Relatives in Turkey to claim bodies of murdered women

The former partner of a woman stabbed to death with her best friend in Turkey has arrived in the country to begin arrangements to have their bodies brought home.

Marion Elizabeth Graham and her friend Kathy Dinsmore – both aged 53, from Newry, Co Down – were found murdered in woods 75 miles north of Kusadasi. Sources have said the killings allegedly happened after Ms Graham refused to allow a waiter to marry her 15-year-old daughter Shannon.

The two women suffered multiple stab wounds, including having their throats cut, and their bodies were found in a forest near a graveyard to the east of the port city of Izmir.

Raymond McGuinness, Ms Graham's ex-partner and the father of Shannon, flew to Turkey with Ms Graham's son David. Recep Cetin, known to the family as Alex, has been arrested over the attack. However, uncertainty over his age could have implications for a potential punishment, it emerged yesterday. It is understood prosecutors are not convinced that Mr Cetin is 17, as they first thought.

If he is 18 or older it would mean he would be treated as an adult by the courts, not a juvenile, were he to be charged with killing the two women. While no formal charges have been brought, police sources claim he has already confessed to the murders.