Body kept for fortnight before being hidden, court hears

Updated / Thursday, 12 Nov 2026 12:17

A Limerick woman was beaten to death and her body kept for a fortnight before it was hidden in a Co Fermanagh Lough, a court heard today.

The detail emerged when a man appeared in court charged in connection with the murder of Carrie Mullane.

The 39-year-old mother-of-four's body was recovered from Lough Erne on Monday.

Appearing via video link at Strabane Magistrate's Court this morning was 31-year-old Kenneth Lynch of Trasna Park, Enniskillen. He is accused of withholding information and assisting an offender.

A police officer said she believed she could connect him to the charges.

The judge asked for the facts of the case to be outlined to the court.

A detective sergeant told the court that police believed Kenneth Lynch had been in the house along with his grandmother Mary Lynch when Carrie Mullane was murdered.

She said the police believed he had helped dispose of the body and conceal the crime.

During interview Kenneth Lynch told detectives that Carrie Mullane and her partner, Michael Lynch - his uncle - had come to the house at Trasna Park on 10 October.

They had arrived from Limerick on the bus. As soon as they came in Ms Mullane was assaulted by Michael Lynch.

They had been arguing about his former partner.

Michael Lynch has already been remanded in custody charged with Ms Mullane's murder.

Kenneth Lynch told police that Michael Lynch had hit Carrie Mullane on the head four times and continued to assault her with a vacuum cleaner when she fell over.

The officer told the court that Kenneth Lynch would say that he had tried to stop the attack but had not called the emergency services.

He told police he had seen her slumped in a chair after the assault.

The officer told the court the police believed the accused had helped transfer Ms Mullane to a camper van which was parked outside the house.

The following day he said Michael Lynch told him Ms Mullane was dead and threatened to kill him if he told anyone.

The camper van was sold for scrap on 24 October.

Kenneth Lynch told police that prior to this he and Michael Lynch had taken Ms Mullane's body to an isolated spot on Lough Erne and placed her body in the water.

It had been wrapped in black plastic and weighed down with blocks.

The court heard that Kenneth Lynch had told police where they could find her body.

A post-mortem examination had established that the victim had died of injuries to the head and neck.

Strabane Magistrates Court heard that Kenneth Lynch had left the jurisdiction and gone to the Republic of Ireland.

When he returned to Northern Ireland on 9 November he was arrested by detectives investigating the murder.

There was no application for bail, and the case was adjourned until next week.

Kenneth Lynch's grandmother, Mary Lynch, appeared in court yesterday on a charge of withholding information about the murder.