Body found in cupboard is Rachel, British police confirm

ENGLISH detectives yesterday confirmed a body found in a flat is that of missing Irishwoman Rachel Moran.

Items of jewellery found on the body were identified by 22-year-old Rachel’s boyfriend, Mark Shepherd.

Police said they are “as sure as they can be” that it is Rachel. The body was found fully clothed in the cupboard of a flat in Nashcourt, Hull, only yards from Rachel’s home in Saxcourt, after police drafted in almost 100 officers to search homes on the Orchard Park Estate.

It was an unprecedented move in the history of Humberside Police and one that had not been carried out by police since the disappearance of murdered teenager Leanne Tiernan in West Yorkshire in November 2000.

A police spokeswoman said Rachel had suffered a “violent and sustained” attack and met a “traumatic death”.

Her body was discovered during the routine searches of houses on the estate shortly after 1pm on Tuesday.

Two men, aged 22 and 23, were arrested on suspicion of murder. Police had until 6pm yesterday to question the men but were expected to be granted a warrant from magistrates to detain them for a further 26 hours.

Rachel was last seen in the early hours of New Year’s Day when she left her parents’ house in Hall Road, Hull, to walk home She had planned to spend the night at her parents’ home but after her boyfriend phoned her to tell her he had gone to a party, she decided to walk home to feed her kittens.

Rachel’s mobile phone, Irish passport and shoe were found shortly after her disappearance by police divers in a open drain close to her home.

Family and friends were last night comforting Rachel’s mother, Wanda, and Dublin-born father Ray.