Wife-killer plots new life in Spain BRUTE STRANGLED SPOUSE AFTER MEETING OTHER WOMAN ONLINE
A WIFE-KILLER is planning a new life for himself in Spain when he is freed from jail.
Colin Whelan (52) is due to be released over the next year or two after serving 18 years of a life sentence for the murder of Mary Gough.
He has told friends he will return to Spain — where he went on the run for 15 months after the 2001 murder.
The cunning killer tried to stage his own death on Howth Head while out on bail. Gardai found his car and possessions in what was meant to look like a suicide.
But it was an attempt to escape justice and he made a new life for himself under the false name Cian Sweeney.
Girlfriend
Whelan had a new girlfriend, then 25-yearold English girl Katie Wilcox, and was working as a barman when an eagle-eyed garda on holiday in Majorca recognised him.
A few weeks later in 2004 he was captured and extradited to answer for his crime.
The cold-hearted brute was seeing another woman online when he took out a €400,000 life insurance policy on Mary (27).
They had only been married for six months when he strangled her on March 1, 2001 before pushing her down the stairs to make it look like an accident at their home in Balbriggan, Co Dublin.
But when the post-mortem revealed the strangulation, he was charged with murder.
Detectives also discovered he had been on the internet searching for ways to kill in the months before he married Mary. Whelan pleaded guilty at the trial in May 2005 — four years after he thought he had committed the perfect crime.
He expressed his sorrow to the court “for taking Mary away from her family “and admitted he was a coward.
Whelan added: “There are no words to explain my act, I apologise for taking your daughter, friend and soulmate.”
Ms Wilcox regularly visited him in prison for many years and it is believed they’ve remained friends.
The killer is due to go on a programme within the next year but the Parole Board will make the final decision.
Prison
He will be moved to an open prison before being let back into society.
A friend said: “Colin wants out of Ireland. Mary’s family only live a few miles away from his original family home in Gormanston, Co Meath.
“It would not be a good idea to go back. He likes Majorca and has contacts out there.
“He knows what he did was shocking, he pleaded guilty, did his time, and wants to start afresh. He loves the Spanish way of life.”
Whelan spent his time working as a chef in the kitchens during his time behind bars and has been a model prisoner.
The friend added: “He was the last person you’d expect to kill someone, let alone the woman he had only married for six months.”