Serial Killer Documentary - The Newly Wed Killer

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In March 2001, the emergency services received a call that
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27-year-old Mary Goff had fallen down the stairs and was
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no longer breathing.
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As senior investigators, you deal with many different and difficult cases,
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but this is one of the most shocking and difficult
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cases that I've ever been involved in.
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Mary's husband Colin Whelan made the call, but this was
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no tragic accident. Whelan had murdered Mary for her life
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insurance payout.
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Some people marry for money. Colin Whelan married for money,
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but to get the money he had to kill his wife.
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As evidence piled up against Whelan, he decided to evade
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justice by staging his own suicide and going on the run.
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I saw that he hadn't signed on for three days
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and that's a breach of his bail. I said, God,
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where has he gone now?
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I think everybody was satisfied that there's no way Colin
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had taken his own life. Whatever he had done, he
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had absconded to where we didn't know.
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As the police search unearthed concerning details from his past,
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Colin Whelan proved himself to be one of the world's
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most evil killers. On 28th February 2001, Colin Whelan arrived
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home from his computing job in the city of Dublin, Ireland,
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at around 6pm. He enjoyed a meal made by his wife,
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Mary Gough. They went out to a healthcare appointment together
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before returning home around 9.30pm.
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Tells us that he went for a shower and then
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that subsequently Mary went for a shower.
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Just after midnight, Colin Whelan made a frantic call to
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the emergency services, saying Mary had had a tragic accident.
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He said in his statement that, yes, I was in
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the house with Mary and I heard her thud, thud, thud,
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and I found her at the bottom of the stairs
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and I knew she'd fallen from the top of the
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stairs and that was it.
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As detectives pieced together what had happened, the truth behind
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the events of that night started to become clear.
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First of all, everybody thought it was an accident. She
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fell down the stairs, you know, and that was the consensus. But,
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you know, within days, you know, it became clear that
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it was more of.
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This than meets the eye.
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Colin Whelan had set out to murder Mary from months
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prior to the murders.
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This killer's story begins in County Meath in Ireland. Born
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on the 14th of July 1971, Colin Whelan was the
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youngest of five children.
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Colin Whelan was born in a small town called Gormanstown
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in County Meath, just a little north of Dublin. Middle-class family,
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one of five.
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His parents, they're from a very decent background, was educated
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locally and then went to Dundalk to do computer studies.
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I actually spoke to a classmate who sat beside him
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in the class and he described him as just an
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ordinary guy, a bit aloof, a bit aloof and a
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bit detached. But apart from that, he was just an
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ordinary kid.
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Colin Whelan embarked on a career in the newly emerging
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field of computer technology.
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Computers were new and it was lucrative work to get into,
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so he got a job at a Dublin-based financial institution
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and he was earning, you know, good money. Finance wasn't
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a problem in his life.
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In 1993, Whelan was 22 years old and earning a
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decent wage when he met Mary Goff, a 19-year-old barmaid
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working in his local pub.
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Mary was an only daughter. She was the apple of
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her brother's and her family's eye.
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Mary was described as a lovable girl, one of the gang,
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you know. She just wanted to be liked and she
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was happy, very happy woman.
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All Mary wanted was a family, a husband, a home,
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to call her own, to live a life. And she
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was an absolute peach of a woman. Honest, dedicated, you know,
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family orientated, really, really good person. Nice circle of friends.
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Mary and Colin Whelan got to know each other fairly
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well during their encounters at the pub.
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They became very close and they were in a relationship
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pretty quickly and things seemed to be going quite well.
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Anyone that knew them said they were a perfect couple.
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Two years after the couple met, Colin Whelan abruptly ended
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the relationship with Mary.
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Mary came home in floods of tears that Colin had
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broken up without any reason, without any explanation. So she
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was very upset. She's horrified.
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This is the first time she's really been in love.
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And yet he treats her as though she's irrelevant. She
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doesn't know what to do.
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Suddenly, after six months apart, Whelan appeared back on the scene,
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wanting to rekindle the romance. He bought his grandfather's house
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in Balbriggan, a seaside town on the east coast of Ireland,
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and Mary moved in with him.
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When Whelan and Mary got back together, that was because
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he had planned that. She was still quite invested in
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him as a partner, and she was probably really pleased
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that they got back together, but his intentions were not
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that she should be happy.
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To the outside world, Whelan appeared to be Mr. Perfect,
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but in truth, he was actually planning Mary's demise. She
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was besotted with him by this point and trusted him completely.
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I think it would be fair to say that Whelan
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took advantage of that and made it abundantly clear that
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he could pretty much decide her fate or her future.
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This is not a man deeply in love or head
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over heels. This is a man who's clearly planning in.
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A very careful way.
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Colin Whelan wanted Mary's family to see what a gentleman
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she was with, putting on big displays of generosity for
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their benefit.
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We're all out having a meal, like family get together,
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all this stuff. And Colin got up and paid himself
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for the whole lot, like, you know, and wanted to
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be shown as the Mr. Nice Guy. Also, that Christmas
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of 2000, he had bought Mary a lot of presents
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and left them under the tree and would not let
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her wrap them up or anything. They were under the tree.
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So when the families came in and they'd see all
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the presents under the tree, So they were all, oh, Jesus,
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this is a great guy, like, you know. But it
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was pure, his mind was that, I'm Sean, I'm a
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perfect husband, I'm a good guy.
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He was what we would call love-bombing her, you know,
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as flowers and presents and you're wonderful and I love you,
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all made up. It's all a huge act to make
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sure that he won that person over, and more than
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won them over, had complete control of them, complete domination,
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not only of what they did, but of their emotions
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and the way that they would respond to him. And
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that was almost like a game to somebody like Colin Whelan.
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Colin and Mary were engaged to be married, and the
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wedding day in September 2000 was another excuse for a
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lavish performance from Whelan.
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They had a big wedding, you know, a typical Irish wedding,
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you know, huge. And people have seen the video afterwards
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and noticed there's something amiss, you know. It's all fun
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and what Mary seems to be, you know, if not unhappy,
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she seems to be distant. You know, you can see
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she's not herself. There was something just not right, although
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this was supposed to be the happiest day.
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Of her life.
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While Mary spent the day distant and distracted, her new husband, Whelan,
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didn't seem to notice or care as he was too
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busy enjoying himself.
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Colin seems to be loving the limelight, taking, you know,
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the dominant position, you know, in pictures, you know, greeting
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people and stuff like that. And Mary just sitting there
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in the background or standing there in the background.
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Did Mary sense that something was wrong at that point?
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Did she realise that she was rendering herself into the
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hands of a man who was probably disinterested in her?
