Man who faked his death arrested for his wife’s murder

SIX months after the wedding photo, left, was taken, Mary Whelan was strangled to death in the family home, and her husband Colin was the prime suspect.

Yesterday, it emerged that Colin Whelan has been arrested in Spain, 16 months after he faked his death by leaving his car, with personal belongings inside, on the Upper Cliff Road, Howth.

The Dublin computer analyst was arrested in Spain on foot of an international warrant. The 33-year-old from Balbriggan, Co Dublin, had been due to stand trial last October but disappeared in March, 2003. Balbriggan gardaí who investigated the February, 2001, murder of 27-year-old Mary Whelan, are expected to travel to Spain for the extradition hearings.