Garda still receiving phone calls on Sandra Collins disappearance

Gardaí still receiving phonecalls on Sandra Collins disappearance


Documentary wins prestigious award

Anton McNulty

Gardaí are still receiving phonecalls on the disappearance of north Mayo woman, Sandra Collins, a year after the ending of her murder trial, her family have revealed.
A Prime Time documentary on the disappearance of Sandra Collins won an award at the Law Society’s Justice Media Awards - a year to the day following the collapse of her murder trial.
The programme, called ‘Missing in Mayo’ told the story of the disappearance of Sandra Collins who went missing from Killala on the night of December 4, 2000. Her body was never found but her family presume she is dead and was murdered.
Local man, Martin Earley was charged with Sandra’s murder but was acquitted of her murder on the direction of the trial judge following an 18-day trial in the Central Criminal Court sitting in Castlebar.
The programme which won the feature and documentary award at the Justice Media Awards, followed the family in the lead up to the trial and their reaction to the acquittal.
Patrick Collins, Sandra’s brother said the programme won the award a year to the day following the acquittal and hoped it will bring Sandra’s disappearance to the fore of people’s minds.
An appeal for fresh information last December on the anniversary of her disappearance resulted in phonecalls to An Garda SiochΡna and Patrick believes people have information on what happened to his sister.

People coming forward
“There was phonecalls at Christmas time [to the gardaí] following that appearance and we were shocked and delighted to hear there are still people coming forward. We still believe there are people out there who know something or know of something suspicious but are afraid to come forward. The guards informed us of the call and we will leave it to them,” he revealed.
“We are so pleased that this programme has won the award and we hope this award will bring the disappearance of Sandra to the fore. The gardaí are constantly renewing the investigation and we have met them on several occasions since the trial ended. People should not be afraid to come forward if they are information.  
“It is a year since the trial ended and it is also 15 years since the tragic death of our brother James [who died in a work accident] six months before Sandra’s murder. We are still out there fighting and hopefully something will turn up,” he said.