Ireland Ireland - Sandra Collins, 28, Killala Co. Mayo, 4 Dec 2000 *acquitted*

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28 year old Sandra Collins from Killala, Co. Mayo has been missing since Monday 4th December 2000.

She is described as 5ft in height with a small slim build, with short brown hair with red highlights. When last seen Sandra was wearing black trousers, a maroon polo neck jumper, a beige sleeveless jacket with a hood and black boots.

Anyone with information should contact the Gardaí at Ballina telephone number 096 - 21422.
 
Gardaí in Ballina have renewed their appeal for information regarding Sandra Collins who has been missing from Killala, Co Mayo, since December 2000.

Ms Collins, who was born in 1971, was last seen in the town of Killala on December 4 2000 at approximately 11.15pm at the local takeaway, The Country Kitchen.

She is described as 5ft in height with a small slim build, with short brown hair with red highlights. When last seen Ms Collins was wearing black trousers, a maroon polo neck jumper, a beige sleeveless jacket with a hood, and black boots.

As a result of recent public appeals a number of new witnesses have come forward.

Gardaí now believe that a white van was in Killala around the time Sandra Collins was last seen and are now seeking the assistance of the public in identifying this van.

Anybody who may have seen or have information in relation to a white van in Killala on Monday night, December 4 2000, is being asked to come forward and make contact with investigating gardaí at Ballina Garda Station on 096 20560, the Garda confidential telephone line 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.

http://www.advertiser.ie/mayo/article/37664/garda-renew-appeal-for-missing-sandra-collins
 
At the time of her disappearance, she was living at 8 Court House Street, Killala with her aunt who she was caring for because she suffered from arthritis.

She was seen at around 7.30pm on the evening she disappeared at Birrane’s shop picking up some groceries. She then headed back out that night for a takeaway at 11.30pm and that’s the last time she was ever seen.

http://www.dailyedge.ie/missing-woman-sandra-collins-disappeared-12-years-ago-today-700095-Dec2012/
 
A man in his 40's has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of Sandra Collins in Mayo eleven years ago.

Gardai made the arrest in the Ballina area this morning and the man is being held at Ballina Garda Station.

Twenty-nine-year-old Sandra Collins was last seen at a takeaway in Killala, in Co. Mayo, on the night of 4 December 2000.

http://www.tv3.ie/article.php?article_id=65616
 
A 48-year-old man has appeared before a special sitting of Ballina District Court in Co Mayo, charged with the murder of Sandra Collins.

He has been named as Martin Earley, with an address at Bannagher, Carrowmore-Lacken near Killala.

Mr Earley has been remanded in custody to appear before Harristown District Court on Friday, 4 January.

The family of Sandra Collins were in court today.

Ms Collins, 29, went missing on 4 December 2000.

She had left her aunt's house where she was living to go to a nearby takeaway.

An investigation was launched and there have been a number of appeals.

Gardaí renewed an appeal for information on the tenth anniversary of her disappearance and significant progress was made.

Martin Earley was arrested yesterday evening while was on a return home from Britain, where he was working.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/1228/360555-sandra-collins/
 
THE man accused of murdering missing Sandra Collins has suffered TWO vicious beatings behind bars within 48 hours.

The Irish Sun can reveal Martin Earley, 47, of Killala, Co Mayo, was punched by another inmate just a day after arriving on the A-wing of Castlerea Prison.

Plasterer Earley was brought to the jail on December 28 after cold case detectives charged him with his friend’s murder.

Care worker Sandra, 29, was last seen in a takeaway in the George Street area of Killala at around 11pm on December 4, 2000.

The more serious of the two attacks on the suspect happened on New Year’s Eve when three men battered him inside his cell after he was moved to the D-wing of the Co Roscommon nick.

Earley suffered a broken jaw and broken eye socket in the second assault.

The dad-of-three — who has yet to enter a plea to the charge — was treated for his injuries at University Hospital Galway before being brought back to prison.

He has now been placed in protective custody for his own safety.

http://www.thesun.ie/irishsol/homepage/news/4733781/Murder-accused-beaten-Sandra-suspect-has-jaw-broken.html
 
A 48-year-old man from Carrowmore-Lacken was before Ballina District Court on Tuesday where he was sent forward for trial to the next sitting of the Central Criminal Court.

