00:00:05
in March 2001 the Emergency Services
00:00:09
received a call that 27-year-old Mary
00:00:12
Goff had fallen down the stairs and was
00:00:14
no longer breathing as senior
00:00:16
investigators you deal with many
00:00:18
different and difficult cases but this
00:00:21
is one of the most shocking and
00:00:22
difficult cases that I've ever been
00:00:24
involved in Mary's husband Colin wheen
00:00:27
made the call but this was no trag
00:00:30
accident Wen had murdered Mary for her
00:00:33
life insurance payout some people marry
00:00:35
for money Colin ween married for money
00:00:38
but to get the money he had to kill his
00:00:40
wife as evidence piled up against wheen
00:00:43
he decided to evade Justice by staging
00:00:46
his own suicide and going on the run I
00:00:49
saw that he hadn't signed on for 3 days
00:00:51
and that's a breach of his his bail I
00:00:54
said God where's he gone now like I
00:00:56
think everybody was satisfied that
00:00:58
there's no way Colin had taken his own
00:01:00
life whatever he had done he' abanded to
00:01:03
where we didn't know as the police
00:01:05
search Unearthed concerning details from
00:01:08
his past Colin wheen proved himself to
00:01:10
be one of the world's most evil killers
00:01:17
[Music]
00:01:22
[Music]
00:01:33
on the 28th of February 2001 Colin wheen
00:01:37
arrived home from his Computing job in
00:01:40
the city of Dublin Ireland at around
00:01:42
6:00 p.m. he enjoyed a Meal made by his
00:01:46
wife Mary Goff they went out to a
00:01:49
healthc care appointment together before
00:01:51
returning home around 9:30 p.m. Colin
00:01:56
tells us that he went for a shower and
00:01:58
then that Subs Mary went for a shower
00:02:01
just after midnight Colin wand made a
00:02:03
frantic call to the emergency services
00:02:06
saying Mary had had a tragic accident he
00:02:10
said in his statement that yes I was in
00:02:12
the house with Mary and I heard her to
00:02:15
to Tod and I found her at the bottom of
00:02:18
the stairs I knew she had fallen from
00:02:19
the top of the stairs and that was it as
00:02:22
detectives pieced together what had
00:02:24
happened the truth behind the events of
00:02:26
that night started to become clear first
00:02:30
of all everybody thought it was an
00:02:31
accident she fell down the stairs you
00:02:33
know and that was the the consensus but
00:02:35
you know within days you know it became
00:02:38
clear that it was more this me Colin
00:02:41
wheelen had set out to murder Mary from
00:02:44
months prior to the
00:02:49
murder this killer Story begins in
00:02:52
county meath in Ireland born on the 14th
00:02:56
of July
00:02:57
1971 Colin Wen was was the youngest of
00:03:01
five
00:03:02
children Colin wheen was born in a small
00:03:06
town called Gorman toown in County me
00:03:09
just a little north of Dublin middle
00:03:11
class family one of five his parents
00:03:15
that are from the very decent background
00:03:17
was educated locally and then went to
00:03:19
dondor to do a computer studies I
00:03:23
actually spoke to um to a classmate who
00:03:26
sat beside him in the class and he
00:03:28
described him as a just an ordinary guy
00:03:30
a bit aloof a bit aloof and a bit
00:03:33
detached but apart from that he you know
00:03:36
he's just an ordinary kid Colin wheen
00:03:38
embarked on a career in the newly
00:03:40
emerging field of computer technology
00:03:43
computers were new and it was a
00:03:45
lucrative work to get into so he got a
00:03:48
job at Dublin based financial
00:03:50
institution and he was earning you know
00:03:53
good money Finance wasn't a problem in
00:03:56
his life in 1993 wheen was 22 years old
00:04:01
and earning a decent wage when he met
00:04:03
Mary Goff a 19-year-old bid working in
00:04:07
his local
00:04:08
pub Mary was an only daughter she was
00:04:11
the apple of her brothers and her
00:04:13
family's
00:04:14
eye Mary was described as a lovable girl
00:04:17
one of the gang you know she just wanted
00:04:19
to be liked and uh she was happy very
00:04:22
happy woman all Mary wanted was a family
00:04:26
a husband a home to call her own to live
00:04:29
a life and she was an absolute Peach of
00:04:31
a woman honest dedicated you know family
00:04:35
orientated really really good person
00:04:38
nice circle of friends Mary and Colin
00:04:41
wheen got to know each other fairly well
00:04:43
during their encounters at the pub they
00:04:46
became very close and they were in a
00:04:49
relationship pretty quickly and uh
00:04:52
things seemed to be going quite well
00:04:54
anyone that knew them said they were
00:04:56
perfect
00:04:58
couple two years after the couple met
00:05:01
Colin wheen abruptly ended the
00:05:03
relationship with Mary Mary came home in
00:05:06
floods of tears that col had broken off
00:05:09
without any reason without any
00:05:11
explanation so she was very upset she's
00:05:16
horrified this is the first time she's
00:05:18
really been in
00:05:19
love and yet he treats her as though
00:05:22
she's irrelevant she doesn't know what
00:05:24
to
00:05:25
do suddenly after 6 months apart wheen
00:05:29
appeared back on the scene wanting to
00:05:31
rekindle the
00:05:33
romance he bought his grandfather's
00:05:36
house in B Brian a Seaside town on the
00:05:38
east coast of Ireland and Mary moved in
