Rapist was tortured and dumped in Irish Sea

MISSING gang rapist James Nolan is believed to have been tortured and killed before his body was dumped in the Irish Sea.

Gardaí are treating Nolan’s disappearance as a murder investigation after his severed arm was discovered on a Dublin beach last month.

Results of tests on DNA samples taken from the limb conducted by Interpol officers based in the French city of Lyon confirmed earlier this week that they match other samples taken from Nolan a few years ago.

It also emerged yesterday that Nolan failed to appear before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last week in relation to a breach of his post-release conditions.

The case was entered after Nolan has not signed on as required with the Probation Service as part of a post-release order.

Judge Yvonne Murphy was informed he had not been seen by gardaí or probation officers for some time.

Nolan faced having an 18-month suspended portion of a three-year prison sentence reactivated over his failure to report to the Probation Service.

A probation report on Nolan had identified him as being at a high risk of re-offending due to his abuse of alcohol and drugs.

Judge Murphy had adjourned the hearing until May to allow gardaí to trace Nolan but the case is now likely to be withdrawn.

Nolan’s identity was established as a result of DNA taken when he was arrested in Britain in 2008.

Garda sources have indicated that it is unlikely that Nolan is still alive after his limb was washed up on Dollymount Strand on February 8.

The 46-year-old had not been reported missing and his relatives who live in Finglas had not seen him in recent months.

Nolan’s arm had been cut off at both the shoulder and wrist in what gardaí believe was an attempt to prevent its owner’s identity being traced. Efforts had also been made to remove a tattoo on the limb.

Tests suggest Nolan’s arm could have been in the water for up to three weeks before it was discovered.

Nolan, originally from Finglas, was jailed for 14 years in 1986 for his role in a gang rape of a woman in Ashtown, Dublin two years earlier, when he was 20.

He was also convicted of falsely imprisoning his victim’s boyfriend in relation to the same incident.

Nolan absconded to Britain after the crime. However, he was arrested after he returned home to visit his mother for Christmas.