Did he really confess though? This sounds like a rumour. Is there any sort of documentary evidence to support this?
Sadly I do think your right. West Cork seems to attract a large number of strange people - lots of sinister goings on there.
I think you can't discount the obvious simple explanation of what COULD have happened(capital letters in case anyone thinks I'm saying I've got it).
Alfie and Shirley are driving out, open the gate and for whatever reason go and look at the pump, causing Sophie, already freaked out with repairs in her house to come raging down the field poker in hand. It's grabbed out of her hand and with one smack of it is seriously hurt. The rest is easy to work out. Burn the clothes and call the Guards. Keep your mouth shut and it's near impossible to prove.
The Guards then are seriously under pressure to find a maniac. Happened in Birmingham and Guildford.
The situation you're describing is sadly well known to me, but from different countries. The core of the matter is interestingly very much the same.
It's also the reason, why I would never ever buy a property in that area and what I meant with "overpriced houses" irrespective of what one can afford. One doesn't only buy the house, one buys the neighbours, the people the society and the police around it with it.
Sophie was naïve about that as well, even though her intentions were honest about wanting to get away from the big city and liking the Irish countryside and taking hikes in the wilderness. Yes it's beautiful out there on that peninsula, but the rest sadly doesn't fit.
I know nothing of a deathbed confession of a Guard. If this particular Guard from Bantry was the murderer, it was either something sexual and Sophie resisting his advances or something drug related as in Sophie seen something she shouldn't have and a couple of corrupt Guards were in it, - that's my speculation.
if anything in a court is entered into evidence that does not have "clean hands" it can and will be inadmisable.
this would normally lead to no trial going forward or mistrial.
the DPP if they put the case forward would have the damage from mistrial to enjoy..
second i think the guards misconduct ensures everything needs to be rechecked.
i would not trust anything they said at this stage..
There's tons of people that know, you only have to look at IBs friend list on FB to see half of them are from bantry. People there support him for the sole reason that they know who actually did it. It's an open secret there and it's a crime in itself that 25 years have passed and no one is speaking out still.
There's definitely people that know enough to help. The Gard confessed on his deathbed ffs.
If people don't do the right thing this will drag on till France have their way and honestly, I don't know how they can live with themselves
Im sure Bailey was a pain in the arse to the guards poking his nose in as a journalist - god knows what he could have uncovered. That along with having to pin the murder on somebody given that Sophie was well connected in France. Pinning it on Bailey was the perfect way to get him off their back.
I have to agree.. There are people in the local community who know, or at the very least suspect a family member, neighbour or friend.
They don't have to see a bloodied bloke stumbling into his home on the morning of the murder, nor do they have to see a bloodied garment crumpled up in a bag.
This was the most brutal of murders, this was violence on steroids.
Whoever committed this barbaric act, it left a mark on them.
There is no way they carried on as normal afterwards, no way they functioned in society without being indifferent. The sleep deprivation on its own would make the individual stand out.
Somebody knew..
A Mother knows when her Son is acting differently, she won't be fooled by a facade.. But would she turn him in, bring shame on her family whilst sentencing her lad to life imprisonment? Think the knicker sniffer here....?
Would a Wife turn in her Husband? She would see the change in him straight away, where was he on the night of the murder? Wouldn't take long to join the dots up...
Your work buddy suddenly becomes withdrawn, your best pal has suddenly hit the bottle, the bloke over the road just got a job in England, didn't know he was looking for work over there.. Gerry rang in sick, be out for months with the back apparently.. Looked grand yesterday??
Somebody knows.
Somebody's personality changed that week. One or, more likely several people noticed it. The following days, weeks and months would have seeded suspicions in the people nearest to the killer - Some, if not all, will have made the connection.
Bailey being hunted / set up, was a God send to them.
Of course the Gards know more than they are letting on.. If Bailey really was the killer 100% - Why go to the extreme measures that they did to set him up?
Did the Gards need a patsy straight away to prevent a deeper investigation taking place?
Bailey was their man, no other suspect need be followed up on.. Why not?
Yah I definitely agree about the not grassing up one of their own angle, we only have to look at the ones who did that previously and what happened to them.