00:05:41
with him when Wan and Mary got back
00:05:45
together that was because he had planned
00:05:48
that she was still quite invested in him
00:05:52
as a partner and she was probably really
00:05:55
pleased that they got back together but
00:05:57
his intentions were not that she should
00:06:00
be happy to the outside world wheen
00:06:03
appeared to be Mr Perfect but in truth
00:06:06
he was actually planning Mary's demise
00:06:09
she was botted with him by this point
00:06:12
and trusted him
00:06:13
completely I think it would be fair to
00:06:15
say that Wan took advantage of that and
00:06:20
made it abundantly clear that he could
00:06:23
pretty much decide her fate or her
00:06:25
future this is not a man deeply in love
00:06:30
or Head Over Heels this is a man who's
00:06:33
clearly planning in a very careful
00:06:39
way Colin wheen wanted Mary's family to
00:06:42
see what a gentleman she was with
00:06:45
putting on big displays of generosity
00:06:48
for their benefit we're all out having a
00:06:50
meal like family get together all this
00:06:52
stuff and Colin got up and paid like
00:06:54
himself for the whole lot like you know
00:06:56
and wanted to be shown as the Mr Nice
00:06:59
Guy also that Christmas of 2000 he had
00:07:03
bought Mary a lot of presents and left
00:07:05
them under the tree and would not let
00:07:08
her wrap them up or anything they were
00:07:10
under the tree so when the families came
00:07:11
in and they see all the presents under
00:07:14
the tree so they were all oh Jesus this
00:07:16
a great guy like you know but it was
00:07:18
pure his mind was that I'm Sean I'm a
00:07:20
perfect husband I'm a good
00:07:23
guy he was what we would call love
00:07:26
bombing her you know it's flowers and
00:07:28
presents and you're wonderful and I love
00:07:31
you all made up it's all a huge act to
00:07:34
make sure that he won that person over
00:07:38
and more than one them over had complete
00:07:42
control of them complete domination not
00:07:45
only of what they did but of their
00:07:48
emotions and the way that they would
00:07:51
respond to him and that was almost like
00:07:54
a game to somebody like Colin
00:07:57
wheen Colin and were engaged to be
00:08:00
married and the wedding day in September
00:08:03
2000 was another excuse for a lavish
00:08:06
performance from
00:08:10
wheen they had a big wedding you know
00:08:13
typical Irish wedding you know huge and
00:08:16
people have seen the video afterwards
00:08:17
and noted there something a miss you
00:08:19
know it's it's all fun and but Mary
00:08:23
seems to be you know if not unhappy she
00:08:25
seems to be distant you know she you can
00:08:28
you can see she's not our there was
00:08:30
something just not right although this
00:08:33
was supposed to be the happiest day of
00:08:34
our life while Mary spent the day
00:08:37
distant and distracted her new husband
00:08:40
Wan didn't seem to notice or care as he
00:08:43
was too busy enjoying himself Colin
00:08:46
seems to be loving the Limelight taking
00:08:49
you know the dominant position you know
00:08:51
in pictures you know greeting people and
00:08:54
stuff like that and Mary just sitting
00:08:56
there in the background or standing
00:08:57
there in the background did Mar very
00:09:01
sense that something was wrong at that
00:09:04
point did she realize that she was
00:09:07
rendering herself into the hands of a
00:09:10
man who was probably disinterested in
00:09:12
her when I see it now I can see you know
00:09:16
very devious man he's actually when he
00:09:19
looks into his wife's eyes you know he's
00:09:20
actually calculating he knows he's going
00:09:22
to kill
00:09:24
her Colin wheen had rekindled his
00:09:27
relationship with Mary Goff had gone on
00:09:30
to marry her from the outside their
00:09:32
marriage seemed like that of any other
00:09:34
couple Wan liked to Lavish his wife with
00:09:37
gifts and attention showing the world he
00:09:40
was the perfect husband but it wasn't
00:09:43
long until people noticed that the
00:09:45
honeymoon was well and truly
00:09:49
over following the wedding in September
00:09:54
2000 the family saw I suppose a change
00:09:57
in Mary and a change in the Circ C ances
00:10:00
where she was she lost
00:10:04
confidence Mary's mother and Mary are
00:10:06
the best of friends they used to M
00:10:09
Mary's mother used to go there and stay
00:10:11
there the other night but when she got
00:10:12
married that stopped Mary's
00:10:15
communication with her mother was
00:10:18
virtually non-existent and Mary's mother
00:10:21
was very upset over this Mary had always
00:10:24
taken pride in her appearance but this
00:10:27
had started to deteriorate not long
00:10:30
after the wedding a change that was
00:10:33
noticed by Mary's mom
00:10:38
Marie her clothes were becoming quite
00:10:40
shabby her nails weren't painted cuz
00:10:42
Mary was very proud of our nails and
00:10:44
getting our nails done and that and uh
00:10:47
she knew that there was something wrong
00:10:49
and any time she met Mary or Mary had
00:10:50
called over she discovered that she
00:10:53
wasn't wearing the perfume she used to
00:10:55
wear I said oh Colin doesn't like that
00:10:57
perfume and he you know so he was
00:11:00
controlling her Mary was showing all the
