Yes that would be it. Just equiring as to whether that was a new structure or old structure and how long the blocks had been there. What's known about it?
Interesting. Sophie saw somebody(s) interfering with her gate perhaps moving blocks etc. quickly put on her boots and grabbed the axe at the door and headed down for a confrontation. Person there doesn't back off and swings at her with the block in their hands knocking her down etc...
It's possible, however the motive for murder is low:
Im not smug. There are a number of poorly informed contributors here spamming the discussion with half baked theories. No wonder MoonUnit fecked off. Oh....and I live in a rural location and I never leave a spare key out and about for easy access. I have also confronted a stranger at my door at around 4 am. I hope he still has the headache.
It was locked. Go back a page or two and see my post from last night.
What happened to the fencing? Who was doing the job?
If the door wasn't locked then they didn't need to unlock it to get in!
You massive tool 😂.
People might like to consider the candle in the kitchen. No lights on as one might not want to alert others that you are up and about and watching.
No need to be smug about things, as I've already said it's an irrelevance as people generally prepare for getting locked out.
Well someone had to get in to take the photo Sherlock. Maybe that`s why it isn`t locked.
The door with the keys in it - that is the front door as far as I am aware?
That door does not appear locked to me in that photo - am I wrong there - was this door definitely locked behind her?
Was it a latch key door that locked automatically when closed, or did it have to be locked by turning the key?
Someone mentioned something earlier in the thread re: back door to the cottage.
Front door may have been locked from inside by Sophie and she exited by the back door for reason X
I know this seems unlikely but might Daniel have sent a private investigator after Sophie? Catching her in the act of having an affair could soften the financial blow of an impending divorce.
This would tie in with eyewitnesses describing Sophie’s behaviour that week as unusual—lurking in the house and so on.
Also why she would come out of the house in her boots—to confront him and maybe try to smash his camera?
And why her husband then didn’t come to Ireland, because he was behind it.
It would also tie in with the man in Galway. And the car speeding away. Maybe even the strange man possibly seen lurking around Schull.
Maybe even the man seen with Sophie at the petrol station in Skibbereen, if he managed to ingratiate himself with her as soon as she got off the plane, pretending he too was going in that direction...
but I’ll stop trying to make all the possible pieces fit, but it could be an alternative to the theory of the hitman.
other lovers: 35pc
to me this seems most logical.
Always seemed that way to me too, even when I was only vaguely aware of the case. But unless and until we can put a credible name to that 'type' it's just armchair hypothesising. And if it was someone completely unknown to everybody else in Sophie's life who evidently got clean away then I suppose it's just got to be filed away as 'the perfect crime'...
Like most people not only in rural Ireland know, you keep a spare key hidden somewhere in case you get locked out.
She'd had a problem with her boiler. It appears like it was electric in that house, the kind that might burn out with an intermittent water supply. Was there a group water scheme for those three houses? Where was the power for the water pump coming from? I'm pretty sure Sophie wasn't fully aware of the kind of headaches with the basics you can get in a rural area. Although someone coming into your house to use your bath is a bit much.
I can see why she might go running out in a hurry if she thought someone was up to something with her water supply.
Ok ..So I'm a hitman..... Irish or French, doesn't really matter.
I either hang around and stake out the area/target. requiring food ,accommodation , getting noticed etc.
Or I drive in that night/morning with good directions and description.... Knock on the door with two empty hands and then, what... improvise?...
If you were going to be messy (as he was) wouldn't you just push her into the house close the door, use the leg of a chair, strangle etc.
No lets have a potentially public execution instead...
What next - victim dead.
I'd probably do one of the following... Calmly...
Hide the body, or remove the body in a car.... Burn the house down.... or stage a suicide, I don't know anything bar leave her on the road reducing my escape time.
But no....
What happened - Rage confrontation, chase, explosion of violence, Panic..... 'WTF Just happened'.... Run..... Amateur (nothing professional about any of this)
Would it be faster to get away running down hill, Alfie's house looks to be up a hill so would easier to be caught if trying to escape from the house, but if the alteration happened at the gate, it means there must have had some daylight to be able to see what was happening down there and head down that way to meet someone or approach someone ( she may have had the small axe with her ) and things escalated.
So you think she didn`t lock herself out and then the killer came and locked up afterwards? Very thoughtful of him.
