GARDAÍ ARE liaising with police in Britain in an effort to confirm that a man found dead in England yesterday was the same man suspected of killing Rudo Mawere in Dublin last weekend and dumping her body in a luggage bag on a suburban street.
The man found yesterday had apparently taken his own life. He was found at 9am by a man out walking his dog in a wooded area in Higham, Kent.
Garda sources said that while the dead man’s identity had not been formally confirmed, they believe it to be the same man from Zimbabwe suspected of killing Ms Mawere in Dublin’s north inner city last Saturday.
Ms Mawere (26) from Malawi was asphyxiated in a flat on Aughrim Street. Her body was then stuffed by her killer into a luggage bag on wheels.
The killer then caught a taxi to Blackhorse Avenue about a kilometre away before leaving the bag, with the body still inside, beside wheelie bins on St David’s Terrace, just off Blackhorse Avenue.
Witnesses have since come forward to say they saw the bag there as early as 7pm last Saturday.
However, it was not until 8.30am on Sunday that a passerby went to investigate it and found the business student’s body inside.
Gardaí believe Ms Mawere, who lived in a shared flat in Rathmines, south Dublin, had loaned money to a male friend.
They believe she rowed with this man about the money on Saturday and was killed by him in his flat.
Detectives believe he then panicked and decided to quickly dump the body before going on the run.
Garda sources said the time lag between the murder and Ms Mawere’s body being found afforded the suspect the time to flee to Northern Ireland.
He is then believed to have travelled to Britain, where he has now apparently taken his own life.
He was a member of the Solid Rock Church in Dublin, where Ms Mawere also worshipped.
The Irish Timesunderstands he had travelled to the Republic from Coventry in England a number of years ago and had changed his name because he was on the run from the British police.
He was wanted in relation to a sexual assault of a woman there a number of years ago.
While the Garda and British police had launched a hunt for him and a major murder investigation had been launched in Dublin, these will now be ended once the body in England is confirmed as being the man whom gardaí were seeking.
His identity is expected to be confirmed today.
The Garda investigation will, however, continue to prepare a file on the case for the coroner’s inquest into the murder of Ms Mawere.
However, it will no longer be a large-scale criminal investigation.