00:11:03
classic signs of somebody who's
00:11:04
suffering domestic abuse and coercive
00:11:07
control she had become quieter she was
00:11:10
dressing differently she'd become
00:11:12
isolated from her friends and her family
00:11:15
she was not happy and this absolutely
00:11:19
demonstrates that what Mary was going
00:11:22
through was probably absolutely
00:11:24
horrendous he was in effect bringing her
00:11:27
down like he was a losing her mentally
00:11:30
like you know because he knew what in
00:11:32
his mind what he was going to do with
00:11:33
her like you
00:11:34
know on February the 28th 2001 Wan and
00:11:39
Mary seemed to be going about their
00:11:41
business like any normal day Wan
00:11:45
returned home from work and they ate
00:11:47
dinner they went to a Homeopathy
00:11:49
appointment and then returned home
00:11:51
together we're happy again that they
00:11:54
arrived home around 9:30 Colin tells us
00:11:57
that he went for a shower and and then
00:11:59
that Subs Mary went for a
00:12:01
shower but as the evening progressed
00:12:04
things took a shocking turn in the wheen
00:12:08
household shortly after midnight on
00:12:12
March the 1st 2001 he calls the police
00:12:15
and the fire brigade and says that his
00:12:18
wife Mary has had a dreadful fall down
00:12:20
the stairs in their house in
00:12:23
balban and he found Mary in a prawn
00:12:26
position at the bottom of the stairs who
00:12:27
was bleeding heavily from the from the
00:12:29
face and mouth uh and that he wanted the
00:12:32
merer service to come to the house
00:12:34
immediately the call Operator kept Wen
00:12:38
on the line and talked him through how
00:12:40
to perform CPR on Mary Wen said he was
00:12:44
following these instructions but there
00:12:46
was no improvement when the Emergency
00:12:49
Response Team arrived at the scene they
00:12:52
were confused by the condition Mary was
00:12:54
in when they arrived they had taken Mary
00:12:58
then from the the stairs into the
00:13:00
sitting room and they tried to
00:13:02
resuscitate her and they gave her
00:13:04
electric shocks and all that to to
00:13:07
resuscitate her and they even commented
00:13:09
that they said she was an acetol and
00:13:11
that means that she was flatlined there
00:13:14
was no sign of any heart activity at all
00:13:18
and they would always expect someone
00:13:19
that would have died a short period
00:13:21
earlier that there would be some
00:13:22
activity on on the machine that they had
00:13:25
and there wasn't and they found that
00:13:26
strange and they found as well that she
00:13:28
was very cold
00:13:30
Mary was taken to hospital in a last
00:13:33
attempt at saving her life although they
00:13:36
couldn't get a pulse on Mary they
00:13:39
decided to bring her as quick as
00:13:40
possibly could to Bowman hospital and
00:13:43
they had a trauma team waiting for her
00:13:45
in there a number of the nurses
00:13:47
interacted with Mary and to see if they
00:13:50
could save her
00:13:51
life despite the intense efforts of the
00:13:55
medical team to revive Mary there was
00:13:57
nothing they could do at 1:25 a.m. on
00:14:01
March the 1st 2001 Mary Goff was
00:14:05
pronounced dead the medical team turned
00:14:08
their attention to her grieving husband
00:14:10
to check on his
00:14:13
welfare and a fabulous nurse was working
00:14:16
there on the night was talking to Colin
00:14:19
wheen and consoling him and asking if he
00:14:21
was all right and he was leaning over
00:14:23
and his shirt buttons were open down and
00:14:26
she could look in and she saw scratch
00:14:28
marks the fresh marks made the nurse
00:14:31
suspicious and she immediately alerted
00:14:33
the police a superintendent arrived at
00:14:36
the hospital to speak to WAN and
00:14:39
suggested that he undergo a medical
00:14:41
check unaware of the scratches on his
00:14:44
body wheen agreed to the examination he
00:14:48
took off his shirt and there was scratch
00:14:50
marks evident scratch marks on his body
00:14:53
on his chest and he was asked about and
00:14:56
this is where he fell foul as well he
00:14:58
was asked ask the scratches and he
00:15:00
didn't realize the scratches and he was
00:15:02
just oh she must have scraped out of me
00:15:04
when she was flailed out of me like you
00:15:06
know so he was telling the CPR man she's
00:15:09
dead like you know I got there's no
00:15:11
breeding there's nothing and here he's
00:15:12
now saying oh she grasped out of me like
00:15:15
you know so it just wasn't all fitting
00:15:18
together it was it was a lot of
00:15:19
questions there that needed to be
00:15:21
answered less than 24 hours after the
00:15:24
death a postmortem was conducted on
00:15:27
Mary's body Mary had done a postmart she
00:15:31
came out to me and she says well the bad
00:15:33
news is that you have a murder on your
00:15:35
hands wow I said H I wasn't expecting
00:15:38
that at all she said look she was
00:15:41
dragged down the stairs because there's
00:15:43
burn marks on our but
00:15:45
Hooks and our injuries are not
00:15:48
consistent with a fall down the stairs
00:15:51
it was clear that Mary had been move to
00:15:53
the bottom of the stairs rather than
00:15:55
falling down them and further results
00:15:58
from the postmortem showed that she
00:16:00
