Turkish man guilty of double murder

A Turkish waiter has been jailed for life for the murder of two women from Co Down — but his father has walked free.

Recep Cetin, 22, showed no emotion as he was found guilty of the frenzied stabbing of close friends Marion Graham, 54, from Newry, and 53-year-old Cathy Dinsmore, from Warrenpoint.

The pair were regular visitors to Turkey and had been on an extended holiday in Kusadasi on the Aegean Sea when they were killed.

Three judges in Izmir, Turkey, convicted Recep Cetin, who hid the mutilated bodies in woods 120km from the seaside town of Kusadasi in August 2011.

Cetin, who was known to the women as Alex, had been dating Ms Graham’s 15-year-old daughter Shannon for two years.

It was claimed the waiter, who had become infatuated, was left furious after he was banned from marrying the teenager. Determined to seek revenge, he lured the women to their deaths with the promise of a shopping trip having first arranged for Shannon to go on a fishing trip.

Their bloodied bodies were found buried in a shallow grave in woodland. They had been stabbed more than 50 times.

Ms Graham, who had more than 17 wounds, was stabbed through her heart, while Ms Dinsmore suffered 35 injuries and had her throat cut.

Cetin initially tried to cover up the brutal double murder, claiming the women had been kidnapped. He tried to explain away a hand injury by saying he had fought off a gang of men who had bundled the women into a van.

But he was soon exposed as a liar when their bloodstained clothes were found in a bin near his family home.

Relatives of the victims, including Shannon Graham — who was the girlfriend of Recep at the time of the killing — attended yesterday’s hearing.

They also showed little emotion as the verdicts were announced and translated for them by their solicitor, Baris Kaska.

Before sentencing, Recep pleaded for leniency, repeating earlier claims he was too young for an adult court and that he’d acted in self-defence. “I made a mistake. I was a teenager,” he said.

“I feared for my life when they [the victims] attacked me and I did what I did.”

But judges at the Izmir Bayrakli Fifth High Criminal Court rejected his claims and sentenced him to two whole life sentences, to be served in solitary confinement.

They found his father Eyup Cetin, 43, not guilty of aiding and abetting on a 2-1 majority, despite damning evidence from a secret witness. The chief judge voted to find Eyup guilty but was overruled by his colleagues’ decisions.

The taxi driver left court a free man after more than two years in custody. He always denied involvement, despite a secret witness placing him at the scene.

Before being cleared, he accused the witness of bias.

“The secret witness is someone hostile to me and my family — someone who wants to harm us.”

He added: “I wish I knew about the murders. It is an unacceptable incident. I am a man almost in his 50s, I am not a child, but in the end, it is up to you to decide on this case.”

Eyup refused to comment outside of court.

The sentencing brings to a close more than two years of court proceedings.

The case has been hit by a number of setbacks due to Recep Cetin’s lies and a series of court blunders.

Recep first claimed he was 17, which would have seen him tried in a youth court with more lenient sentences.

And then when tests showed he was actually in his 20s, his lawyer claimed he was mentally ill and needed psychological evaluation.

Farcically, the court then ordered the mental health examination to be carried out on his father before realising their mistake.

At the last hearing Recep finally admitted his guilt outright and claimed he had killed the women out of “love” because he didn’t want to lose Shannon.

After court, relatives of Recep and Eyup Cetin, who refused to be named, said they accepted the court’s decision.

One added: “Justice has been served.”