FORMER colleagues of Michael and Sarah Falla at Doyle Motors spoke of their shock yesterday on hearing news of their violent deaths. Mr Falla, 44, was a car valeter at the garage from 1990 to 2004.
His wife, 34, was employed at Doyle Motors as a sales administrator on two separate occasions. She left her last period of employment there in 1997.
Dealer principal Andrew Sparks said no one at the business could believe what had happened on Wednesday evening. It was at Doyle Motors in the 1990s, he believed, that the couple became an item.
‘Everyone here is shocked. Michael, for example, worked here for 14 years.
‘You have to feel for both of the families.
‘It must be terrible for them and that’s one of the sad aspects of this - there are the people who have been left behind as well.’
Service manager Pat Langford has worked at Doyle Motors for 32 years.
He remembered the pair
fondly and said the atmosphere around the place was muted yesterday. ‘I was a technician when Michael started as a valeter in 1990. He was a good bloke and easy to get on with. I was very surprised to hear what happened.
‘He left here a few years ago and the last I heard he had set up his own business with another bloke who did spots of gardening and handyman jobs around the home.
‘I think it was here that he met Sarah. She was a nice person.’
Before Mr Falla started his own firm in 2006, he worked at Maryland Service Station for two years.
Maryland manager Alan Whales said yesterday that he preferred not to make any comment at this stage.
Mr Falla’s gardening business partner of the past year, Steve Bradshaw, also declined to comment.
It was still to early for him to say anything.
Staff at private bank SG Hambros in St Julian’s Avenue, where Sarah Falla worked at the time of her death, were yesterday also too upset to talk about the loss of what they described as their ‘colleague and friend’.
‘There is nothing we can say,’ said the company’s human resources manager. ‘We just hope people will respect the family at this sad time.’
Article posted on 25th May, 2007 - 12.00am
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