Laurence Dollimore
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THE family of an Irish expat who vanished more than 30 years ago have launched a fresh appeal for information.
The case of Bernadette Cooper continues to be shrouded in mystery, with her nephew believing she may have had links to organised crime – after he allegedly received death threats for looking into what happened to her.
Bernadette (pictured above) moved to the Costa del Sol with her husband Brian in the late 1980s and they opened up the Molley Malones bar in Benalmadena Costa.
But things went south when the business struggled to make ends meet and the couple’s marriage broke down.
In late 1992, Bernadette decided to temporarily shut up shop and returned to the UK – where she had lived – so she could apply for a loan that would keep the bar afloat.
Her last known contact with her friends or family was in January 1993, when she phoned a pal living on the Costa del Sol to tell him she had secured the funds and was on her way back. She was never seen or heard from again.
To this day, the family do not know if she ever made her flight to Spain.
They spent years contacting people along the coast but no one claimed to know a thing, and the case went cold.
There were fresh hopes of a lead in 2020 when Surrey Police reopened the case following a tip-off from Bernadette’s nephew Leon Moore.
Moore revealed that Bernadette’s real name was actually Susan, a fact investigators never knew before, meaning, according to him, the investigation was ‘wrong from the start.’
Moore made the comment during an episode of his podcast series called The Missing.
The series will take a look at Bernadette’s last known movements both in Spain and the UK.
Moore is convinced that his aunt, who would now be aged 81, had links with a crime gang on the Costa del Sol.
A spokesperson for the family said: “Please, someone must know something. Her nephew has already had a death threat.
“Was this a crime perpetrated by an organised gang, or someone who knew she was carrying money?
“We are reaching out to the expat community on the Costa del Sol for any information that could assist us in seeking the truth.”
Speaking to the Olive Press in 2020, Moore said it was ‘out of character’ for his aunt to disappear.
He told this paper: “She was a very feisty, determined and liked lady. It is inconceivable that she would just decide to disappear.”
The last known contact with Bernadette was a phone call to a friend in Spain announcing she was about to return to reopen her bar in Benalmadena.
She had run Molly Malone’s pub – no connection with the Molly Malones which later opened in 24-Hour Square, but the premises that became trading as Wheels, Tapas and Punters on Ave Antonio Machado.
As her marriage crumbled and amidst the financial crisis that hit Spain and the UK in the early 1990s, she was forced to close the doors of her business as she struggled to pay the rent.
She returned to Mitcham (London) – where the County Monaghan-born (Ireland) woman had spent many years, to finalise a divorce from her estranged husband.
Bernadette was hoping to raise the cash to re-open – and it seems she had succeeded.
According to Leon, in January 1993 one of her friends in Spain received a triumphal phone call.
She told him: “Do me a favour would you? Tell the lawyer acting for the bar that I have the funds… tell him don’t give the bar away, I am on my way back with the money.”
The message was passed on – but Bernadette never arrived.
That call was placed from The Horse and Groom public house in Tooting Broadway – and it is the last known contact anyone has had with Bernadette.
Over the years her family has never forgotten about her and has kept the search for Bernadette alive.
Leon said in 2020: “The Irish family has been over to Spain numerous times – almost on an annual basis – and they always ask if anyone knows anything.
“My father Jim – her brother – never gave up on her. Her disappearance really weighed on him. He has since passed away without knowing the answer to what had happened.
“This is some of the reason I am still pursuing this – but the whole family wants to know. It is an open wound that has never healed.
“If she decided she wanted to get away from everyone that’s fine. But if something bad happened we want whoever was responsible to be brought to justice.”
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