets, Kathleen said she got a taxi home. It had started to turn bright and there was nobody in the flat when she arrived. Something had happened though because when she got into the flat, Kathleen stated: "All my clothes were pulled out of the dressers, pulled out everywhere. I went to the toilet and then I slept on the couch. I got up and started to fix my stuff. I noticed Farah's clothes were gone except for a white jacket and a couple of T-shirts. All his other stuff was gone."

She said she didn't notice anything else strange about the flat and certainly didn't see any blood there. After tidying her stuff she went back to sleep and was woken by Linda and Charlotte who had come in the open door.

She told the detectives that she never spoke to the girls about Farah. She said she'd tried to ring him a few times since but his phone was off.

She had just assumed that he had gone off to live with his ex-girlfriend in Kilkenny, who had a sick child.

Unbelievable lies Again the gardai believed that she was lying and that her story made no sense.

Farah's wallet was gone as well, but Kathleen explained that she had his banklink card. She said he had given it to her a long time ago, to look after, because he wasn't great at managing money. She said she'd used his card "loads" of times before because he owed her money but she didn't have any information on the bankcard being used after his murder. When the detectives questioned her about the card, she said she didn't have it now and didn't know where it was.

Kathleen said she didn't know anything about using the card after Farah died. She claimed that she had not taken any money out, even though bank records showed that his account had been accessed after he died.

"As far as the government here are concerned, Farah doesn't know where any of his family are, but he did know because he sent them money, " she said. She claimed that she gave Farah 1,500 to send to his mother in Africa. She paid 63 for wiring it to Kenya and said a woman called Lulu signed for it on 6 December 2004. Kathleen said she was "always" lending him cash to send back home. She told them that Charlotte had given Farah 1,000 out of a compensation claim payoff she'd received as a result of a road traffic accident, to send to Kenya. The 1,500 Kathleen had lent him was also part of a gift from Charlotte. When pressed, Kathleen estimated that in the three years they were together she'd lent him another 6,000, which came from her dole money.

The guards were surprised to hear this. Kathleen had been telling them a few minutes before that she was not even in a relationship with Farah. She insisted she was telling the truth, however. Kathleen also told the gardai that she'd survive on less cash each week so Farah's family could have food back in Africa.

Cold, hard woman Kathleen was interviewed for more than three hours and kept her composure, even though the gardai asked her some very tough questions.

They formed the impression that she was a very cold woman and was also very hard. She didn't seem to be nervous, despite the fact that she was being questioned as part of a murder investigation.

Kathleen declared that after Noor had left her to go back to his ex, she had started re-decorating the whole flat. She told them she took up the carpet in the bedroom because it was infested with cockroaches. She said she bought the new carpet from Carpet Mills and put the infested carpet in black bags and the bin men took it away.

She swore that there was no blood on the carpet and said: "I don't know if Farah was killed in that flat. I wasn't there."

When she was questioned about her ex-husband John Mulhall's involvement, Kathleen said that John never had any contact with Farah. She claimed she knew nothing about John threatening him. She told the gardai that she had not been in touch with her husband for years. The gardai knew this was a lie and had phone records to prove it.

Kathleen, however, continued with her story, which was flying in the face of all the evidence.

She claimed the only time she had rung him was when her daughters started visiting her in Cork.

The mother-of-six said that Linda had told her she was having a problem with her father. Kathleen said she rang him to talk about it but she would not elaborate on the details of the conversation.

The last time Kathleen said she'd seen John was the previous Christmas Eve when she was at the family home in Tallaght. She said she'd also spoken to him a couple of times since then, about how their two sons were getting on in prison. Since Farah had disappeared, she admitted speaking to her husband "a few times" but denied that he came to the flat and removed the bloody bedclothes after they murdered Farah.

"John was never in my flat, I never had a conversation with him, John removed nothing from my house, " she declared. The gardai were all too aware that John Mulhall had helped to clear items from the murder scene. Kathleen vehemently disputed this. Kathleen claimed that she was shocked about Linda confessing to the murder. She said that her daughter was lying to them when she said that her mother had urged her to do it, or was in anyway involved: "I don't know if Linda or Charlotte harmed Farah, I don't believe Linda killed Farah."

