What Happened to Bernadette Cooper? Missing Irish expat vanished after securing money to save her Costa del Sol bar in 1993 – and her cousin fears mafia involvement

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The family of an Irish expat who disappeared more than 30 years ago is once again appealing for information.

Bernadette Cooper’s case remains shrouded in mystery. Her cousin suspects she has ties to organized crime after reportedly receiving death threats for investigating what happened to her.

Bernadette (pictured above) moved to the Costa del Sol with her husband Brian in the late 80s and they opened Molley Malones bar in Benalmadena Costa.

But things went downhill when things got out of hand and the couple’s marriage fell apart.

In late 1992, Bernadette decided to temporarily close the business and return to the UK, where she had been living, so that she could apply for a loan to keep the bar running.

Her last known contact with her friends or family was in January 1993, when she called a friend living on the Costa del Sol to tell him she had secured the money and was on her way back. She was never seen or heard from again.

To this day, the family does not know if she ever flew to Spain.

For years they tried to contact people along the coast, but no one claimed to know anything about it. The case disappeared into a refrigerator.

There was renewed hope for a lead in 2020, when Surrey Police reopened the case after a tip-off from Bernadette’s cousin Leon Moore.

Moore revealed that Bernadette’s real name was Susan, something investigators had never known before, which he said meant the investigation was “wrong from the start.”

Moore made this statement during an episode of his podcast series The Missing.

This series looks at Bernadette’s last known movements in Spain and the UK.

Moore is convinced that his aunt, who would now be 81 years old, had links to a criminal gang on the Costa del Sol.

A spokesman for the family said: “Please, someone needs to know. Her nephew has already had a death threat.

“Was this a crime committed by an organized gang, or by someone who knew she had money on her?

“We are reaching out to the expat community on the Costa del Sol for any information that could help us uncover the truth.”

Moore told the Olive Press in 2020 that it was “out of character” for his aunt to disappear.

He told this newspaper: “She was a very combative, determined and well-loved lady. It is unthinkable that she would just decide to disappear.”

The last known contact with Bernadette was a phone call to a friend in Spain, in which she announced that she was about to reopen her bar in Benalmadena.

She owned Molly Malone’s pub, which had no connection whatsoever with the Molly Malones that later opened in 24-Hour Square, but with the business that later became Wheels, Tapas and Punters on Ave Antonio Machado.

When her marriage broke down and Spain and the UK were hit by a financial crisis in the early 1990s, she was forced to close her business as she struggled to pay the rent.

She returned to Mitcham, London – where the County Monaghan, Ireland-born woman had spent many years – to finalise a divorce from her estranged husband.

Bernadette hoped to raise the money to reopen the case, and it appears she has succeeded.

According to Leon, one of her friends received a triumphant phone call in Spain in January 1993.

She said to him, “Do me a favor, will you? Tell the lawyer who works for the bar that I have the money… tell him not to give the bar away, I’ll be right back with the money.”

The message was passed on, but Bernadette never arrived.

The call was made from The Horse and Groom pub in Tooting Broadway, and it is the last known contact anyone had with Bernadette.

Her family has never forgotten her all these years and continues to search for Bernadette.

Leon said in 2020: “The Irish family have been to Spain several times – almost every year – 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 one of the reasons I’m still pursuing this, but the whole family wants to know. It’s an open wound that has never healed.

“If she decided she wanted to get away from everyone, that’s fine. But if something bad happens, we want whoever is responsible to be brought to justice.”

Do you know anything about this case? Email [email protected]