Willie Maughan’s dad hopes son feared dead, is lying with his Ana
By Laura Lynott
THE father of missing a man feared murdered along with his pregnant girlfriend – marked the one year anniversary last night saying: “I just hope they are lying together.”
Joe Maughan spoke tenderly of his son William Maughan, 34, and his Latvian girlfriend, Anastasija, 21, who was pregnant with their first child at the time of their disappearance on April 14, 2015.
As Joe, 60, his wife Nell and the rest of the family, marked the anniversary of the couple’s disappearance with a church service, the father told how he just wants to give the two lovers a Christian burial.
“I want Willie and Ana to be brought home tomorrow. I pray to God for that,” Joe said.
I would bury them both in the same coffin. Ana’s mother died a few years ago and her father died when she was young, so Willie was all she had left.
“Ana was a lovely girl. I didn’t know they were dating until one of my daughter’s told me. She came down to the house and made herself a cup of tea and a sandwich. She was very laid-back but that was fine with us because so are we.
“Ana was very bubbly and Willie loved her. He was very protective of her. I just hope that they are lying together now.
“Ana missed her mother of course. She wore a locket containing her ashes.”
She still has a stepfather in Latvia – a man who raised her from a young age.
The family are convinced the couple – whose bank cards have not been used since they vanished – have been murdered because Willie fell in to bad company after he moved for a period to Balbriggan, Co Dublin.
They believe he knew too much about the murder of Benny Whitehouse in Balbriggan, on September 25, 2014 outside a school after leaving his young daughter to class.
Joe blamed the fact that plumber Willie had lost his job on his getting tied up with those in the underworld.
Joe does not believe he was ever entangled in any crimes but that he merely fell into bad company – which he then tried to escape.
They asked my young fella to get involved in the murder outside the school, Joe said. He said he wasn’t getting involved in that, that he wouldn’t kill anyone. He knew murder is something you have to live with for the rest of your life.
“But they (the killers of Whitehouse) knew then William knew about the murder and they were obviously worried, but everyone knew about who did it.
“They are a pack of wolves, animals for what they did to William and Ana.”
Willie had been on his way to move back to Tallaght, Co Dublin, where his family lived and where he had grown up, when he and Ana vanished.
He had arranged for his mother to come and meet him and his girlfriend in Gormanston, Co Meath, where they were living, on the day they disappeared.
The last phone call to the family came from Ana who was crying ‘help,’ before the phone went dead at 2.57pm on April 14, 2015.
There are people out there who know what happened to my son and Ana. I want them to help us find them. To bring them home.
“Willie wanted to get away from them (the criminals). This is why he was coming home to Tallaght.
“Days before he disappeared, Willie went and bought whatever tools he could buy because he wanted to go back to plumbing. Work had picked up and I had a job lined up for him.
“I never saw my son involved in any criminality. He never had anything to do with drugs. He wanted to earn money plumbing and the clean way.
“He never meant to get mixed up with these animals and he was trying to get away from them.”
Joe and the family remember their “jolly, smiling, loving and protective,” son.
The family joined together to pray for the couple’s return last night at the Sacred Heart Church in Tallaght.
Members of the community attended the service. Gardai issued a fresh appeal for information on the missing couple earlier this week.