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When I see it now, I can see, you know,
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a very devious man. He's actually, when he looks into
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his wife's eyes, you know, he's actually calculating. He knows
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he's going to kill her.
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Colin Whelan had rekindled his relationship with Mary Gough and
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had gone on to marry her. From the outside, their
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marriage seemed like that of any other couple. Whelan liked
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to lavish his wife with gifts and attention, showing the
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world he was the perfect husband. But it wasn't long
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until people noticed that the honeymoon was well and truly over.
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Following the wedding in September 2000, the family saw, I suppose,
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a change in Mary and a change in the circumstances,
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where she'd lost confidence.
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Mary's mother and Mary are the best of friends. Mary's
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mother used to go there and stay there the odd night,
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but when she got married, that stopped. Mary's communication with
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her mother was virtually non-existent. and Mary's mother was very
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upset over this.
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Mary had always taken pride in her appearance, but this
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had started to deteriorate not long after the wedding, a
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change that was noticed by Mary's mum, Marie.
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Her clothes were becoming quite shabby, her nails weren't painted,
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because Mary was very proud of her nails and getting
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her nails done and that, and she knew that there
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was something wrong. And any time she met Mary or
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Mary had called over, she discovered that she wasn't wearing
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the perfume she used to wear. I said, oh, Colin
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doesn't like that perfume. And he, you know, so he
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was controlling her.
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Mary was showing all the classic signs of somebody who's
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suffering domestic abuse and coercive control. She had become quieter.
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She was dressing differently. She'd become isolated from her friends
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and her family. She was not happy. And this absolutely
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demonstrates that what Mary was going through was probably absolutely horrendous.
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He was, in effect, bringing her down, like he was
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abusing her mentally, like, you know, because he knew what,
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in his mind, what he was going to do with her, like,
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you know.
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On February the 28th, 2001, Whelan and Mary seemed to
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be going about their business.
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Like any normal day.
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Whelan returned home from work and they ate dinner. They
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went to a homeopathy appointment and then returned home together.
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We're happy again that they arrived home around 9.30. Colin
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tells us that he went for a shower and then
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that subsequently Mary went for a shower.
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But as the evening progressed, things took a shocking turn
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in the Whelan household.
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Shortly after midnight on March the 1st, 2001, he calls
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the police and the fire brigade and says that his wife, Mary,
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has had a dreadful fall down the stairs in their
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house in Balbriggan.
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And he found Mary in a prone position at the
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bottom of the stairs. She was bleeding heavily from the
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face and mouth and that he wanted the emergency service
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to come to the house immediately.
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The call operator kept Whelan on the line and talked
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him through how to perform CPR on Mary. Whelan said
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he was following these instructions, but there was no improvement.
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When the emergency response team arrived at the scene, they
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were confused by the condition Mary was in.
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When they arrived, they had taken Mary then from the
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bottom of the stairs into the sitting room and they
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tried to resuscitate her and they gave her electric shocks
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and all that to resuscitate her. And they even commented
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that they said she was in acetol, and that means
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that she was flatlined. There was no sign of any
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heart activity at all, and they would always expect someone
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that would have died a short period earlier that there
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would be some activity on the machine that they had,
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and there wasn't, and they found that strange, and they
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found as well that she was very cold.
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Mary was taken to hospital in a last attempt at
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saving her life.
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Although they couldn't get a pulse on Mary... They decided
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to bring her as quick as they possibly could to
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Beaumont Hospital and they had a trauma team waiting for
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her in there. A number of the nurses interacted with
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Mary and to see if they could save her life.
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Despite the intense efforts of the medical team to revive Mary,
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there was nothing they could do.
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At 1.25 a.m.
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On March the 1st, 2001, Mary Goff was pronounced dead.
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the medical team turned their attention to her grieving husband
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to check on his welfare.
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And a fabulous nurse who was working there on the
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night was talking to Colin Whelan and consoling him and
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asking if he was all right. And he was leaning
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over and his shirt buttons were open down and she
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could look in and she saw scratch marks.
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The fresh marks made the nurse suspicious and she immediately
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alerted the police. A superintendent arrived at the hospital to
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speak to Whelan and suggested that he undergo a medical check.
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Unaware of the scratches on his body, Whelan agreed to
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00:14:46.519 --> 00:14:47.440
the examination.
246
00:14:48.059 --> 00:14:50.590
He took off his shirt and there were scratch marks,
247
00:14:51.070 --> 00:14:54.990
evident scratch marks on his body and his chest. And
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00:14:55.009 --> 00:14:58.110
he was asked about, and this is where he felt
249
00:14:58.190 --> 00:15:00.470
foul as well, he was asked, the scratches and he
250
00:15:00.509 --> 00:15:03.049
didn't realise the scratches and he was just, oh, she
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00:15:03.090 --> 00:15:06.070
must have scraped out of me when she was flailed
252
00:15:06.129 --> 00:15:08.769
out of me, like, you know. So he was telling
253
00:15:08.820 --> 00:15:11.539
the CPR man she's dead, like, you know, there's no breathing,
254
00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:14.879
there's nothing. And here he's now saying, oh, she grasped
255
00:15:14.940 --> 00:15:17.659
out of me, like, you know. So it just wasn't
256
00:15:17.700 --> 00:15:20.299
all fitting together. It was a lot of questions there
257
00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:21.159
that needed to be answered.
258
00:15:22.149 --> 00:15:26.360
Less than 24 hours after the death, a post-mortem was
259
00:15:26.409 --> 00:15:28.220
conducted on Mary's body.
260
00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:32.179
Mary Cassidy had done a post-mortem. She came out to
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00:15:32.220 --> 00:15:33.940
me and she says, well, the bad news is that
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00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:37.200
you have a murder on your hands. Wow, I said,
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00:15:37.220 --> 00:15:41.080
I wasn't expecting that at all. She said, look, she
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00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:44.519
was dragged down the stairs because there's burn marks on
265
00:15:44.539 --> 00:15:49.480
her buttocks and her injuries are not consistent with a
266
00:15:49.500 --> 00:15:50.320
fall down the stairs.
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00:15:51.340 --> 00:15:53.820
It was clear that Mary had been moved to the
268
00:15:53.879 --> 00:15:57.580
bottom of the stairs rather than falling down them. And
269
00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:01.480
further results from the post-mortem showed that she hadn't died
270
00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:06.039
from a fall. The pathologist told Pat Mary of her findings.
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00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:10.950
This girl has been strangled by way of ligature. I says, wow,
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00:16:11.029 --> 00:16:13.549
I said, how sure are you? And she says, I'm
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00:16:13.549 --> 00:16:15.850
110% sure this girl was strangled.