And no doubt about it, more than a few in the locality know more than they are letting on. The very same type of people who would proclaim to be upstanding citizens & going to mass every week. I grew up in a similar area to this so I know full well. Country is full of these types unfortunately. Happy to let an innocent man be painted as the murderer for 25 years, may they rot in hell.
The likes of Fitzgerald and others mentioned in the DPP report will never give up any information but the lower ranking Gaurds, the ones on duty over Christmas that year and who observed and wondered about the case, might have something to say. Not all Gaurds were corrupt although I would say almost all would follow the instutionalised rule of never grass up one of your own.
However one thing I do know about Gaurds, they spend a lot of time sitting in the car or at the station and they like to talk and they like to gossip so you can be certain that any Gaurd working within a large radius of that murder has heard every detail and every whispered rumour about that case.
It's not impossible, what you're describing. If somebody is careful in the house, the Richardsons would never have known that somebody was in the place during their absence. That axe was never located, I think?
As far as I know there is no statute of limitations for murder. The thing is also 25 years is a long time. It's hard to say where one has been 25 years ago on a certain night between the hours so and so. Also if it was Garda cover-up, what were they covering up for and why? The sexual intentions of their fellow officer from Bantry, or their involvement in drug trafficking?
Other speculative thoughts: Would this murder be the "handwriting" of the IRA? or Hutch? or Kinahan, if a firearm wasn't to be used? Can they be ruled out without doubt?
Yes, this is bang on in my opinion, as detective Dwyer says, the answer lies in the locality, more likely lies in the force he was a member of. The only thing that makes sense when you look at all the main aspects of the case is a garda coverup or unbelievable incompetence. Incompetence on a scale I don't believe we've seen before. So if one or the other are true, how could we possibly trust them to have followed up properly on all the other aspects of the investigation, proper questioning of potential witnesses, collection of DNA from people in the community. The truth is, is that we can't & when we cant trust our police force to have done even a reasonable job, it throws absolutely everything else into doubt.
There is one main reason why this case hasnt been solved, its not luck, its not the time of year, its not the differences in our legal system over the French, its not the white lady she supposedly saw, its down to the gards who investigated this case.
Clothes could have been disposed of in other ways than burning. What if they were buried or hidden in an attic or shoved down a well? No need to carry them or burn them if you are based locally. Using the house to clean yourself up before making your way across the hills or wherever. Such a person could have picked a lock, found a hidden key or had a copy from another time.
It is possible they are still hidden there along with the axe waiting to be discovered.
I think the only way this case will be solved is by digging deeper and deeper into generic Garda corruption in that area until the whole facade comes crumbling down. Unfortunately it always takes some massive scandal to make politicians do anything, (let's have a 7 year enquiry so it all blows over and then do feck all about it), and we don't have any investigative journalists in this country worthy of the name, journos just want to be twitter celebrities these days. You do need someone like Gemma O Doherty, not afraid to stand up and rattle some sacred cages, but unfortunately she appears to have left the realms of reality behind her lately.
Also the publishing business is completely part of the establishment here so there will be no worthwhile investigative books commissioned or published any time soon.
The local Gardai who dealt with this case have the answers to a lot of our questions. But I don't know who is going to ask them.
Yes a thought I’ve had before is that the murder took place around 2 a.m. (when the screaming was heard) and that the murderer returned to the scene of the crime later that morning and potentially disposed of the wine bottle, and was seen speeding away at 7.30
In its report, GSOC says it is most concerned with pages that went missing from the original garda ‘jobs book’ while in the custody of gardaí.
Garda jobs books are meant to contain an entire record of the progress of a major investigation, outlining all actions undertaken by gardaí and the reasons that these actions were raised.
“This concern is compounded further by the fact that the specific pages missing are from an area of the book when Ian Bailey seems to have first been identified as a potential suspect in the murder by gardaí — and, as such, they are potentially very significant,” says the report.
I find that theory highly unlikely. Disposing of the bloody clothes would have been an challenge, a fire would have been noticed, burring it would also leave tracks, and carrying it would have been too suspicious, also there was no car parked there. So if somebody was hiding in there, he must have arrived on foot. However it's a possibility worth investigating, or at least 25 years ago it would have been for sure. Don't know if the Richardson's still own the house or if there are new owners.
