Family of missing woman Sandra Collins renew appeal

A plaque in memory of 28-year-old Mayo woman Sandra Collins, who disappeared without trace 15 years ago, was unveiled on the pier in the seaside village of Killala on Sunday.

The inscription on the marble memorial, which bears Mc Collins’s photograph, illustrate her family’s ongoing pain over their loss and the fact her remains have never been found.

It reads: “A missing sister, A missing daughter. All together but one. We travel, we search, we pray and cry. No answers. No leads. No reasons why. Years have passed. Forever we remember the times before that December. Forever loved and missed by her loving family”.

After a service of remembrance in St. Tiernan’s Church, Crossmolina, and the unveiling later of the plaque, Mc Collins’s family renewed their appeal for anybody with information to come forward.

Ms Collins’s brother, Patrick, explained the family’s pain is ongoing: “The only way we will all feel any better is when we can bring her body or part of it home.”

Ms Collins was last seen alive in Killala after leaving a local takeaway on the night of December 4, 2000. A pink fleece later found on the pier was positively identified as hers.

Last year a man accused of the murder of Ms Collins's murder walked free after Mr Justice McCarthy directed a jury at the Central Criminal Court, sitting in Castlebar, to find him not guilty of murder.

The judge said there was unsufficient evidence to jury to find the accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

Gardaí say their investigation into Ms Collins’s death is ongoing and they appealed to anybody with furthger information on her disappearance to come forward.