274
00:16:15.870 --> 00:16:19.909
It was the ligature marks around the neck. with some
275
00:16:19.950 --> 00:16:24.090
damage to the larynx, there was swelling of the tongue,
276
00:16:25.070 --> 00:16:28.720
and there was evidence of petechiae, which are small hemorrhaging
277
00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:32.500
in the skin, under the skin, so they're evident around
278
00:16:32.539 --> 00:16:37.580
the lips and the forehead, behind your ears, and in
279
00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:40.929
your nostrils even. Obviously, we had a murder at that stage,
280
00:16:41.169 --> 00:16:43.690
and that obviously brought Colin to the level of the
281
00:16:43.730 --> 00:16:47.610
threshold of being a suspect for the murder of his wife, Mary.
282
00:16:48.750 --> 00:16:52.690
Whelan's actions and behaviors at the time were being scrutinized.
283
00:16:53.070 --> 00:16:56.230
Could the police gain any vital evidence at this early
284
00:16:56.289 --> 00:17:00.389
stage to prove that Whelan was responsible for his wife's death?
285
00:17:01.309 --> 00:17:04.069
Very early, we could see cracks in his demeanor. He
286
00:17:04.109 --> 00:17:07.269
was telling people different versions of what happened, and we
287
00:17:07.549 --> 00:17:11.029
learned that he was cunning, he was conniving, he was cold-blooded,
288
00:17:11.329 --> 00:17:14.690
he was greedy. From an early stage, it was evident
289
00:17:14.730 --> 00:17:16.890
that there was a number of red flags that had
290
00:17:16.930 --> 00:17:17.569
come to our attention.
291
00:17:18.609 --> 00:17:22.869
Police suspected Whelan of murder, but needed hard evidence of
292
00:17:22.930 --> 00:17:25.930
his involvement. There was still a long way to go
293
00:17:26.009 --> 00:17:29.839
with the investigation. One of the first lines of inquiry
294
00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:32.880
for Detective Pat Marry was to go back to the
295
00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:35.680
emergency call from the night in question.
296
00:17:38.339 --> 00:17:40.339
If Colin was talking on the phone and he was
297
00:17:40.359 --> 00:17:42.380
given CPR like he was told to do and this,
298
00:17:42.420 --> 00:17:44.490
that and the other, you would imagine there'd be some
299
00:17:44.529 --> 00:17:47.019
blood on his hands that would be on the phone
300
00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:50.400
of Mary's and I took the phone, I seized the
301
00:17:50.420 --> 00:17:54.099
phone and we had it technically examined in the forensic
302
00:17:54.180 --> 00:17:58.660
lab and they told me there was no blood, no saliva,
303
00:17:58.980 --> 00:18:02.269
nothing on the phone whatsoever. So it shows he'd done nothing.
304
00:18:02.569 --> 00:18:04.130
He didn't give two flutes about her.
305
00:18:05.089 --> 00:18:08.589
The lies were starting to become apparent from an early stage.
306
00:18:09.049 --> 00:18:12.369
Whelan's initial account of the evening was revisited.
307
00:18:12.869 --> 00:18:15.529
He is saying it was only himself and Mary that
308
00:18:15.569 --> 00:18:18.430
were in the house and she ends up being strangled
309
00:18:18.650 --> 00:18:23.529
as per the pathologist. So, obviously, the finger of suspicion
310
00:18:23.650 --> 00:18:28.490
was somewhat pointing towards Colin Whelan. Initially, that there's a
311
00:18:28.539 --> 00:18:31.099
lot of questions here that have to be asked and answered.
312
00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:36.140
The post-mortem showed that Mary was strangled and Whelan's own
313
00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:40.619
admissions made him the prime suspect. Forensic teams moved in
314
00:18:40.869 --> 00:18:42.230
to examine the property.
315
00:18:42.890 --> 00:18:46.079
The evidence was quite clear. blatant in that. In the
316
00:18:46.119 --> 00:18:51.359
bedroom of the house we found blood staining on the
317
00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:56.650
saddle board and on the wall between the ensuite and
318
00:18:56.690 --> 00:19:00.009
the door into the bedroom. When someone has been strangled,
319
00:19:00.630 --> 00:19:04.730
they emit blood from their nose in a mist format
320
00:19:04.750 --> 00:19:07.269
that can't really be seen by the naked eye. But
321
00:19:07.289 --> 00:19:12.700
this spray was found on the wallpaper between the door
322
00:19:12.740 --> 00:19:14.960
to the bedroom and the en suite. So we knew
323
00:19:15.220 --> 00:19:18.460
that the struggle or she was strangled in that location
324
00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:19.599
between those two doors.
325
00:19:20.750 --> 00:19:24.619
The forensic search of the property continued to provide results
326
00:19:25.019 --> 00:19:26.579
for the investigation team.
327
00:19:26.980 --> 00:19:31.380
The forensic team also discovered Colin Whelan's dressing gown and
328
00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.140
on that dressing gown there was what you tie your
329
00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:37.920
robe with and that was stretched and taught in the
330
00:19:37.980 --> 00:19:41.930
middle so we suspected that that was the actual murder
331
00:19:41.970 --> 00:19:46.769
weapon and on analysis of that particular item we did
332
00:19:46.829 --> 00:19:51.839
discover Mary Goff's DNA and there was saliva on it
333
00:19:51.930 --> 00:19:54.119
and all of that so we knew that that was
334
00:19:54.150 --> 00:19:54.920
the murder weapon.
335
00:19:56.240 --> 00:19:59.759
All of the evidence now pointed to exactly how Mary
336
00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:04.160
Goff had been murdered by Colin Whelan. But from the outside,
337
00:20:04.220 --> 00:20:06.880
the couple had seemed to live a normal, happy life.
338
00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:10.569
So what was the motive for such an horrific attack?
339
00:20:11.289 --> 00:20:15.329
Police made the decision to examine Whelan's computer hard drives
340
00:20:15.670 --> 00:20:16.869
for more information.
341
00:20:18.029 --> 00:20:22.029
Incidentally, he's wiped his own computer, but the one at
342
00:20:22.069 --> 00:20:26.119
his office has kept a record of his communications.
343
00:20:26.579 --> 00:20:29.740
So every keystroke that was ever made in the building
344
00:20:30.099 --> 00:20:30.740
was recorded.
345
00:20:31.160 --> 00:20:34.559
And everything Colin Whelan did was on those tapes.
346
00:20:35.099 --> 00:20:38.480
With a vast amount of historical records to sift through,
347
00:20:38.809 --> 00:20:42.589
police needed to find a way to analyse the data fast.
