one of the murder victims; photo credit: The Times.co.uk
A Middle Eastern immigrant living in Ireland was arrested earlier this week for murdering two gay men in Sligo.
The unidentified murder suspect reportedly met the two gay men on Grindr, a gay dating app, and he was planning to kill more victims.
One victim was found in his home beheaded and his body was mutilated.
The other victim had similar injuries.
Gardai (national police service of the Republic of Ireland) believe the murder suspect may have been inspired by “religious zeal.”
The Times.co.uk reported:
Gardai believe the man suspected of murdering two men in Sligo was planning to kill more victims in the coming days.
The suspect was working his way through a list of men whom he had befriended on a gay dating app when arrested by gardai investigating the murders of two men found at separate locations in Sligo.
The suspect, who is originally from the Middle East but is a naturalised Irish citizen living in Sligo, was arrested by an armed response team.
Detectives had identified him from CCTV footage taken close to one of his victims’ homes. Analysis of data and phone traffic shows he was in communication with the two victims shortly before they died.
The body of the first victim Aidan Moffitt, 42, was found inside his home in Cartron Heights on Monday night after his friends had failed to reach him. Moffitt had been beheaded, having sustained horrific injuries. His body was also mutilated.
On Tuesday night gardai received a 999 call from someone who had found the body of Michael Snee, 58. The nature of his injuries led gardai to believe they were dealing with the same person who had killed Moffitt.
Read the full report from The Times here.