I dont think they would have stayed in the house after the murder but they could have hid out there before the murder if it was planned. It also could have been used to clean themselves up before fleeing the seen.
How do you know that it was Alfie that laid claim to the shed?..
I had a thought about that house as well. Especially since Sophie complained somebody using the bathtub in her absence, chances are somebody had done the same in the house of the Richardson's? The locks of these doors are most likely not high security and can be picked with ease. However that's speculation as well. The killer would have had real balls to hide in the Richardson's house while the police where around the murder scene, him hoping that he doesn't get discovered.
I don't know if that house was searched, but I am sure, the police would have investigated, whether the house had been lived in or not during the time of the murder. That is, if the police can be trusted the way things went in this case......
The 3rd house - owned by the Richardsons I believe. It was a holiday home and wasnt in use by the owners in December 1996 so I know they were not involved.
Is it possible though that someone was hiding out there. Was this house searched?
We've heard nothing about this house at all even though its very close to Sophies - her house was in the middle between Alfies and the Richardsons. This house would have had a good view of Sophies house.
"It's been established that the Gardaí reported that the front door was also locked." This sounds like a certainty. Where is the evidence for this assertion?
Sophie parked her car in the space owned by the 3rd house. Sophies house did however have its own parking area at the other gable end of the house - this is the space that appears to be contested. That is the space between Sophies and Alfies houses. Alfies house was recently up for sale so perhaps this is the reason the ownership query is raised now.
There certainly seems to be alot of issues surrounding property ownership and boundaries - between the 3 owners and others using the land for grazing . I wonder did the gardai even look into this as been a motive. These issues can be explosive between people and can get out of control very quick.
What sort of information did these "jobs" books normally contain, I wonder? Interviews with suspects or witnesses were transcribed or recorded separately. A "jobs" book, given it's title, might contain details of staff rosters and duties or names and addresses of callers to the station and details of their queries or business. If that were the case then, yes, I could see how crucial information pertaining to the investigation could be gleaned from perusing them.
The car park space is owned by the third house, so if its being contested it wasnt by Alfie.
I believe the state the front door lock was found in caused confusion, with some interpreting " on the latch" as locked.
The photo shows the keys in the lock with the latch pulled back i.e. in the unlocked position.
Which would be the state of the lock when the Gardaí arrived at the scene.
Okay, I thought you were hinting at Alfie. But I'm not sure I understand your point... are you implying that some evidence was explained away in this manner? If so, which evidence?
Could it have been contested at the time of the murder and still not resolved ?
The part with the shed is not part of Alfie's property on the map either,
He laid claim to it even though Sophie owned her house before Alfie bought his,
The estate agent told Sophie it was her property when he sold her the house .
It's been established that the Gardaí reported that the front door was also locked. The crime scene photo shows the door on the latch, but this has been attributed to the Gardaí themselves to allow access in and out after the fact.
Don't know how the Gardaí gained access to the house if it was locked. Perhaps there were no keys in the back door lock and Josephine Helen let them in.
I think, I've wrote something similar before. This is why I think that the murder must have been coordinated and planned, rather than unplanned. This is also why I think that the murderer was most likely not a local, and if he was local and from that peninsula, he would have been single as he would have had to hide his emotions after the murder and anybody who knew him, must have noticed. I think that German musician would have been single? That "Frenchman" who apparently lived in the area, I don't know?
I am still mostly inclined to go with the "husband hiring a hitman" motive, as well as with the "drug ring police involvement" motive as a speculative theory rather than with Bailey.
The only place where Bailey could have washed up properly, changed clothes without being seen would have been his studio. He could also have disposed of his clothes, shoes, etc. Bailey also had family of Jules around later on that day as far as we know. Bailey would also have to have hiked, and not borrowed Jule's car. The only thing that bothers me here, is the fire Bailey had behind the studio. It's not any evidence, but an indication.
I strongly disagree with the statement that Sophie's house "was difficult to find for somebody who isn't local". This statement may only apply to somebody who doesn't know Ireland, never been to Ireland, and possibly only lived in the US for all of his life or has no sense of direction at all. Somebody who planned this murder would have found it with ease.
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