Episode 260: The two faces of INLA enforcer Gerard Mackin

Hailed as one of the oldest settlements in Ireland, Killala has a long and chequered history. St Patrick is rumoured to have brought a dead woman back to life in the centre of the village, while a French general landed there with more than 1,000 troops to kick off the 1798 Rebellion against English rule. In the late 80s, Ann O’Grady gets a small council flat on Courthouse Street in the village and brings her niece Sandra Collins to live with her. Shy and quiet, the locals know little about the teenager, apart from that she’s very young to be taking care of a disabled aunt. Her siblings try to persuade her to come home to them, but for some reason, Sandra insists on staying in Killala. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite early tragedy and straitened circumstances, the Collins family enjoy a loving and stable childhood in the townland of Fotish, near Crossmolina.  They may have little in the way of material wealth, but the six children are doted on by their parents, and two aunts, Bridie and Ann. However, when Ann develops a painful degenerative condition, and her marriage breaks up, one of the Collins children is expected to go stay with her.  In the end it’s Sandra who moves in. It’s supposed to be for just a few weeks, but turns into months, and then years.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While clearing out their aunt and uncle’s house in Liverpool, the Collins family find a tape recording of their eldest sister, Sandra, reading out a poem she learned in school.  It has been more than two decades since they last heard her voice. The 28-year-old disappeared on a bitterly cold winter’s night in 2000 from Killala, a fishing village on Mayo’s north coast.  For years her family hold out hope that she has simply run away from her domineering aunt and would one day return to them. But as time goes on it becomes clear that something much more sinister has happened to Sandra, and there is much about her life in Killala they have never known.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The disappearance of Sandra Collins remains one of the most frustrating murder cases on the books of An Garda Síochána. Aged 28, she was pregnant and planning an abortion when she disappeared on a bitterly cold December night in 2000 from the fishing village of Killala in County Mayo. Ten years later, her case was upgraded to a murder inquiry and a subsequent trial heard she had been having a relationship with a local married man Martin Earley. A jury at his trial were ordered to acquit him after five weeks of evidence yet the hunt goes on for the remains of a beloved sister, daughter, and friend. Nicola speaks with Jenny Friel about our nine-part podcast special Ghost: The Disappearance of Sandra Collins. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three men have been arrested and charged for their involvement in the murder of Robbie Lawlor. Who are the suspects, and why are they the only people before the courts? This episode of Double Cross: The Murder of Robbie Lawlor was originally released in January 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.