348
00:20:43.769 --> 00:20:47.029
We could see where Colin Whelan was looking up on
349
00:20:47.069 --> 00:20:53.529
the internet sites of strangulation, asphyxiation, choking, smothering, you know,
350
00:20:53.849 --> 00:20:55.029
all of these type of sites.
351
00:20:55.789 --> 00:20:59.450
He had been trawling the internet for ways, you know,
352
00:20:59.490 --> 00:21:01.970
to kill people. without leaving any trace.
353
00:21:03.230 --> 00:21:09.170
On the 2nd of January, Whelan had looked up asphyxiation, choking, smothering,
354
00:21:09.549 --> 00:21:13.289
and blocking the air supply. On the 29th of January,
355
00:21:13.670 --> 00:21:17.880
he searched the term death by asphyxiation. On the 19th
356
00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:22.359
of February, he researched causes of instant death. And on
357
00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:25.640
the following day, Whelan looked into how a lack of
358
00:21:25.819 --> 00:21:27.559
oxygen can cause death.
359
00:21:28.940 --> 00:21:31.380
What was going through this man's mind? We all know
360
00:21:31.420 --> 00:21:33.680
what was going through his mind now, that he was
361
00:21:33.740 --> 00:21:34.480
pure evil.
362
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:37.720
Whelan was off the scale, and he'd been planning this
363
00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:38.960
for a very long time.
364
00:21:39.579 --> 00:21:43.180
Further computer history showed that Whelan had been looking to
365
00:21:43.240 --> 00:21:46.339
a notorious serial killer for inspiration.
366
00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:50.200
We discovered that he had been researching a guy by
367
00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:54.660
the name of Henry Lewis Wallace, who had murdered nine
368
00:21:54.839 --> 00:21:59.250
women in North Carolina, and he was convicted. of the
369
00:21:59.289 --> 00:22:03.230
murder of them all after strangling them. And he used
370
00:22:03.289 --> 00:22:08.289
a towel to put around their neck. And whatever ligature
371
00:22:08.349 --> 00:22:11.049
he had, he would then strangle them. And that would
372
00:22:11.089 --> 00:22:13.789
not leave a mark on their neck. And he'd use
373
00:22:13.829 --> 00:22:17.049
the towel then to mop up any blood or that
374
00:22:17.069 --> 00:22:21.559
type of thing. And when Mary's body was found at
375
00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:24.940
the bottom of the stairs, the ambulance men found a
376
00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:28.210
towel at the bottom of the stairs in a duvet
377
00:22:28.470 --> 00:22:29.470
which she had been wrapped in.
378
00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:34.640
The Irish police are certainly in even less doubt now
379
00:22:35.079 --> 00:22:37.940
that Whelan is actually guilty. They've got the bloodstains on
380
00:22:37.960 --> 00:22:40.289
the wallpaper, they've got the strange position at the bottom
381
00:22:40.309 --> 00:22:42.829
of the stairs, they've got the fact she was cold
382
00:22:43.170 --> 00:22:47.410
when she came downstairs. Every single finger seems to be
383
00:22:47.470 --> 00:22:50.500
pointing at Colin Whelan as the killer of his wife Mary.
384
00:22:52.039 --> 00:22:56.220
The likelihood that Colin Whelan murdered his wife was quite evident. Now,
385
00:22:56.240 --> 00:22:58.440
the next question is, well, why did he do this?
386
00:22:59.740 --> 00:23:03.980
Investigators were confident that Colin Whelan was responsible for his
387
00:23:04.059 --> 00:23:07.369
wife's death, but before arresting him, they needed to be
388
00:23:07.369 --> 00:23:12.849
100% sure. While Mary's family grieved, the search for evidence continued,
389
00:23:13.170 --> 00:23:17.289
and Colin Whelan remained a free man, a killer roaming
390
00:23:17.349 --> 00:23:18.630
the streets of Balbriggan.
391
00:23:19.930 --> 00:23:24.019
This was a unique case because openly and to the public,
392
00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:27.240
Colin Whelan and Mary Goff were in a loving relationship,
393
00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:29.799
had got married and seemed to have an ideal life.
394
00:23:30.099 --> 00:23:32.180
But behind the scenes, things were different.
395
00:23:33.079 --> 00:23:35.900
On the 28th of February, the day he probably killed her,
396
00:23:36.859 --> 00:23:39.539
he buys her an expensive present and makes a great
397
00:23:39.700 --> 00:23:43.720
show of telling the shop assistant that it's for his wife,
398
00:23:44.460 --> 00:23:46.220
who is convinced that he's a really nice man.
399
00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:50.710
But this pretense was all part... of his sickening act.
400
00:23:51.950 --> 00:23:56.920
Somebody like Colin Whelan is not capable of feeling love
401
00:23:57.180 --> 00:24:01.660
in the way that we know it. He's not capable
402
00:24:01.720 --> 00:24:04.680
of that. So if we think, did he really love Mary?
403
00:24:05.380 --> 00:24:09.240
The answer would have to be no. Not only did
404
00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:12.039
he not love her, he didn't really have any care
405
00:24:12.099 --> 00:24:16.440
for her. And this isn't because Mary wasn't lovable. This
406
00:24:16.509 --> 00:24:19.930
is because someone like Colin Whelan can't love anybody.
407
00:24:20.950 --> 00:24:25.750
Further analysis of Whelan's computer provided evidence that he wasn't
408
00:24:25.789 --> 00:24:29.710
the dedicated husband that he wanted people to believe he was.
409
00:24:29.730 --> 00:24:34.950
This guy had engaged with a cyber affair with a
410
00:24:34.970 --> 00:24:38.359
lady in Wales to such an extent that that lady
411
00:24:38.380 --> 00:24:41.640
in Wales was in love with Colin Whelan, even though
412
00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:44.980
she had never met him in any physical format, just
413
00:24:45.099 --> 00:24:48.859
pictures and talk and greeting cards and that type of stuff.
414
00:24:49.460 --> 00:24:51.980
She told him where she was and the mother had
415
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:55.059
died and she was lonely and she was vulnerable. You
416
00:24:55.079 --> 00:24:59.579
can understand her position, she was grieving. And he took
417
00:24:59.619 --> 00:25:02.480
advantage of that. And that was as simple as that
418
00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:05.799
and played her along the whole way. He spoke to
419
00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:09.190
her at lunchtime the day of the murder, spoke to
420
00:25:09.230 --> 00:25:12.450
her for half an hour. He then lifted the phone
421
00:25:12.990 --> 00:25:16.009
and spoke to his wife, and then he went straight
422
00:25:16.069 --> 00:25:18.849
onto his computer and looked up a sight on strangulation.
423
00:25:19.089 --> 00:25:22.079
You know, it's mind-boggling, really, you know, but it is evil.
