text: A suspected reason for his killing of the cat was that after Ireland killed Walker and had left this previous victim's dogs locked in a separate room, he later called anonymously to advise parties to the fact that these dogs were being or had been locked up. As a result, the media called the killer an animal lover. He strangled the cat to demonstrate that the "animal lover" assumption had been wrong.
  Emanuel Spiteri
  Ireland's fifth victim was a Maltese chef named Emanuel Spiteri, aged 41, whom he had met at the Coleherne pub. Spiteri was persuaded to be cuffed and bound on his bed. Once more, Ireland demanded his PIN but did not obtain it. He again used a noose to kill. After carrying out his post-murder ritual of cleaning and clearing the scene, Ireland set fire to the flat and left, however the fire only caused minor damage. He rang the police later to tell them to look for a body at the scene of a fire and added that he would probably not kill again.
  Criminal case
  Investigation
  There are suggestions that homophobia on the part of the police delayed the linking of all the murders and that they were initially not handled well, but police eventually connected all five killings. The crimes were publicised by the mass media and it quickly became known in the gay community that a serial killer was specifically targeting gay men.