Man charged with murder of missing Limerick woman

A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of Limerick woman Carrie Mullane, who has been missing since travelling to Co Fermanagh four weeks ago.

The PSNI believes the 39-year-old mother of four was killed shortly after arriving in Enniskillen and have been searching for her body since being made aware of her disappearance on 29 October.

Michael Lynch, who is 35 and from Trasna Park in Enniskillen, appeared at Dungannon Magistrates' Court by video link charged with her murder and with preventing the lawful burial of a corpse.

Police divers have been searching for her body in an area of Upper Lough Erne just outside Enniskillen for a number of days.

Members of Ms Mullane’s family watched the proceedings by video link from Co Limerick.

Appearing via video link from Musgrave police station in Belfast, Mr Lynch confirmed that he understood the charges against him.

A PSNI detective sergeant told the court that she could connect him to the charges.

The officer said Ms Mullane had last been seen alive by her family in Co Limerick on 10 October when she got on a bus with Mr Lynch to travel to Enniskillen.

CCTV footage has established the pair travelled to Mr Lynch’s home by taxi that day.

The officer said police believe Ms Mullane was killed in Mr Lynch’s home in Trasna Park and that he hid her body in the lough.

She told the court that the victim’s family told police they had serious concerns about Mr Lynch’s abusive nature and behaviour towards her.

Shortly before the defendant was charged yesterday, the PSNI released pictures of a boat that was removed from under the water of the lough and a campervan which detectives believe could be linked to the disappearance.

The officer told the court that a bloodstained carpet had been found inside the campervan, which had been parked outside Mr Lynch’s home since August.

The court was told that he had sent the van to be destroyed at a scrapyard two weeks after Ms Mullane was last seen alive.

Police believe the carpet was removed from the living room of Mr Lynch’s home, where blood spatters were found on a fireplace.

Broken pieces of a wooden bedframe and a bloodstained shoe were also found in the campervan.

The detective sergeant said CCTV footage showed Mr Lynch driving the campervan in the early hours of 11 October and short time later the footage showed the headlights of an unknown vehicle approaching a jetty on Upper Lough Erne.

She said detectives believe this was Mr Lynch hiding the body.

The boat that was removed from under the water yesterday is being dried out for forensic examination to take place.

The officer said Mr Lynch has been interviewed 16 times and that police had appealed to him to return her remains for the sake of her family, but he had failed to provide any information.

In response to a barrister representing the defendant, the officer agreed that police do not know if Ms Mullane is deceased but said they have not been able to establish any proof of life.

District Judge Conor Heaney refused an application for bail and Mr Lynch was remanded in custody to appear in court again later this month.