424
00:25:22.099 --> 00:25:24.680
It is, like, you know, his thought process.
425
00:25:26.339 --> 00:25:30.519
The police needed to find out more about this cyber affair.
426
00:25:32.380 --> 00:25:34.980
On the 9th of March, not long after Mary's death,
427
00:25:35.259 --> 00:25:39.559
the Irish police visit the lover in Wales and discover
428
00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:43.000
the extent of the lies that Whelan has told her.
429
00:25:44.039 --> 00:25:45.700
Just want to talk to you, said, his wife died.
430
00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:46.759
I know, she said.
431
00:25:46.779 --> 00:25:49.799
And I was, right, he told me she died in
432
00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:52.579
an accident, like a road traffic accident, like, you know,
433
00:25:53.259 --> 00:25:54.849
and that he was widowed, like, you know, he was,
434
00:25:55.140 --> 00:25:57.849
you know. I said, no, no, no, his wife died
435
00:25:57.890 --> 00:26:00.890
on the 28th, I said, you know, and she was murdered.
436
00:26:01.619 --> 00:26:03.980
And with that, she collapsed on the ground.
437
00:26:05.859 --> 00:26:10.130
Uncaring Whelan had targeted this woman at her most vulnerable,
438
00:26:10.670 --> 00:26:13.529
promising her a perfect future together.
439
00:26:16.730 --> 00:26:19.049
For an internet relationship, it was quite intimate.
440
00:26:19.069 --> 00:26:21.849
He sent, you know, love letters and, you know, little
441
00:26:21.930 --> 00:26:25.309
emojis and all sorts of things over to her. She
442
00:26:25.710 --> 00:26:28.450
actually believed that this guy was going to come over
443
00:26:28.470 --> 00:26:29.839
and live with her.
444
00:26:30.019 --> 00:26:30.720
And that's what he said.
445
00:26:30.740 --> 00:26:31.299
I mean, he.
446
00:26:31.799 --> 00:26:33.519
He was so manipulative, he convinced her.
447
00:26:34.740 --> 00:26:38.880
He would use anything in his power to get what
448
00:26:38.940 --> 00:26:43.970
he wanted. And he seemed to want the attention of women, especially.
449
00:26:44.490 --> 00:26:50.170
Always got to be this larger-than-life, perfect representation of himself
450
00:26:50.950 --> 00:26:55.450
to make sure that he absolutely wins over and dominates
451
00:26:55.539 --> 00:26:56.299
that other person.
452
00:26:56.920 --> 00:27:00.259
Conor Whelan's online lover in Wales, you know, really believed
453
00:27:00.299 --> 00:27:01.420
she had met the man of her dreams.
454
00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:04.640
But she could have met the man of her nightmares.
455
00:27:07.990 --> 00:27:12.690
The cyber affair pointed towards a possible motive. Perhaps Whelan
456
00:27:12.849 --> 00:27:15.829
had been wanting to move on from Mary to another woman,
457
00:27:16.269 --> 00:27:19.410
but police still weren't convinced that this murder was entirely
458
00:27:19.509 --> 00:27:22.630
motivated by a desire to be with a new partner.
459
00:27:23.069 --> 00:27:26.549
And these suspicions seemed to be confirmed when they discovered
460
00:27:26.630 --> 00:27:30.819
yet more incriminating evidence at the couple's home while Colin
461
00:27:30.859 --> 00:27:32.900
Whelan was staying with his parents.
462
00:27:33.539 --> 00:27:35.740
The police, early on, they couldn't find a motive for
463
00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:37.940
the killing. But when they searched the house, after the
464
00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:40.579
forensics were done, and they went to search the house,
465
00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:44.640
they found an insurance policy taken out on both Colin
466
00:27:44.660 --> 00:27:49.420
Whelan and Mary Goff. Initially, it was for £ 200, 000.
467
00:27:47.980 --> 00:27:52.690
And we're satisfied, without Mary's knowledge, that he increased that
468
00:27:53.410 --> 00:27:57.130
to £ 400, 000 on the 1st of June 2000. So it
469
00:27:57.210 --> 00:27:59.490
was about seven or eight months before he murdered Mary.
470
00:28:00.140 --> 00:28:03.619
He had been in a relationship with her, had dumped her,
471
00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:08.599
discarded her, wasn't really worried about her as a person,
472
00:28:09.619 --> 00:28:13.710
but seemed to start formulating this plot in his head
473
00:28:14.170 --> 00:28:16.750
that he wanted to make money.
474
00:28:17.730 --> 00:28:22.150
Although not unusual for couples to take out insurance policies
475
00:28:22.210 --> 00:28:25.309
to help the other in the case of death, this
476
00:28:25.390 --> 00:28:28.289
particular one didn't make logical sense.
477
00:28:30.569 --> 00:28:34.490
The policy itself was kind of an obsolete policy because
478
00:28:34.829 --> 00:28:38.880
after 10 years, there was no cash in value to it.
479
00:28:39.269 --> 00:28:41.319
So it was just like in the prime of their lives.
480
00:28:41.339 --> 00:28:45.700
So between 30 and 40, you know, normally people wouldn't
481
00:28:45.740 --> 00:28:46.359
die suddenly.
482
00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:49.559
It was taken out, you know, almost on the premise
483
00:28:49.579 --> 00:28:51.799
that one of them would die and the survivor would
484
00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:56.650
get € 400, 000. So this was absolutely the reason why Colin
485
00:28:56.670 --> 00:28:57.569
Whelan killed Mary Goff.
486
00:28:59.450 --> 00:29:03.049
At that stage of his life, Whelan had a decent job.
487
00:29:03.369 --> 00:29:08.009
He wasn't struggling financially. His plans seemed to be entirely
488
00:29:08.109 --> 00:29:10.049
motivated by greed.
489
00:29:11.250 --> 00:29:14.130
We could see from his Internet history, he was looking
490
00:29:14.190 --> 00:29:20.569
up expensive holidays, expensive cars, you know, holidays around the world,
491
00:29:20.589 --> 00:29:22.349
all of this type of stuff. So he was planning
492
00:29:22.789 --> 00:29:24.109
what he was going to do with his money when
493
00:29:24.130 --> 00:29:24.500
he got it.
494
00:29:24.970 --> 00:29:28.970
He was an honest man. decent young woman going about
495
00:29:29.009 --> 00:29:32.470
her life and her husband is happy to kill her
496
00:29:32.690 --> 00:29:33.730
just for financial gain.
497
00:29:38.430 --> 00:29:42.019
For the police, the investigation was coming to a conclusion.