Detective Garda Edward Naughton served the accused—Martin Earley, Banagher, Carramore-Lacken, Ballina—with the book of evidence on Tuesday morning. An application was made by State solicitor Vincent Deane to return the accused for trial on the charge marked one to the next sitting of the Central Criminal Court. The charge is that on or about December 4 2000, at a place unknown in the State, Earley did murder Sandra Collins, also known as Eleanor Patricia Collins.

http://www.advertiser.ie/mayo/article/59440/man-charged-with-sandra-collins-murder-sent-forward-for-trial
 
Mr Nevill was giving evidence on the fifth day of the trial of Martin Earley at the Central Criminal Court, sitting in Castlebar, into the death of Sandra Collins, Courthouse St, Killala, at a place and date unknown on or about December 4, 2000. The 49-year-old construction worker denies the charge.

It emerged earlier in the trial that Ms Collins was pregnant and had been in contact with a UK abortion service about a termination.

On December 9, 2000, four days after Sandra went missing, a pink fleece belonging to her was found on Killala Pier.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/murder-trial-told-of-abortion-lsquoprice-listrsquo-268490.html

A man who denies murdering a 29-year-old Mayo woman in December 2000 admitted to a special team of Garda investigators more than six months later that he had sex with her twice, the Central Criminal Court was told yesterday.

In a statement taken by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation on June 28, 2001, construction worker Martin Earley, of Banagher, Carrowmore Lacken, Ballina, explained he had been in a relationship with Sandra Collins, of Courthouse St, Killala, in the weeks before she vanished.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/irelan...tted-having-sex-with-victim-twice-269358.html

The second week of the Sandra Collins murder trial in Castlebar was delayed by three days of legal argument between counsel for the prosecution and the defence in the absence of the jury.
Only one day of new evidence was heard during the second week of the trial before the jury was asked to be excused late on Tuesday while legal matters were discussed between the two legal teams. At the beginning of the court on Wednesday morning the jury was advised by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy that the legal argument would take longer than expected. He asked the jury to return on Friday morning.

However, after two days of argument it became apparent on Thursday afternoon that the matters would not resolved by Friday, and Judge McCarthy asked that the jury be informed that they would not be needed until Tuesday (today). Details of the legal argument for this cannot be reported by the media.

http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?op...-collins-murder-trial&catid=23:news&Itemid=46

Sandra Collins fell into the water off Killala pier when arguing with Martin Earley, a witness told the murder trial in the Central Criminal Court in Castlebar. The court sat from Tuesday to Friday last week, the third week of the trial.
Martin Earley of Bannagher, Carrmore-Lacken, Ballina, is accused of the murder of Sandra Collins, who went missing on December 4, 2000. She was last seen in a takeaway in Killala. Mr Earley denies the charge.
The sitting of the court before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy heard evidence given by Michael Granahan who revealed that Mr Earley told him of the events of December 4, 2000, after he allowed him to stay in his home in March 2011.
He said that Mr Earley told him that he had met Ms Collins in Killala on the night she went missing and that they had argued before she fell into the water.

http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?op...-into-sea-court-hears&catid=23:news&Itemid=46


Much more at each link
 
Missing woman's brother makes heartfelt plea for information nearly 15 years after her disappearance
http://www.independent.ie/irish-new...5-years-after-her-disappearance-31435263.html
The brother of Sandra Collins, a Mayo woman who went missing from her home in Killala, Co Mayo nearly 15 years ago, has issued a fresh plea for information on her disappearance.

Sandra's four siblings and her father have organised a memorial on Sunday August 16, in the church in Crossmalina, Co Mayo, where Sandra made her First Communion and Confirmation.

After mass, the group will gather at the pier in Crossmalina, where a commemorative plaque will be unveiled in Sandra's memory.

More at link.

Sandra%20Collins.jpg
 
http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/new-footage-emerges-missing-mayo-8535728

The family of Sandra Collins who vanished without trace from her Co Mayo home 16 years ago have called for an inquest into her disappearance.

New video footage of Sandra enjoying a day out has just been released by her family as they try to discover what happened her.

The 29-year-old was pregnant when she went missing in December 2000 and is believed to have been murdered shortly afterwards.

