THE CHIEF suspect in the disappearance and presumed murder of Sandra Collins from Co Mayo was last night being questioned by gardaí after being arrested for the second time in the investigation.
The 47-year-old man was detained yesterday morning in Ballina, Co Mayo, under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
He was being detained last night at Ballina Garda station and is being questioned about fresh information that has come to light since his last arrest in March.
Ms Collins, who was 28 at the time of her disappearance, was last seen on the night of Monday, December 4th, 2000, in the seaside village of Killala where she lived. She failed to return home from a trip to the shops. Her fleece jacket was later found on the pier in Killala.
On the 10th anniversary of her disappearance, a fresh appeal was made for information and a reconstruction of her last movements was broadcast.
Gardaí then received information, some of it concerning a white van seen in Killala on the night she disappeared. Early this year gardaí issued a local appeal to try to identify the van and garnered further information from the public, enabling gardaí to identify the van and helping them narrow their list of people of interest in the case.
Gardaí in Ballina, headed by Supt Peter O’Boyle, arrested a 21-year-old woman locally in March. She would have been 11 years old at the time Ms Collins disappeared and is not suspected of involvement. She was arrested on suspicion of withholding information on the basis of her friendship with the chief suspect. He was arrested at the same time in March and questioned.
He and the young woman were released without charge, but the man was arrested again yesterday after gardaí went to the courts for a warrant to question him again.
On the day she was last seen alive, Ms Collins left her aunt’s house in Killala to go to the shops. About three hours later, at 11pm, she was served in a local fast food outlet where she bought two bags of chips. She was never seen again.
When her jacket was found on the pier four days later, items she had bought in the shops were in the pockets. Gardaí believe she met someone after going shopping and was still with that person when she went to buy chips. They believe she was killed that night.