hadn't died from a fall the pathologist
00:16:03
told Pat Mary of her findings this girl
00:16:07
has been strangled by way of leature I
00:16:10
says wow I said how sure have you and
00:16:12
she says I'm 110% sure this girl was
00:16:15
strangled it was a lier marks around the
00:16:18
neck uh with some damage to the the
00:16:21
larynx there were swelling of the tongue
00:16:24
and there was evidence of Pia which are
00:16:27
small hemorrhaging in the skin under the
00:16:30
skin so they are evident around the lips
00:16:33
um and the forehead behind your ears uh
00:16:36
and in in your nostrils even obviously
00:16:39
we had a murder at that stage and that
00:16:41
obviously brought Colin to the the level
00:16:43
of the threshold of being a suspect for
00:16:46
the murder of his wife Mary Wan's
00:16:49
actions and behaviors at the time were
00:16:51
being scrutinized could the police gain
00:16:54
any vital evidence at this early stage
00:16:56
to prove that wheen was responsible for
00:16:59
his wife's death very early we could see
00:17:02
cracks in his demeanor he was telling
00:17:04
people different versions of what
00:17:06
happened and we learned that he was
00:17:08
cunning he was conniving he was cold
00:17:10
blooded he was greedy from an early
00:17:13
stage it was evident that there was a
00:17:15
number of red flags that had come to our
00:17:17
attention police suspected Wan of murder
00:17:21
but needed hard evidence of his
00:17:23
involvement there was still a long way
00:17:25
to go with the investigation one of the
00:17:28
first of inquiry for Detective Pat Mary
00:17:31
was to go back to the emergency call
00:17:34
from the night in
00:17:37
question if Colin was talking on the
00:17:39
phone and he was given CPR like he was
00:17:41
told to do and this that and the other
00:17:43
you would imagine there be some blood on
00:17:44
his hands that would be on the phone of
00:17:47
Mary's and I took the phone I seized the
00:17:50
phone and we had it technically examined
00:17:53
in the forensic lab and they told me
00:17:55
there was no blood no saliva no nothing
00:17:59
on the phone whatsoever so it CH you
00:18:01
done nothing he didn't give two fluts of
00:18:05
the lies were starting to become a
00:18:06
parent from an early stage wand's
00:18:09
initial account of the evening was
00:18:11
Revisited he is saying it was only
00:18:14
himself and Mary that were in the house
00:18:16
and she ends up being strangled as per
00:18:19
theologist so obviously the the Finger
00:18:22
of Suspicion was somewhat pointing
00:18:25
towards Colin wheelen initially that
00:18:28
there's a lot of questions here have to
00:18:29
be asked and answered the postmortem
00:18:33
showed that Mary was strangled and
00:18:35
wand's own admissions made him the prime
00:18:37
suspect forensic teams moved in to
00:18:41
examine the property the evidence was
00:18:43
quite blatant in that in the bedroom of
00:18:48
the house we found blood staining on the
00:18:51
saddle board and on the wall between the
00:18:55
on suite and the door into the bedroom
00:18:58
when someone has been strangled they
00:19:00
emit blood from their nose in a misted
00:19:04
format that can't really be seen by the
00:19:06
naked eye but this spray was found on
00:19:10
the wallpaper between the door to the
00:19:12
bedroom and the UN Suite so we knew that
00:19:15
the struggle or she was strangled in
00:19:17
that location between those two
00:19:19
doors the forensic search of the
00:19:22
property continued to provide results
00:19:24
for the investigation team the forensic
00:19:27
team also discovered
00:19:29
Colin wheelan's dressing gown and on
00:19:31
that dressing gown there was what you
00:19:33
tie your robe with and that was
00:19:35
stretched and taught in the middle so we
00:19:40
suspected that that was the actual
00:19:41
murder weapon and on analysis of that
00:19:44
particular uh item we did discover Mary
00:19:47
Go's DNA and it there was saliva on it
00:19:51
and all of that soic we knew that that
00:19:53
was the Mortal
00:19:55
weapon all of the evidence now pointed
00:19:57
to exact how Mary Goff had been murdered
00:20:01
by Colin Wen but from the outside the
00:20:04
couple had seemed to live a normal happy
00:20:06
life so what was the motive for such an
00:20:09
horrific attack police made the decision
00:20:12
to examine wheelan's computer hard
00:20:14
drives for more
00:20:16
information incidentally he's wiped his
00:20:19
own computer but the one at his office
00:20:23
has kept a record of his Communications
00:20:26
so every keystroke that was ever made in
00:20:28
the in in the building was recorded and
00:20:31
everything Colin whe did was on those
00:20:34
tapes with a vast amount of historical
00:20:37
records to sift through police needed to
00:20:39
find a way to analyze the data
00:20:42
fast we could see where colen wheelen
00:20:45
was looking up on the internet sites of
00:20:48
strangulation asphixiation choking
00:20:52
smothering you know all of these type of
00:20:54
sites he had been trolling the internet
00:20:58
for way you know to kill without leaving
00:21:01
any
00:21:02
traes on the 2nd of January Wan had
00:21:05
looked up asphixiation choking
00:21:08
smothering and blocking the Air Supply
00:21:11
on the 29th of January he searched the
00:21:14