498
00:29:42.619 --> 00:29:46.539
They had hard evidence that this was a premeditated killing
499
00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:50.910
and had established a motive for the murder. On Tuesday,
500
00:29:50.970 --> 00:29:55.730
the 10th of April, 2001, at 8 a.m., detectives went
501
00:29:55.769 --> 00:29:58.549
to Whelan's parents' home to make the arrest.
502
00:29:59.339 --> 00:30:01.660
He was arrested for the murder of his wife. He
503
00:30:01.680 --> 00:30:03.819
made no comment. He had to be cautioned. And he
504
00:30:04.259 --> 00:30:07.559
was immediately brought to Bad Breakin' Garda station. We wanted
505
00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:09.440
to make sure that we had all our ducks in
506
00:30:09.460 --> 00:30:11.589
a row, all our evidence was available, and we were
507
00:30:11.619 --> 00:30:14.549
able to put it to him, particularly the computer evidence.
508
00:30:14.950 --> 00:30:19.170
That was very, very significant. Most of the answers he said,
509
00:30:19.390 --> 00:30:22.549
no comment. He denied looking up these sites, can't remember
510
00:30:22.589 --> 00:30:24.890
the stat and the other, you know. But it was
511
00:30:24.950 --> 00:30:28.339
quite evident we had him nailed at that stage.
512
00:30:30.380 --> 00:30:34.619
Despite the evidence stacked against him, Colin Whelan refused to
513
00:30:34.680 --> 00:30:39.109
admit what he'd done. For the Director of Public Prosecutions
514
00:30:39.170 --> 00:30:42.549
to authorise a charge, there needs to be a strong
515
00:30:42.650 --> 00:30:43.309
case file.
516
00:30:44.009 --> 00:30:47.799
In this case, there was more than sufficient evidence available,
517
00:30:47.890 --> 00:30:51.200
so Colin Whelan was charged with the murder of Mary Gough.
518
00:30:52.299 --> 00:30:54.900
And he was kept in custody overnight to appear in
519
00:30:54.940 --> 00:30:56.440
court the next morning. He was thought to be a
520
00:30:56.460 --> 00:30:59.099
bit of a heave. And there was an awful lot
521
00:30:59.140 --> 00:31:00.900
of people there. So he was taking them out of
522
00:31:00.920 --> 00:31:03.640
the van and people were trying to get a scalp
523
00:31:03.660 --> 00:31:06.650
at him and they were calling him all types of names.
524
00:31:07.430 --> 00:31:12.750
A trial date was set for October 2003. Colin Whelan
525
00:31:12.789 --> 00:31:16.190
was to return to court then to have his case heard.
526
00:31:18.230 --> 00:31:22.049
Everybody's presumed innocent until proven guilty. So he went to
527
00:31:22.069 --> 00:31:25.890
the High Court and with a number of conditions, he
528
00:31:25.930 --> 00:31:26.549
was given bail.
529
00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:29.140
Nobody was really surprised that he got bail because that's
530
00:31:29.160 --> 00:31:30.789
the way it is in Ireland, you know, the court
531
00:31:30.829 --> 00:31:32.490
case could be, you know, maybe.
532
00:31:32.289 --> 00:31:33.289
Two years down the line.
533
00:31:34.029 --> 00:31:36.630
And if you're not deemed, you know, a flight risk
534
00:31:37.130 --> 00:31:39.769
or you won't interfere with witnesses, you know, you usually
535
00:31:39.809 --> 00:31:42.119
do get bail. So it wasn't surprising, you know, that
536
00:31:42.130 --> 00:31:42.740
he got bail.
537
00:31:43.680 --> 00:31:45.420
We did make conditions that there had to be an
538
00:31:45.480 --> 00:31:48.019
independent insurer with a certain amount of money and that
539
00:31:48.059 --> 00:31:50.119
he sign on at Balbrig and Garda station on a
540
00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:50.880
daily basis.
541
00:31:53.799 --> 00:31:58.420
In March 2003, after following the rules and signing on
542
00:31:58.480 --> 00:32:02.490
each day as required for two years, Whelan suddenly went
543
00:32:02.589 --> 00:32:05.650
missing and failed to turn up at a police station.
544
00:32:06.390 --> 00:32:10.230
Detectives had no idea where to find him. He had
545
00:32:10.450 --> 00:32:13.150
seemingly vanished into thin air.
546
00:32:14.210 --> 00:32:17.720
We learned from the local police that he hadn't signed
547
00:32:17.740 --> 00:32:20.400
on a particular day and we thought it could have happened,
548
00:32:20.420 --> 00:32:23.329
he could have been sick, but when the second day arrived,
549
00:32:23.549 --> 00:32:25.589
we knew there was a problem. And I spoke to
550
00:32:25.609 --> 00:32:28.369
some of my own team to say, listen, Colin Wheeler
551
00:32:28.390 --> 00:32:31.509
hasn't signed on. I wonder, has he absconded?
552
00:32:32.049 --> 00:32:33.910
I saw that he hadn't signed on for three days
553
00:32:34.509 --> 00:32:39.150
and that's a breach of his bail. And I said, God,
554
00:32:39.569 --> 00:32:40.950
where has he gone now, like, you know?
555
00:32:41.589 --> 00:32:44.990
The race was on to find the suspected murderer.
556
00:32:45.769 --> 00:32:50.089
On the 12th of March, 2003, he drives to Cliffs,
557
00:32:50.730 --> 00:32:55.299
not far from Dublin, parks his car, and disappears.
558
00:32:56.380 --> 00:32:59.900
We initially then learned that his car was found on
559
00:32:59.920 --> 00:33:00.380
the hill of Hoth.
560
00:33:01.559 --> 00:33:05.299
The abandoned car was left at Hoth Cliffs, a well-known
561
00:33:05.420 --> 00:33:10.180
suicide spot, and evidence found in Whelan's car certainly looked
562
00:33:10.220 --> 00:33:13.420
as if the driver had the intention to end his life.
563
00:33:14.450 --> 00:33:17.359
There was items in his car, particularly a bottle of alcohol.
564
00:33:17.990 --> 00:33:21.180
The keys were left in the car. And from initial
565
00:33:22.140 --> 00:33:25.700
viewing of the car, one could suspect that Colin Whelan
566
00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:29.309
could have maybe committed suicide and jumped into the Irish
567
00:33:29.349 --> 00:33:30.849
Sea at the bottom of the cliffs.
568
00:33:32.109 --> 00:33:35.730
But police knew Whelan well by this point and weren't
569
00:33:35.789 --> 00:33:37.630
convinced by this suggestion.
570
00:33:39.109 --> 00:33:41.829
I think everybody was satisfied that there's no way Colin
571
00:33:41.849 --> 00:33:45.250
had taken his own life. We were happy that whatever
572
00:33:45.269 --> 00:33:48.299
he had done, he had absconded to where we didn't know.
