The mysterious disappearance of Bernadette Cooper
Bernadette Cooper was last heard from when she made a call to a friend in January 1993 from a pub in Tooting, to say she had the cash to save her bar.
No one has heard from her since – not her three children, her friends or her extended family.
Here, her nephew LEON MOORE relates everything the family knows, in the week police finally declared this a missing persons case.
“Are you going away with no words of farewell, will there be not a trace behind…”
So sang Tom Paxton, in his 1964 hit, That was the Last Thing on my Mind.
What exactly was the last thing on the mind of my aunty, Bernadette Cooper, when she concluded her business in London in the early part of 1993 remains a mystery to this day.
What we do know: In the late 1980s she was running a bar called Molly Malones in Benalmadena, near Malaga, Spain, with her then husband, Brian.
After an auspicious beginning and promising returns, the Spanish recession of the early ‘90s had a devastating effect on takings and turnover, plunging their dream of a life in the sun into crisis.
In quick succession her marriage began to founder, too, and Brian returned to the UK in 1991 to prepare for a divorce, leaving Bernadette and their young son to make a go of it themselves. Sadly, things did not improve and with dwindling resources, Bernadette found herself behind on the rent for the property.
Desperately in need of funds and unable to raise cash from friends or family to see the recession out, Bernadette temporarily shut the bar in late 1992, and boarded a plane for London.
Her destination was the former marital home in Mitcham, Surrey, and beyond that a settlement from the divorce.
Friends in Spain to this day speak of her total determination and fierce energy to make a go things.
She just would not be beaten.
We awaited her return, they said.
Early in January 1993 one of these friends received a triumphal phone call from Bernadette.
“Do me a favour would you?” she said. “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.”
That call was placed from the bar of The Horse and Groom public house in Tooting Broadway – now the Graveney & Meadow – its address 40 Mitcham Lane, across a cobbled alleyway from McDonald’s and opposite Boots.
The message was duly conveyed to the Spanish lawyer.
But sadly, they were the last words that anyone connected to Bernadette that can be traced has ever heard from her.
Not a word since.
No family member, friend or her own children has ever received news of her.
And she never did arrive back in Spain.
The bar remained shut throughout that winter and eventually the lease sold to another with a dream of a life in the sun.
Bernadette’s belongings were found in the bar’s apartment. They were stored in the attic for a while, but never claimed, and were eventually thrown out by new owners.
Various agencies, including The Salvation Army, have tried to trace her without success in the intervening years; word of mouth among the Irish communities of England and Spain has produced no result.
But a fresh determination has blown life into the investigation in recent months and the
British police have opened an official missing person enquiry.
We will have to wait for advances in technology not present at the time she went missing to bear fruit, but the process has begun.
It is 28 years since her disappearance. Nearly three decades of silence. Sightings and tip-offs have ended in disappointment, dead ends, wasted journeys.
To say it is out of character for her would be an understatement.
Next month she will be 77 years old.
On good form, she was feisty and vivacious and loved good company and family.
It is inconceivable to those who knew her well that she would voluntarily vanish into thin air.
That would be the last thing on her mind.
*If you have any information, however seemingly insignificant, every bit of information will be treated in the strictest confidence and privacy guaranteed. Call 07948461059 or email helpbernadette@gmail.com