Murder victim’s chilling last words provoke fear killer will strike again
The woman who held murder victim Clare Taylor’s hand as she died has revealed the 41-year-old’s chilling last words.
Retired nurse, Elizabeth O’Loughlin, who came across the fatally injured Civil Servant while walking her dog, has exclusively revealed to The Chronicle that just before she died, Clare Taylor pleaded with Elizabeth to ‘Warn them’.
Meanwhile, a source close to the investigation has told The Chronicle that a number of people have received floral arrangements with sinister notes attached, which police believe may be some sort of calling card from the murderer.
‘There is no doubt in my mind that more people may be at risk and that whoever is behind this killing is an extremely organised and sick individual. Police are worried and have been trying to stop this information from getting out, fearing it could provoke panic. But people need to know how serious this is,’ the source said.
Mrs O’Loughlin spoke of the ‘horrific’ scene she came across as she was walking her dog in the early hours of last Wednesday: ‘We were walking early in the morning as we usually do, when my dog, Izzy, ran to the side of the road and started yelping. I could see the colour of her jumper first. I did what I could to help her [Ms Taylor], but she was too far gone.
‘I called an ambulance and was trying to reassure her that help was on the way, but she was so badly injured. I tried to keep her warm and was holding her hand when she muttered those words to me.
‘She was gone the next minute. I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind since.’
Mrs O’Loughlin, who worked as a theatre nurse at Altnagelvin Area Hospital during the height of the Troubles, said Ms Taylor’s injuries were ‘as horrific as anything she’d seen before’.
‘I’ve seen a lot, especially working in theatre during the Seventies and Eighties, but this was something else. I don’t know how that poor girl survived for any time at all. Whoever did this is nothing short of evil.
‘I don’t understand why the police have kept her final words a secret. People should know they’re in danger. The look on that poor girl’s face. It’ll live with me until the day I die.’
In a cruel twist of fate, sixty-seven-year-old Mrs O’Loughlin didn’t realise as she sat with Ms Taylor that the fatally injured woman had been a class mate of her own daughter, Laura O’Neill, who died unexpectedly in tragic circumstances two years ago.
Laura left behind two young children and a husband.
‘I didn’t make the connection,’ Mrs O’Loughlin said. ‘But it would appear they were in the same year group in St Catherine’s College in the late Eighties and early Nineties. The thought of two women, still so young, losing their lives is awful. I know how Clare’s parents will be feeling right now and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
‘A mother can never get over the loss of a child — and to lose a child in such a violent way is just horrendous.
‘I just want whoever did this to be behind bars where they belong. Until that happens, I can’t see me getting a moment’s peace.’
Of the police investigation, she said: ‘It’s been almost a week and I don’t think they’re any further forward. People are at risk and that’s what worries me. How many more families will have to go through the hell the Taylors are going through?’
A spokesperson for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said the investigation was continuing, with all available resources at the disposal of the inquiry team.
‘This was a brutal murder and one which, rightly, has aroused a deep feeling of revulsion within the community. Police are doing everything in their power to bring the person or persons responsible to justice.
‘Again, we would ask anyone with any information that may lead to the arrest of those responsible to come forward.
‘Police are particularly interested in speaking to the man Ms Taylor was believed to be dating at the time of her death.’
They refused to comment on the delivery of sinister notes and gifts to several parties in the city.