573
00:33:49.150 --> 00:33:55.539
If Colin Whelan was in Singapore, or if he was
574
00:33:55.599 --> 00:34:00.160
in Colombia, or he was in, let's say, the North Pole,
575
00:34:00.880 --> 00:34:03.259
I would get him because I would not lie until
576
00:34:03.299 --> 00:34:03.650
I got him.
577
00:34:04.519 --> 00:34:07.619
After being charged with the murder of his wife, Whelan
578
00:34:07.660 --> 00:34:10.929
had set his plan in motion. He used another person's
579
00:34:11.030 --> 00:34:14.949
identity without them knowing and applied for a passport in
580
00:34:15.030 --> 00:34:15.650
their name.
581
00:34:16.889 --> 00:34:19.710
Like something from a spy novel, he went to extreme
582
00:34:19.730 --> 00:34:21.550
lengths to find a new identity.
583
00:34:22.250 --> 00:34:24.869
And he used that passport with his picture, with a
584
00:34:24.909 --> 00:34:27.760
different identity, and could travel all over the world, really.
585
00:34:28.429 --> 00:34:29.139
He's got away with it.
586
00:34:30.260 --> 00:34:31.000
He's disappeared.
587
00:34:32.440 --> 00:34:33.500
Nobody knows where he's gone.
588
00:34:36.300 --> 00:34:40.559
Knowing that Whelan hadn't committed suicide, the police started to
589
00:34:40.619 --> 00:34:44.260
look for the wanted man. They knew Whelan had gone
590
00:34:44.420 --> 00:34:45.760
on the run, but they.
591
00:34:45.639 --> 00:34:46.699
Didn't know where.
592
00:34:47.320 --> 00:34:51.019
Detectives decided to search the main routes out of Dublin.
593
00:34:52.880 --> 00:34:55.719
At that time, there was no CCTV at the train station.
594
00:34:55.739 --> 00:34:59.159
We seized all the CCTV in Dublin Airport and we
595
00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:01.860
spent hours upon hours, days, looking at the CCTV.
596
00:35:02.599 --> 00:35:05.980
As part of their investigation, the police had looked into
597
00:35:06.059 --> 00:35:09.179
Whelan's background and past relationships.
598
00:35:10.300 --> 00:35:12.320
Was there other people in his life? Had he acted
599
00:35:12.360 --> 00:35:15.199
like this previously? Had he been violent towards any other
600
00:35:15.219 --> 00:35:18.110
girlfriends or friends for that matter?
601
00:35:18.769 --> 00:35:21.030
What they found was disturbing.
602
00:35:21.570 --> 00:35:25.489
We did come across girls that had relationships with Colin Whelan.
603
00:35:25.809 --> 00:35:29.030
Some of them only had time limits, small relationships with him,
604
00:35:29.070 --> 00:35:34.389
but they all said the same. He was overpowering. He was, like,
605
00:35:34.530 --> 00:35:36.469
buying them presents, trying to win them over.
606
00:35:37.070 --> 00:35:39.989
Police were building up a clear picture of a man
607
00:35:40.050 --> 00:35:43.699
who was a danger to women. With the concern that
608
00:35:43.820 --> 00:35:47.179
more women could be at risk of this predator, even
609
00:35:47.239 --> 00:35:50.019
more pressure was on to find Colin Whelan.
610
00:35:55.400 --> 00:35:58.000
He was on the run for approximately 18 months. He
611
00:35:58.039 --> 00:36:02.730
went to Belfast and got out. flight from Belfast to Barcelona,
612
00:36:03.369 --> 00:36:05.969
and then got a boat from Barcelona out to Mallorca, like.
613
00:36:06.929 --> 00:36:10.610
Whelan had got himself a job working behind a bar
614
00:36:10.750 --> 00:36:14.460
in the upmarket resort of Puerto Portals on the island.
615
00:36:15.559 --> 00:36:18.719
In a stroke of luck for the police, Whelan was
616
00:36:18.820 --> 00:36:22.019
spotted by somebody that he'd been at school with.
617
00:36:22.039 --> 00:36:26.610
The person seemed as a barman, and they said it
618
00:36:26.840 --> 00:36:29.630
bore a great likeness to Colin Whelan.
619
00:36:30.690 --> 00:36:35.929
If Colin Whelan had had an iota of remorse, or
620
00:36:35.989 --> 00:36:38.769
indeed an iota of the intelligence he pretended to have,
621
00:36:39.309 --> 00:36:42.559
he most certainly wouldn't have been so silly as to
622
00:36:42.679 --> 00:36:46.440
make himself abundantly obvious to Irish tourists.
623
00:36:47.739 --> 00:36:49.159
It's inconceivable.
624
00:36:50.199 --> 00:36:52.659
And yet that's what he did, and that was to
625
00:36:52.719 --> 00:36:53.530
prove his downfall.
626
00:36:53.889 --> 00:36:57.349
Not long after the first sighting, the police were alerted
627
00:36:57.550 --> 00:36:58.210
to a second.
628
00:36:59.800 --> 00:37:04.309
The couple who were in Spain and befriended an individual
629
00:37:04.590 --> 00:37:06.590
Irish man in a pub, who was working in a pub,
630
00:37:06.849 --> 00:37:08.030
by the name of Keane Sweeney.
631
00:37:08.510 --> 00:37:10.710
And she had a good chat with him and he said,
632
00:37:10.769 --> 00:37:14.150
oh yeah, I'm from Galway. God, I'd love to buy
633
00:37:14.190 --> 00:37:16.570
an Irish rugby jersey. And she says, sure, look, give
634
00:37:16.590 --> 00:37:19.389
me your email address and your address and I'll get
635
00:37:19.469 --> 00:37:20.510
one and I'll post it out to you.
636
00:37:21.300 --> 00:37:25.199
Unbeknown to the fugitive, the couple had realized that Kian
637
00:37:25.260 --> 00:37:29.400
Sweeney was in fact Whelan. Around the same time, an
638
00:37:29.619 --> 00:37:32.929
Irish newspaper was running a fresh appeal to try and
639
00:37:33.050 --> 00:37:35.610
find Whelan, which the couple had seen.
640
00:37:36.590 --> 00:37:39.969
Thankfully, they had taken up one of the local papers
641
00:37:40.010 --> 00:37:43.510
and saw the picture of Kian Sweeney, but actually just
642
00:37:43.530 --> 00:37:44.070
Colin Whelan.
643
00:37:44.690 --> 00:37:47.340
This was the same man that the woman had been
644
00:37:47.420 --> 00:37:48.820
talking to in the bar.