term death by asphixiation on the 19th
00:21:17
of February he researched causes of
00:21:20
instant death and on the following day
00:21:23
wheen looked into how a lack of oxygen
00:21:26
can cause death what was going through
00:21:29
this man's mind we all know what was
00:21:31
going through his mind now like it was
00:21:33
pure evil wheen was off the scale and
00:21:36
he'd been planning this for a very long
00:21:38
time further Computer History showed
00:21:41
that Wen had been looking to a notorious
00:21:44
serial killer for inspiration we
00:21:47
discovered that he had been researching
00:21:49
a guy by the name of Henry Lewis Wallace
00:21:53
who had murdered nine women in North
00:21:56
Carolina and he was convicted off the
00:21:59
murder off them all after strangling
00:22:01
them and he used a
00:22:04
towel to put around their neck and
00:22:07
whatever ligature he had he would then
00:22:09
strangle them and that would not leave a
00:22:11
mark on their neck and he'd used the
00:22:13
towel then to mop up any blood or that
00:22:17
type of thing and when Mary's body was
00:22:20
found at the bottom of the stairs the
00:22:23
ambulance man found a towel at the
00:22:25
bottom of the stairs in a duv which she
00:22:28
had been wrapped in the Irish police are
00:22:32
certainly in even less doubt now that
00:22:35
wheen is actually guilty they've got the
00:22:37
blood stains on the wallpaper they got
00:22:39
the strange position at the bottom of
00:22:40
the stairs they've got the fact she was
00:22:42
cold when she came
00:22:44
downstairs every single finger seems to
00:22:47
be pointing at Colin weon as the killer
00:22:49
of his wife
00:22:50
Mary the likelihood of Colin wheel and
00:22:53
murdered his wife was quite evident now
00:22:56
the next question is but why did he do
00:22:58
this
00:22:59
investigators were confident that Colin
00:23:01
wheen was responsible for his wife's
00:23:04
death but before arresting him they
00:23:06
needed to be 100% sure while Mary's
00:23:09
family grieved the search for evidence
00:23:12
continued and Colin wheen remained a
00:23:14
free man a killer roaming the streets of
00:23:18
Bal
00:23:18
Brian this was a unique case because
00:23:22
openly and to the public Colin wheen and
00:23:25
Mary Goff were in a loving relationship
00:23:27
had got married and seemed to have an
00:23:29
ideal life but behind the scenes things
00:23:31
were different on the 28th of February
00:23:34
the day he probably killed her he buys
00:23:37
her an expensive present and makes a
00:23:39
great show of telling the shop assistant
00:23:42
that it's for his wife who is convinced
00:23:45
that he's a really nice man but this
00:23:47
pretense was all part of his sickening
00:23:50
Act somebody like Colin wheen is not
00:23:54
capable of feeling love in the way that
00:23:58
we know it he's he's not capable of that
00:24:02
so if we think did he really love Mary
00:24:05
the answer would have to be
00:24:07
no not only did he not love her he
00:24:10
didn't really have any care for her and
00:24:13
this isn't because Mary wasn't lovable
00:24:16
this is because someone like Colin wheen
00:24:18
can't love
00:24:19
anybody further analysis of wheelan's
00:24:22
computer provided evidence that he
00:24:25
wasn't the dedicated husband that he
00:24:27
wanted people to believe he was this guy
00:24:31
had engaged with a a cyber affair with a
00:24:34
lady in Wales to such an extent that
00:24:37
that lady in Wales was in love with
00:24:40
Colin wheel and even though she had
00:24:41
never met him in any physical format
00:24:44
just pictures and talk and greeting
00:24:47
cards and that type of stuff she told
00:24:49
him where she was and the mother had
00:24:51
died and she was lonely and it's like
00:24:53
she was vulnerable he can understand her
00:24:56
position she was grieving and
00:24:59
he took advantage of that and that was
00:25:01
as simple as that and played her along
00:25:03
the whole way he spoke to her at
00:25:06
lunchtime the day of the murder spoke to
00:25:09
her for half an hour he then H lifted
00:25:11
the phone and spoke to his wife and then
00:25:15
he went straight onto his computer and
00:25:16
looked up a site on strangulation you
00:25:19
know it's mindboggling really you know
00:25:21
but it is evil it is like you know his
00:25:23
thought
00:25:25
process the police needed to find out
00:25:28
more more about this cyber
00:25:31
affair on the 9th of March not long
00:25:34
after Mary's death the Irish police
00:25:36
visit the lover in Wales and discover
00:25:39
the extent of the lies that wheen has
00:25:42
told her just want to talk to he said
00:25:44
his wife died I know she said and I was
00:25:48
right he told me she died in an accident
00:25:50
like a a road traffic accident like you
00:25:52
know and that he was Widow like you know
00:25:54
he was you know I said no no no his wife
00:25:57
died on the 20 at I said you know and
00:26:00
she was murdered and with that uh she
00:26:03
collapsed on the
00:26:04
ground on caring wheen had targeted this
00:26:08
woman at her most vulnerable promising
00:26:11
her a perfect future
00:26:15
together for an internet relationship it
00:26:18
was quite intimate he sent you know love
00:26:20
letters and you know little emojis and
00:26:23
