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.

After his car was found on the Upper Cliff Road in Howth, a major sea, air and land rescue was launched amid speculation Mr Whelan had taken his own life. But gardaí always believed he was still alive and investigations continued.

Mr Whelan was arrested in southern Spain, close to the holiday resort of Malaga. It is understood local police, alerted via Interpol to the warrant for his arrest, picked up Mr Whelan by chance and he was not being tracked by gardaí.

While extradition proceedings between member European Union states can be relatively straightforward, particularly in relation to accusations of murder, it may take some weeks before he is back in Ireland.

Senior gardaí close to the investigation believe the extradition will be a formality. Detectives involved are said to be delighted at the arrest and that Mr Whelan will at last stand trial for murder.

Mr Whelan first appeared in court in late March, 2001, just weeks after the body of his wife was found at the bottom of the stairs in the Clonard Street couple’s home.

Initially, it was believed Mrs Whelan, a solicitor’s secretary, died from a fall but a post mortem revealed she had been strangled.

When arrested and charged, the accused told gardaí: “I didn’t do it.”

A week later, Mr Whelan was granted High Court bail and ordered to sign on at Balbriggan Garda Station twice a week. The book of evidence was served a year later and a trial date set for October, 2003.

The car abandoned by Mr Whelan on Howth Head, a 01 Peugeot 206, was the subject of a three-way court battle last year, between members of Mr Whelan’s family, his dead wife’s and the State.

During the hearings, evidence was heard that both the gardaí and Mr Whelan’s father, Andrew, believed he was still alive. The State was eventually given custody of the car under police property legislation.