645
00:37:50.610 --> 00:37:52.349
And she got afraid. She said, oh, my God, that's...
646
00:37:53.230 --> 00:37:56.309
You know? So she got in contact with the incident room.
647
00:37:56.969 --> 00:37:59.329
I was contacted. I spoke with her. She showed me
648
00:37:59.349 --> 00:38:02.269
the paper. That's Colin Whelan. He goes by the name
649
00:38:02.329 --> 00:38:03.070
of Kian Sweeney.
650
00:38:03.670 --> 00:38:07.409
Police back in Ireland now had enough to suspect that
651
00:38:07.469 --> 00:38:12.380
Kian Sweeney was, in fact, their wanted man. Spanish police
652
00:38:12.619 --> 00:38:15.659
were sent to the bar in Puerto Portals to make
653
00:38:15.719 --> 00:38:16.260
the arrest.
654
00:38:17.619 --> 00:38:21.619
They did go and arrest him. And Colin protested that
655
00:38:21.679 --> 00:38:24.380
they had the wrong person, that he wasn't Colin Whelan.
656
00:38:24.880 --> 00:38:26.639
But they had the set of fingerprints and they took
657
00:38:26.679 --> 00:38:28.940
the set of fingerprints off him over there and they matched.
658
00:38:29.599 --> 00:38:30.980
And then he put his hands up and he said, yeah,
659
00:38:31.000 --> 00:38:31.659
I'm Colin Whelan.
660
00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:34.800
It was great relief for Mary's family because they never
661
00:38:34.860 --> 00:38:38.239
thought he was dead. Mary's family were absolutely delighted because
662
00:38:38.639 --> 00:38:39.800
now they were going to get justice.
663
00:38:42.139 --> 00:38:45.219
Colin Whelan was to stand trial on the 11th of
664
00:38:45.300 --> 00:38:48.329
April 2005, four years after the murder of.
665
00:38:49.989 --> 00:38:56.590
Of his wife. We initially viewed that that trial could
666
00:38:56.610 --> 00:38:59.659
maybe take four, five, six weeks, maybe. So it's a long,
667
00:39:00.039 --> 00:39:04.199
you know, prolonged trial, particularly for a murderer. So we
668
00:39:04.219 --> 00:39:04.940
did a lot of work.
669
00:39:05.679 --> 00:39:08.639
It was initially thought that Colin would brazen it out,
670
00:39:08.860 --> 00:39:11.360
you know, being the character he was and, you know,
671
00:39:11.420 --> 00:39:15.239
plead not guilty in court. On the day of his trial,
672
00:39:15.500 --> 00:39:18.179
he let it be known fairly quickly that, you know,
673
00:39:18.280 --> 00:39:20.989
he was going to plead guilty. The reason for that
674
00:39:21.010 --> 00:39:23.730
was because he, you know, he knew he had no chance.
675
00:39:23.989 --> 00:39:26.809
The evidence he gave was overwhelming. He was going to
676
00:39:26.849 --> 00:39:29.920
be convicted. And rather than have the evidence come out,
677
00:39:30.219 --> 00:39:32.920
he somehow thought the despicable character he was, you know,
678
00:39:33.039 --> 00:39:33.840
maybe it would be hidden.
679
00:39:34.340 --> 00:39:39.139
On April the 13th, 2005, at the Central Criminal Court
680
00:39:39.199 --> 00:39:43.019
in Dublin, Colin Whelan was sentenced to life imprisonment.
681
00:39:43.739 --> 00:39:50.280
The judge said, sentencing Whelan, that this was the most calculated...
682
00:39:50.070 --> 00:39:53.460
and callous killing he'd ever encountered in his time in court.
683
00:39:53.940 --> 00:39:58.320
I think the judge is absolutely right, both callous and calculated.
684
00:39:59.219 --> 00:40:04.679
There is no sign whatever of any remorse for Mary's
685
00:40:04.780 --> 00:40:10.059
brutal killing, no explanation, no nothing to indicate that Whelan
686
00:40:10.099 --> 00:40:14.380
is anything but proud of having committed this dreadful crime.
687
00:40:15.840 --> 00:40:19.440
It is breathtaking, his arrogance.
688
00:40:20.760 --> 00:40:25.000
As senior investigators, you deal with many different and difficult cases.
689
00:40:25.440 --> 00:40:27.699
But this is one of the most shocking and difficult
690
00:40:27.739 --> 00:40:30.019
cases that I've ever been involved in.
691
00:40:30.860 --> 00:40:37.769
Colin Whelan was psychopathic. He was calculating, devious and evil.
692
00:40:38.590 --> 00:40:42.570
He planned over a period of time, right, you, I'm
693
00:40:42.630 --> 00:40:46.340
targeting you and I'm going to kill you to get
694
00:40:46.420 --> 00:40:50.840
the money. Murder doesn't get any worse than that. This
695
00:40:50.909 --> 00:40:54.070
was an unusual case. It's probably one of the most
696
00:40:54.130 --> 00:40:56.090
cold-blooded cases I've ever seen.
697
00:40:56.750 --> 00:41:00.869
After serving over 18 years of his life sentence, Colin
698
00:41:00.929 --> 00:41:05.460
Whelan is allowed to apply for parole regularly. If granted,
699
00:41:05.820 --> 00:41:08.639
he would be moved to an open prison before being
700
00:41:08.679 --> 00:41:10.699
released back into society.
701
00:41:13.539 --> 00:41:16.429
Colin Whelan is probably the most manipulative man I've ever
702
00:41:16.469 --> 00:41:19.190
come across. I believe a man who can kill, you know,
703
00:41:19.289 --> 00:41:23.250
his new bride for money, you know, it's really capable
704
00:41:23.269 --> 00:41:23.570
of anything.
705
00:41:23.610 --> 00:41:24.329
He could do anything.
706
00:41:26.969 --> 00:41:31.329
Colin Whelan married Mary Gough and immediately started a pattern
707
00:41:31.349 --> 00:41:35.699
of domestic abuse towards her, taking away her confidence and
708
00:41:35.909 --> 00:41:40.599
isolating her from friends and family. Whelan used and abused
709
00:41:40.659 --> 00:41:45.199
Mary before murdering her purely for financial gain. He was
710
00:41:45.300 --> 00:41:50.510
motivated by greed and his own sense of entitlement. Refusing
711
00:41:50.550 --> 00:41:53.960
to face justice for what he'd done, Whelan faked his
712
00:41:54.059 --> 00:41:58.280
own death and fled the country. Colin Whelan has shown
713
00:41:58.639 --> 00:42:02.420
no remorse for his horrific actions and will be remembered
714
00:42:02.820 --> 00:42:05.639
as one of the world's most evil killers.