all sorts of things over to her she
00:26:25
actually believed that this guy was
00:26:27
going to come over for lier and um and
00:26:30
that's what he said I mean he he was so
00:26:32
manipulative he convinced her he would
00:26:35
use anything in his power to get what he
00:26:39
wanted and and he seemed to want the
00:26:41
attention of women especially always got
00:26:44
to be this Larger than Life perfect
00:26:47
representation of himself to make sure
00:26:51
that he absolutely wins over and
00:26:54
dominates the other person Colin wheel's
00:26:57
online in Wales you know really believed
00:27:00
she had met the man of her dreams but
00:27:03
she could have met the man of her
00:27:06
nightmares the Cyber Affair pointed
00:27:09
towards a possible motive perhaps Wan
00:27:12
had been wanting to move on from Mary to
00:27:15
another woman but police still weren't
00:27:17
convinced that this murder was entirely
00:27:19
motivated by a desire to be with a new
00:27:22
partner and these suspicions seemed to
00:27:24
be confirmed when they discovered yet
00:27:26
more incriminating evidence at the
00:27:28
couple's home while Colin Wen was
00:27:31
staying with his parents the police
00:27:33
early on they couldn't find a motive for
00:27:35
the killing but when they search the
00:27:37
house after the forensics were done and
00:27:39
they went to search the house they found
00:27:41
a an insurance policy taken out on Bo
00:27:44
Colin wheen and Mary gof initially it
00:27:46
was for £200,000
00:27:48
and we're satisfied without Mary's
00:27:51
knowledge that he increased that to
00:27:54
400,000 on the 1st of June 2000 so it's
00:27:57
about 78 months before he murdered Mary
00:28:00
he had been in a relationship with her
00:28:02
had dumped her discarded her wasn't
00:28:05
really worried about her as a person but
00:28:09
seemed to start formulating this plot in
00:28:13
his head that he wanted to make money
00:28:17
although not unusual for couples to take
00:28:20
out insurance policies to help the other
00:28:23
in the case of death this particular one
00:28:26
didn't make logical sense
00:28:30
the policy itself was a kind of an
00:28:33
obsolete policy because after 10 years
00:28:36
there was no cashing value to it so it
00:28:39
was just like in the prime of their life
00:28:41
so between 30 and 40 you know normally
00:28:45
people wouldn't die suddenly it was
00:28:47
taken out you know almost on the premise
00:28:49
that one of them would die and the
00:28:51
Survivor would get 400,000 so this was
00:28:54
absolutely the reason why Colin whe and
00:28:56
killed Mary Go
00:28:59
at that stage of his life Wen had a
00:29:02
decent job he wasn't struggling
00:29:04
financially his plans seemed to be
00:29:07
entirely motivated by
00:29:10
greed we could see from his internet
00:29:12
history he was looking up expensive
00:29:15
holidays expensive
00:29:17
cars you know holidays around the world
00:29:20
all of this type of stuff so he was
00:29:21
planning what he was going to do with
00:29:23
his money when he got it he was a honest
00:29:26
decent Young woman going about her life
00:29:29
and her husband is happy to kill her
00:29:32
just for financial
00:29:34
[Music]
00:29:37
gain for the police the investigation
00:29:40
was coming to a conclusion they had hard
00:29:43
evidence that this was a premeditated
00:29:46
killing and had established a motive for
00:29:49
the murder on Tuesday the 10th of April
00:29:52
2001 at 8:00 a.m. detectives went to
00:29:55
Wan's parents' home to make the the
00:29:58
arrest he was arrested for the murder of
00:30:00
his wife he made no comment he had to be
00:30:02
cautioned and he was immediately brought
00:30:05
to bbri Gard station we wanted to make
00:30:07
sure that we had all our ducks in a row
00:30:10
all our Evans was available and we were
00:30:11
ready to put it to him particularly in
00:30:13
the computer Evans that was very very
00:30:16
significant most of the answers he said
00:30:19
no comment he denied looking up these
00:30:21
sites can't remember or just that and
00:30:23
the other you know but it was quite
00:30:25
evident we had him nailed at that
00:30:30
despite the evidence stacked against him
00:30:33
Colin Wen refused to admit what he'd
00:30:35
done for the director of public
00:30:38
prosecutions to authorize a charge there
00:30:41
needs to be a strong case File in this
00:30:44
case there was more than sufficient
00:30:46
evidence available so Colin wheen was
00:30:49
charged with the murder of Mary gof and
00:30:52
he was kept in custody overnight to
00:30:54
appear in court the next morning as we
00:30:55
thought to be a bit of a heave and there
00:30:58
was an awful lot of people there so I
00:31:00
was taking them out of the van and
00:31:01
people were trying to get a scal at them
00:31:03
and door calling them all types of names
00:31:07
a trial date was set for October
00:31:10
2003 Colin Wen was to return to court
00:31:14
then to have his case
00:31:17
heard everybody's presumed innocent
00:31:19
until proven guilty so he went to the
00:31:22
high court and with a number of
00:31:24
conditions he was given bail nobody was
00:31:27
really surprised that he got bailed
00:31:28
because that's the way it is in Ireland
00:31:30
you know the court case could be you
00:31:31
know maybe two years down the line and
