Published: 16 February 2012
by GEORGIA GRAHAM

TWO weeks ago, Melanie McCarthy McNamara – described this week as “one of QC’s finest” – was catching up with friends and enjoying a bagel, sausage and beans in her favourite Queen’s Crescent café.

Just turned 16, she would have told of the new life she had begun with her fiancé in Dublin.

But her dreams of marrying her teenage sweetheart and the adventures that lay ahead of them came to a tragic end last week when she was killed in what police think was a botched drive-by shooting in Ireland.

Shot twice in the head, she didn’t stand a chance.

She later died in hospital.

It has left the community around the Camden streets where she grew up mourning for a girl with countless friends from her days at St Dominic’s Primary School and a secondary school education at Haverstock and Parliament Hill.

A large, loving family has been left devastated and thousands have left online tributes.

Melanie’s body has been flown back to London and her funeral will be held tomorrow in Gospel Oak.

A memorial of flowers, balloons and candles for the popular teenager created near her former home in Allcroft Road, by relatives and friends, was growing last night (Wed­nesday).

She had planned to marry her boyfriend after her 17th birthday, which was just two weeks away, and the couple had moved from Camden to Dublin to begin a new life together.

When she was back in town earlier this month, she visited the Gossip Stop Cafe with her little brother and checked in at a local pub.

Since her death her mother, Melissa McCarthy, and   her boyfriend Christopher, along with two friends, have set up a Facebook memorial to the blonde, blue-eyed teenager who they refer to as “Barbie”.

On Tuesday, Valentine’s Day, her mother posted a moving message to her daughter on the site.

She wrote: “You made my life worth living, love you lots my walking talking real-life Barbie doll. Love, Mummy.”

Christopher wrote: “Happy Valentine’s Day baby.

We should be going to the Rod Stewart concert tonight, but we can’t go now because God needed you for something else.”

He added that Melanie made him the “happiest boy in the world”.

Her father Shakey McNamara, described her as an “amazing girl”.

Another Facebook tribute site has almost 12,000 “likes”, more than 9,000 comments and dozens of photographs of Melanie.

Five tributes have also been posted to YouTube.

Although police in Dublin have yet to make any arrests in the case, The Irish Times reported that detectives have identified two suspects who abandoned a stolen car in a nearby road close to the scene of the shooting.

Irish ports and airports remain on high alert for any escape attempt by the killers.

The police have also gathered forensic evidence from the abandoned car – a stolen ­Santa Fe 4X4, including a shotgun, a pair of gloves, a scarf and a balaclava, all believed to have been used by Melanie’s killers during the attack.

An inquest into her death was opened at North London Coroner’s Court yesterday, although the family did not attend.

It will resume at a later date.

Coroner Andrew Walker said: “Melanie McNamara was travelling in the back of a car in the Tallaght area of Dublin.

It was reported that Miss McNamara’s boyfriend was in the front passenger seat with another friend driving alongside.

At approximately 22:30 a gunman pulled alongside the car and aimed a shotgun at the deceased’s boyfriend.

The driver of the car pulled forward to escape and as he did so Melanie was shot fatally twice in the head.”

Mr Walker added: “She was taken to the Tallaght hospital where, despite efforts to save her life, she passed away.

The Dublin police force have launched a criminal investigation and have identified some possible suspects but has not made any arrests as of yet.

“It is believed the Dublin police force are treating this tragic case as mistaken identity of which Miss McNamara has paid the ultimate price.

Miss McNamara was confirmed dead at the Tallaght hospital  on the 8th of February at 1.15am and she was identified by her family.”

A wake was held for Melanie on Tuesday in Clondalkin, a suburb of Dublin, before her body was flown back to the UK for her funeral.

The Irish police – the Gardai – are continuing the investigation.

A spokesman for the Gardai said: “The victim was a rear-seat passenger in a silver Nissan Almera which was parked on Brookview Way. 

“A black Hyundai Santa Fe SUV/Jeep pulled alongside the Almera and at least one shot was fired, injuring the female victim.”

The car was abandoned nearby, police said.