She described Linda to the detectives as: "A mentally disturbed sick girl. She's very unstable.

She uses drugs. She's bulimic. It relates to her dad. If she wants to talk to you about it, she can, but it's not my business. She didn't have a good life."

The guards were surprised to hear Kathleen talk about her daughter with such frankness.

Most mothers try to protect their children and paint them in a good light, but Kathleen was different. The officers were beginning to realise that Kathleen Mulhall was not going to volunteer much information.

Fascination with knives Kathleen also spoke about how Farah Noor was violent and had a fascination with knives: "He had knives in his bag, a big Nike bag, a shoulder bag, grey-blue. I don't know where the bag is now. He mostly had kitchen knives; he threatened people with them."

She said that the most violent thing Farah ever did was tell her that he was responsible for the murder of Raonaid Murray. Kathleen told them:

He told me he stabbed her [Raonaid Murray], she was a friend of an ex-girlfriend. He told me I would end up the same way. He said he was too good to be caught. "He told me it was somewhere down a laneway he killed her with a knife."

She said that Farah was very drunk when he first confessed about the murder, but a week before his death he had brought it up again during an argument. After Kathleen Mulhall told gardai about Noor's confession, investigators still working the case at the Dun Laoghaire headquarters were immediately informed. They accepted that Farah was "a nasty piece of work" but were satisfied that he was not the killer.

At this stage Kathleen admitted she lived "in big fear" of Farah. She said he had threatened to kill her and her family on numerous occasions but that he had never raped her or boasted about raping anyone else either. She claimed that just a week before the murder she'd had a massive row with the Kenyan and he'd threatened to kill her.

As the interview finally ended Kathleen signed a statement saying: "I was getting my social money for Farah and myself. I said to Farah: 'I can't keep collecting as you are working and if the Social find out my money will be stopped.' So I went to the Social Welfare and I told them I was not with Farah anymore and I told them to stop his money. I asked them for a letter and they gave me a letter.

'I am going to chop you up' "Farah rang me up that night and he told me I was a f**king liar and that I had his money. I told him I had a letter to say I wasn't getting his money. I gave him the letter. He looked at it, read it and said all I was was a f**king c**t and said I wouldn't get away with this. He said I am going to f**king kill you just like I did withf Raonaid Murray. I asked Farah not to kill me, as I didn't do anything on him. He started beating me.

Then he threw me in the bedroom in my flat.

Then he tried to smother me with pillows and I couldn't breathe. Then he jumped on top of me.

I don't know where I got the strength from but I kicked him in the stomach and he came off me.

Then when he got up I made a 999 call and I said I would ring the police. He ran out to the kitchen and got a knife.

"He said: 'I am going to chop you up into little pieces and eat you'. I said: 'you can't. If Charlotte rings and I don't answer, she will know there is a problem and come to the house'. He said:

'Cathy, I am going to chop you up into little pieces, put you in the fridge and eat you piece by piece'. He said: 'no one will ever find you cause I will tell them you f**ked off '. So then he sits down and started thinking and he calms down.

He said if I ever told the police, he would kill me and my family.

"I told him to leave my flat and there would be no problem. So he took some stuff and he went.

I said: 'Farah, can I have the keys of the house please?' He said no he was keeping the keys. I told him to keep the keys and to f**k off. He then said:

'you will never get away from me' and he started saying things about James and John being f**ked in prison every day. I said you don't know my sons. Don't say that about them. He went."

Central role Kathleen Mulhall broke down crying three or four times during the course of the day, saying she "could not believe" that Farah was dead.

Detectives believed that she had played a central role in the killing, but had to release her for the second time. There was not enough concrete evidence to hold her, despite what Linda had said.

Before Kathleen left Mountjoy Garda Station she said: "I would love to help you. If I could help you I would, but I am sorry I can't. One day the truth will come out what happened Farah. Then I want an apology. I would help you 100% if I could."