00:31:34
if you're not deemed you know a flight
00:31:36
risk or you won't interfere with
00:31:38
Witnesses you know you usually do get
00:31:40
bailed so it wasn't surprising you know
00:31:41
that he got bailed well we did make
00:31:44
conditions that there had to be an
00:31:45
independent shy with a certain amount of
00:31:47
money and that he sign on at BB and
00:31:49
garden station on a daily
00:31:52
basis in March 2003 after following the
00:31:56
rules and dining on each day as required
00:31:59
for 2 years wheen suddenly went missing
00:32:03
and failed to turn up at a police
00:32:05
station detectives had no idea where to
00:32:08
find him he had seemingly vanished Into
00:32:12
Thin Air we learned from the local
00:32:15
members of G chakon that he hadn't s on
00:32:17
a particular day and we thought it could
00:32:19
have happened he could have been sick
00:32:21
but second when the second day arrived
00:32:23
we knew there was a problem and I spoke
00:32:25
to some of my own team to say listen col
00:32:28
wheel hasn't signed on uh I Wonder has
00:32:30
he had sced I saw that he hadn't signed
00:32:33
on for 3 days and that's a breach of his
00:32:36
his bail and I said God um where's he G
00:32:40
now like you know the race was on to
00:32:43
find the suspected murderer on the 12th
00:32:46
of March 2003 he drives to Cliffs not
00:32:50
far from
00:32:52
Dublin Parks his car and
00:32:55
disappears we initially then learned
00:32:57
learned that his car was found on hill
00:33:00
of H the abandoned car was left at ho
00:33:03
Cliff's a well-known suicide spot and
00:33:06
evidence found in wand's car certainly
00:33:09
looked as if the driver had the
00:33:11
intention to end his life there was
00:33:14
items in his car particularly Battle of
00:33:16
alcohol uh the keys were left in the car
00:33:19
and from initial viewing of the car one
00:33:23
could suspect that Colin ween could have
00:33:26
maybe committed suicide and jumped into
00:33:28
the IRC at the bottom of the
00:33:31
cliffs but police knew Wheeland well by
00:33:34
this point and weren't convinced by this
00:33:37
suggestion I think everybody was
00:33:39
satisfied that there's no way Colin had
00:33:41
taken his own life we were happy that
00:33:44
whatever he had done he had absconded to
00:33:47
where we didn't know if Colin wheen
00:33:51
was in
00:33:53
Singapore or if he was in Colombia or he
00:33:56
was in the
00:33:58
let's say the North Pole I would get him
00:34:01
because I would not lie until I got him
00:34:04
after being charged with the murder of
00:34:06
his wife Wan had set his plan in motion
00:34:09
he used another person's identity
00:34:11
without them knowing and applied for a
00:34:14
passport in their name like something
00:34:17
from a spy novel he went to extrem lens
00:34:20
to find a new identity and he used that
00:34:22
password in with his picture with a
00:34:24
different identity and could travel all
00:34:26
over the world really
00:34:28
he got away with it he's
00:34:31
disappeared nobody knows where he's
00:34:35
gone knowing that Wan hadn't committed
00:34:38
suicide the police started to look for
00:34:41
the wanted man they knew Wan had gone on
00:34:44
the run but they didn't know where
00:34:47
detectives decided to search the main
00:34:49
routes out of
00:34:51
Dublin at that time there was no CCTV at
00:34:54
the train station we we seized all the
00:34:56
CCTV in in an airport and we spent hours
00:34:59
upon hours days looking at the CCTV as
00:35:02
part of their investigation the police
00:35:05
had looked into wheelan's background and
00:35:07
past
00:35:09
relationships was there other people in
00:35:11
his life had he acted like this
00:35:12
previously had he been violent towards
00:35:14
any other girlfriends or friends for
00:35:17
that matter what they found was
00:35:20
disturbing we did come across girls that
00:35:23
had relationships with Colin wheen some
00:35:25
of them only had time limits small
00:35:28
relationships with him but they all said
00:35:29
the same he was overpowering controlling
00:35:33
he was like buying them presence trying
00:35:35
to win them over police were building up
00:35:38
a clear picture of a man who was a
00:35:40
danger to women with the concern that
00:35:43
more women could be at risk of this
00:35:45
Predator even more pressure was on to
00:35:48
find Colin
00:35:50
[Music]
00:35:54
wheen he was on the run for
00:35:56
approximately 18 months he went to
00:35:58
Belfast and got a flight from Belfast to
00:36:02
Barcelona and then got a a boat from
00:36:04
Barcelona to
00:36:05
meor wheen had got himself a job working
00:36:09
behind a bar in the upmarket resort of
00:36:12
Puerto portals on the island in a stroke
00:36:16
of luck for the police wheen was spotted
00:36:19
by somebody that he'd been at school
00:36:22
with the person seen this Barman and
00:36:25
they said Bor great likeness to Colin
00:36:29
wheen if Colin wheen had had an iota of
00:36:34
remorse or indeed an iota of the
00:36:37
intelligence he pretended to have he
00:36:39
most certainly wouldn't have been so
00:36:41
silly as to make himself abundantly
00:36:44
obvious to Irish tourists it's it's
00:36:49
inconceivable and yet that's what he did
00:36:51
and that was to prove his downfall not
00:36:54
