Kathleen Mulhall, the mother of the so-called 'Scissor Sisters', was in a relationship with a man with a conviction for rape after she fled to England to avoid being arrested by gardaí.

Mulhall was sentenced to a five-year jail term last Friday for helping to clean up the scene after her two daughters Linda and Charlotte killed her partner Farah Swaleh Noor in March 2005.

The remains of 38-year-old Noor were found in eight pieces in the Royal Canal at Ballybough in Dublin's north inner city.

In September 2005, Mulhall fled the country after her daughter Linda confessed to gardaí. In December 2007, the Sunday Tribune learned of Mulhall's whereabouts and tracked her down to a council cottage in Shepherd's Bush in west London.

She had dyed her hair blonde and went by the name Kathleen Ward and was receiving state benefits. Just weeks later, gardaí travelled to London and Mulhall voluntarily travelled back to Dublin to face charges. While she was living in London she was involved in a lengthy relationship with a man from Sierra Leone who had a previous conviction for rape.

Mulhall contacted London police and claimed that she had been attacked by her boyfriend but no charges were ever filed. Mulhall had a number of African partners during her time in the country.

Gardaí are disappointed with the length of Mulhall's sentence, expecting her to be jailed for at least seven years. There is a significant amount of evidence linking Kathleen Mulhall to the murders. She would have faced far more serious charges except that her two daughters refused to testify against her.

Both Linda and Charlotte Mulhall told gardaí that their mother repeatedly asked them to kill Noor. Charlotte told detectives her mother said: "Just please kill him for me, kill him for me" or she herself would be dead by the end of the year.

Mulhall's defence team claimed in court that she was asleep when the murder occurred in the bedroom of her small flat but her daughters both testified that Noor had a hold of their mother when Charlotte first cut his throat. Charlotte also claimed that it was Mulhall's idea to dismember Noor's corpse.

Farah Noor's wife, who lives in poverty in Kenya, told the Sunday Tribune that she is angry about the lenient sentence that was handed out to Mulhall.

Husna Said said: "Only five years? It doesn't make sense because Farah will never be back.

"She deserves more. She is the reason why he passed away. She should have [been locked away] for good."

Husna said she is still struggling to raise the couple's two children without a job. Their daughter Somoe died shortly after her father as a result of shock, Husna says. "It's disturbing my kids; they are having problems until now. They have mental sickness since their father passed away," she said.

"My son doesn't want to go to school anymore; he doesn't care anymore. He says, 'My father is already dead now so there is nothing else. My father was chopped to death so what is left?' He has become very rough and he wasn't like that before."

Charlotte Mulhall (25) was sentenced to life imprisonment for Noor's murder while Linda (32) is serving a 15-year term for his manslaughter. The three Mulhall women are housed at the Dóchas Centre women's prison and are on very good terms.

Meanwhile gardaí have dismissed reports that Kathleen Mulhall is to be quizzed about allegations that Farah Noor murdered 17 year-old Raonaid Murray in Dun Laoghaire in 1999. A senior source said: "That story was totally untrue. We ruled Noor out as a suspect in May 2003."

Mick McCaffrey is the author of 'The Irish Scissor Sisters' published by Merlin