Are you asking about the pump house with the missing blocks?
delete
I do think it seems there was an altercation at the gate.. That she walked down there - she'd seen something (from her window) that made her quickly put on her boots and run out the door.
I don't think the killer arrived at the door and then dragged her out.. I know there was a blood mark found by the door but this may have been the killer coming back to quickly check if anyone else was in house? And I think if she was running away from someone surely she'd run to Alfie and Shirley?
What did she see at the gate? Maybe a guard in high viz jacket? Maybe Leo or Alfie doing something with those bricks or the gates that she had previously said she unhappy with? I don't suppose we'll ever know.
Was it ever established why the stack of blocks were there down by the gate. What was being built? Where was it being built? And by who? It may be known but I missed it being mentioned at least. It seems land and boundaries and ownership of sheds were contentious issues so what if Sophie arrives in Ireland and finds a stack of blocks that weren't there previously and confronts the neighbours about it. Would allow some plausable reasoning as to why a block was used to kill her if that was the source of the disagreement.
dat is epic.
I've never agreed with this statement at all other than it makes a good story. I am not local and found the house with ease. Somebody with a real bad sense of direction would have had a problem, yes.
If it was a hired killer than finding the place would certainly not have been a problem for him. The only advantage a local would have had, is if he hiked to the house and knew how to hike there, while avoiding the roads.
i had a conversion with an old ff fanatic years ago, all scandals at time. he said "shure a bitta corruption no bother cover up is for the greater good.
Here's that guy's American cousin
Shirley Foster says on discovering the body she went in the side gate and up Sophie's paddock directly in front of the house to alert Alfie. She could have had blood on her shoes having got close to the body hence blood in the paddock.
Alfie also could have had blood on his hand had he went for a closer look and also returned via the paddock before knocking on Sophie's door as he said he did and might have tried the handle. All reasonable alibis.
There is a possibility that she had arranged to meet somebody who came to the gate. The idea that she was chased to the gate already injured doesn't take into account how little blood there was around the house.
fasanating thread. my summary so far
there is 1 area i think is 100pc , true. the guards were up to there neck in it as in corrupt.
it struck me at time that just insert catolic church, banks, etc u have same outcome.
so this culture and mind set was in cork also.
percentages:
Bailey 10pc i think he is innocent but i would not swear on bible to it.
gardai or detective 40pc
the guards maybe clowns but deliberate tampering on a large scale is apparant WHy?
protect the institution like i said above not sure if this was a rage crime. she did seem to be totally dismisive of say a lover
drugs
15pc this is where it gets murky. it is very possible guards and say detective above intermingled in this. its sorta a big leap but not really in this mad case
to me this seems most logical. i could see a lover writing poetry song etc she says its utter rubbish he flips totally.
insert german lad here guy in boat or most likely young french lad
husband 10pc
i just dont see it it may be possible. these high up french like in ireland will always get a dig out somewhere....
others 5pc
alphie lr random encounter i doubt but again like a spiders web what looks unlikely...
it would be great to get an expert to review it profile killer etc.
great example was detective who caught milly dwyer killer also reviewed rapes of 100s of old people in london caught killer in 3 weeks.... after he not caught for 20 years
"It must be a local because it was such a hard place to find."
Yeah, this was always such a strange bit of information that people threw around quite quickly. I think even in the podcast they kind of made a big deal of this. As if it was some kind of certain thing that the person who did this must have been really, really, familiar with the local area because nobody else would be able to find the place. Just silly. For the detective, Dwyer, to be pushing that as pure fact should be a bit of a red flag.
I'd agree. Is it just the top row of blocks on the wall that are loose? The lower rows look cemented. Also looks like the half block was removed along with the full one. That may be it left to the side?
How would you end up looking at what would look like a solid block wall and think I'll just go up there and pull a block out of it?
There were plenty other rocks/blocks behind the gate which would have been easier to access if they were looking for a weapon.
I don't think there really was a clean up job.
There was blood on the front door, blood on the gate, blood in the briars. A prolonged attack like this would have left some evidence around.
The problem is that the Gardai didn't do a good job with the crime scene and so we don't have any conclusive evidence at all.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://we.vanillicon.com/v2/e8040f74ccd8f7c0f1f8b2804da972be.svg)