long after the first sighting the police
00:36:56
were alerted to a
00:36:58
second a couple who were uh in Spain and
00:37:02
befriended an individual nourish man in
00:37:05
in a pub who's working in the pub by the
00:37:07
name of keen Sweeney and he she had a
00:37:09
good chat with him and that and he said
00:37:10
oh yeah I'm from GW God I'd love um
00:37:13
there I love to buy an Irish rubby
00:37:14
Jersey and she said sure look give me
00:37:16
your email address and your address and
00:37:18
I'll get one and I'll post it out to you
00:37:21
unbeknown to The Fugitive the couple had
00:37:24
realized that Kean Sweeney was in fact
00:37:26
wheen around the same time an Irish
00:37:29
newspaper was running a fresh appeal to
00:37:32
try and find wheen which the couple had
00:37:35
seen thankfully they had taken up one of
00:37:39
the local papers and saw the picture of
00:37:41
keen Sweeney but actually just call
00:37:43
Wheel this was the same man that the
00:37:46
woman had been talking to in the
00:37:49
bar and she got afraid she said oh my
00:37:51
God that's you know so she got in
00:37:54
contact with the incident room I was
00:37:57
contact I spoke with her she showed me
00:37:59
the paper that's Colin whe and he goes
00:38:01
by the name a ke and Sweeney police back
00:38:04
in Ireland now had enough to suspect
00:38:07
that Kian Sweeney was in fact their
00:38:09
wanted man Spanish police were sent to
00:38:13
the bar in Puerto portals to make the
00:38:16
arrest they did go and arrest him and
00:38:20
Colin protested that they had the wrong
00:38:22
person that he wasn't coling Wheeling
00:38:24
but they had the set of fingerprints and
00:38:26
they took the set of fingerprints off
00:38:27
him over there and they matched and then
00:38:29
he put his hands up and he said yeah I'm
00:38:31
Colin Wheeling it was great relief for
00:38:33
Mary's family because they never thought
00:38:35
he was dead Mary's family were
00:38:36
absolutely delighted because now they
00:38:38
were going to get
00:38:41
Justice Colin wheen was to stand trial
00:38:44
on the 11th of April 2005 4 years after
00:38:48
the murder of his
00:38:51
wife we initially viewed that that trial
00:38:56
could maybe take four four five six
00:38:58
weeks maybe so it's a long you know
00:39:00
prolonged trial particularly for a
00:39:02
murder so we did a lot of work it was
00:39:05
initially taught that that Colin would
00:39:07
Brazen it out you know being the
00:39:09
character he was and you know plead not
00:39:11
guilty in court on the day of his trial
00:39:15
he let it be known fairly quickly that
00:39:17
you know he was going to he was going to
00:39:19
plead guilty the reason for that is
00:39:21
because he you know he knew he had no
00:39:23
chance the evidence he against him was
00:39:25
overwhelming he was going to be
00:39:26
convicted and rather than have the
00:39:29
evidence come out he somehow Tau the
00:39:31
Despicable character he was you know
00:39:32
maybe it would be hidden on April the
00:39:35
13th 2005 at the central Criminal Court
00:39:39
in Dublin Colin Wan was sentenced to
00:39:41
life imprisonment the judge said
00:39:45
sentencing wheen that this was the most
00:39:48
calculated and callous killing he'd ever
00:39:51
encountered in his time in court I think
00:39:54
the Judge is absolutely right both
00:39:56
callous and calculated there is no sign
00:40:01
whatever of any remorse for Mary's
00:40:04
brutal killing no explanation no nothing
00:40:07
to indicate that wheen is anything but
00:40:11
proud of having committed this Dreadful
00:40:14
crime it is breathtaking his
00:40:19
arrogance as seni your investigators you
00:40:22
deal with many different and difficult
00:40:24
cases but this is one of the most
00:40:26
shocking and difficult cases that that
00:40:28
I've ever been involved in Colin wheen
00:40:32
was Psychopathic he was calculating
00:40:36
devious and evil he planned over a
00:40:40
period of time right you I'm targeting
00:40:43
you and I'm going to kill you to get the
00:40:46
money murder doesn't get any worse than
00:40:49
that this was an unusual case it's
00:40:52
probably one of the most coldblooded
00:40:54
cases I've ever seen after living over
00:40:57
18 years of his life sentence Colin Wan
00:41:01
is allowed to apply for parole regularly
00:41:04
if granted he would be moved to an open
00:41:07
prison before being released back into
00:41:12
society conin whe is probably the most
00:41:14
mipa of man I've ever come across I
00:41:17
believe a man who can kill you know his
00:41:19
his new bride for money you know it's
00:41:22
it's really capable of anything he could
00:41:23
do
00:41:25
anything Colin Wen married Mary Goff and
00:41:29
immediately started a pattern of
00:41:31
domestic abuse towards her taking away
00:41:34
her confidence and isolating her from
00:41:37
friends and family wheen used and abused
00:41:40
Mary before murdering her purely for
00:41:43
financial gain he was motivated by greed
00:41:46
and his own sense of
00:41:48
entitlement refusing to face Justice for
00:41:51
what he'd done wheen faked his own death
00:41:54
and fled the country Colin wheen has
00:41:57
shown No Remorse for his horrific
00:42:00
actions and will be remembered as one of
00:42:03
the world's most evil killers
00:42:07
[Music]
