Family appeal for Gardaí to search for body of missing Killala woman

Louise McCarthy

The brother of a missing north Mayo woman believed to be murdered 16 years ago this month is desperately appealing for another Garda search.
The family of Sandra Collins were among the many families of missing Irish people who gathered in Farmleigh last Wednesday for National Missing Persons Day hosted by the Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald.
This month marks 16 years since the disappearance of Sandra Collins, just days before her 29th birthday. Ms Collins was last seen on December 4, 2000, in Killala, where a plaque in her memory was unveiled last year.
Four days after Sandra went missing, a pink fleece belonging to her was found on Killala Pier. An extensive search of the sea never led to anything being found.
In 2014, a local man Martin Earley of Banagher, Carrowmore Lacken was acquitted of the murder of Sandra Collins by the direction of the trial judge, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy.
The Collins family have been hit by many tragedies and earlier this year, Ms Collins’s stepfather Joe passed away after a battle with lung cancer. However the remaining siblings, David, Bridie, Patrick and Mary are still tightly knit.

Determined
Patrick Collins, who was just 14 when her sister disappeared, is determined to keep fighting until her remains are found.
“To find her would mean everything to me and the family, it is not about putting someone to jail,” he said. “If we just got one bone, my Dad died this year and he made us promise that we would keep looking for her. I believe that she is buried locally. We all desperately want to find her. I want to have a grave to go to.
“There is one space left in a grave where Mammy, James (brother) and Daddy lie, we want to put Sandra there, we have been denied that right. I don’t want to die without knowing where she is. I promised that we would not give up, we will never give up.”
Mr Collins said that his missing sister was his ‘best friend’ and the impact of Sandra’s disappearance has had a devastating impact on her younger brother’s life.
“It changed my life. It ruined my life. Sandra’s disappearance tore my mother to pieces. Sandra meant the world to us.”