(snipped)
Her belongings were returned to her family by investigating gardai last August.


http://www.irishtimes.com/news/irel...tion-to-hold-sandra-collins-inquest-1.2746180

The coroner for north Mayo has said she is not currently in a position to hold an inquest into the death of Sandra Collins, the 29-year-old woman who went missing 16 years ago.

Dr Eleanor Fitzgerald said she had been liaising closely with Superintendent Joe Doherty at Ballina Garda station, who has charge of the investigation into Ms Collins’ disappearance.

(snipped)

“I am not in a position to hold an inquest but would be anxious to see the file,” she said, once it was completed. As soon as she received the file she would consider it very carefully and might then be in a position to open a hearing.

At the weekend the missing woman’s family called for an inquest into her death and said they would approach the coroner to open a hearing as they believed there was sufficient evidence to confirm her death.
Lots more at the link
 
Published 15 Dec 2019
Chief suspect in Sandra Collins murder refused to give up location of missing woman’s grave

NINTCHDBPICT000547199448.jpg
NINTCHDBPICT000005006357.jpg


The Irish Sun on Sunday can reveal the suspected killer — who is married and has kids — was approached by detectives and urged to “do the right thing” by pin-pointing the 28-year-old’s grave.

Gardai believe Sandra — who was pregnant at the time of her disappearance — was abducted from Killala pier, Co Mayo, on December 4, 2000, and later buried in a shallow grave.

They also suspect the killer left a piece of clothing referred to in a letter sent to her distraught family at the pier to give the impression that she had jumped into the sea.

https://www.thesun.ie/news/4886838/sandra-collins-murder-suspect-grave-gardai/
 
Last edited:
Sibling of murdered Mayo woman Sandra Collins ‘would meet’ sister’s killer to find out where she’s buried

Heartbroken Mary Collins, 29, has offered to meet the chief suspect — or any of his associates — to receive information on the location of her sister’s remains.

And she told how giving her eldest sister a Christian burial would be the “greatest gift” her family could ever receive.
---
During the 20-year search, Sandra’s devastated family have been met with a wall of silence.
---
Gardai are convinced the suspect shared his dark secret with friends and close associates over the years.

Ahead of next week’s anniversary of the disappearance, Sandra’s youngest sister has now made a direct appeal to the chief suspect in the brutal murder.

She told us: “I will go anywhere and meet anyone in the dead of night at an isolated area — including the person responsible for causing my family 20 years of trauma.

“Our family would go and meet this person. If they tell us where she is we would even thank them because it would end our pain. This isn’t about justice for us — this is now about people doing the decent thing to help us give my sister a Christian burial.

https://www.thesun.ie/news/6210256/sibling-sandra-collins-meet-sisters-killer-mayo/
 
This is older article published Jun 5, 2014, with extra information

Lack of evidence leads to acquittal in Sandra Collins trial

Today, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy told the 12-person jury there was insufficient evidence to convict and directed them to find the accused not guilty.

“For legal reasons, ladies and gentlemen, I am directing you to acquit the accused,” the judge said.
---
Following the ending of the trial, Sandra’s sister Bridie Conway gave the family’s reaction. “We are devastated,”
---
During the course of the trial it emerged that Mr Early, a married man with a daughter 11 months old at the time of Sandra Collins’s disappearance, admitted to a special team of Garda investigators in June 2001 that he had been involved in a relationship with her in the weeks before she vanished without trace.

Ms Collins was last seen in Killala at about 11pm on December 4th, 2000, after she had bought chips in the local Country Kitchen takeaway.

Despite massive subsequent searches of land and sea no body was ever found.

Evidence was given to the hearing by a GP that the missing woman had a pregnancy confirmed on the day she went missing and had been making phone calls to England on that day with a view to getting an abortion there.

Lack of evidence leads to acquittal in Sandra Collins trial
 
Sandra’s brother Patrick Collins said: ‘Our parents, Eleanor and Joe have gone to their graves far too soon due to emotional stress and the anguish they carried over our beloved Sandra.

‘Nothing but nothing can be as bad as not having Sandra’s remains back. I have dreamt of a small family funeral for Sandra.

I wake up with tears running down my face and yet realise it will be one of the greatest days of my life. I can visit her grave. We will have her home.

‘We can talk to her at her graveside. We can lay flowers. We can grieve. Please give us our sister back.
'Please give us our sister back' — Plea from brother on 20th anniversary of murdered Sandra Collins
 

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