There's no equivalent of a murder offence in Ireland??
Irish Courts don't claim extra territorial jurisdiction. An Irish Court could not try someone for the killing of an Irish citizen in a third country.
If an Irish citizen was murdered on French territory, Ireland has no law to claim jurisdiction over that offence.
The French law is a legacy of their colonial empire and other countries should have told them to stuff it when EU arrest warrant was being agreed.
The French aren't going anywhere. Isn't the next plan to take Ireland to the European Court?
Cheek of them.
How many of the peasants owned their own press agency in the UK? He is a better journalist than any of the Irish and that wouldn't be hard. That's why they don't like him
There has already been a decision in Ireland not to extradite Bailey to France. In order to things to change, there would have to be a new trial in Ireland, which doesn't seem to happen, as there is no new evidence.
The trial in France can hardly be seen as a "fair trial".
Bailey was not there and could not defend himself
No evidence was presented to tie him to the murder scene
No witnesses appeared or were cross examined.
The thing, is why doesn't Bailey just change his name, which is possible under UK law, change his appearance, and get away from the area. Don't know how realistic this is, though.
IB won't be going anywhere until his name is cleared. Doesn't matter if he's not convicted here, he has to live with people thinking he's a murderer every day.
No matter what he does, those who think he's guilty take it as an admission of guilt. Poor guy can't do right for doing wrong.
* keeps the story in the news, probably to keep people talking in the hope the truth will come out: accused of being a narcissist who loves the limelight
* comes up with other theories: accused of deflecting blame from himself (in reality, he's in the dark as much as anyone else and investigating it with limited resources)
* suggests another suspect - OK he named him on reddit, not wise but he's clearly desperate for answers: gets dogpiled on twitter for daring to name someone who's dead anyway. Never mind that HIS name has been dragged through the mud for 25 years!
I could go on. Whatever he does is wrong in the eyes of those who hate him is my point.
That always puzzled me as well. Why does he stay in the area where it all went on, scrimping out a meagre existence selling ice cram, pizzas and bad poetry? Even if he is ever finally cleared of the deed he's as popular in thta part of the world as a fart in a spacesuit. His determination to stay is to be admired, I have to say
The thing, is why doesn't Bailey just change his name,
Speaking of, what's with the Eoin/Ian business? Did he start calling himself Eoin when he moved to Ireland?
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This is it a character like this would have a bit of notoriety. Which would most likely would have turned Sophie off him. Did he and Sophie hook up? Were they spotted together? Who is keeping tales of Jonh O'Donell secret and why? The locals should be airing the dirty laundry at this stage.
I think a much more likely explanation is a neighbour or neighbours kid used to stand by her bedroom window and spy on her. She saw him, threw on some clothes and ran out to catch him, he panicked, they got in a fight, and he ended up killing her.
Because the entire focus has been on Bailey, no real effort was made to see if the actual neighbours did it.
But this was in an isolated area where there were only two other houses and one wasnt occupied, the other was occupied by Alfie Lyons & Shirley, they didnt have any kids.
But I agree, focusing too heavily & too early on Bailey took the investigation in the wrong direction.
Yes that scenario has crossed my mind also.
Seems like the local Peeping Tom got off with a cursory investigation:
'Peeping Tom' and German musician were early garda suspects in the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier - Buzz.ie
There was also this person in the locality the Guards mysteriously overlooked:
https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117922022#Comment_117922022
'Unoccupied' at least as far as is known. Perhaps it wasn't.
i think the fact she really wanted somone to come with her is telling.
Yes. It seems from what was said by others she was uneasy about something. Hardly just the heating. If there were diaries they might shed some light?
The difficulty I have with this theory is when did Sophie get the time to have a fling with him. She had never been to the cottage alone before the weekend so it was unlikely she could have been having an affair with someone local as she would never have had the opportunity - there was always family or friends with her prior to that visit. If there was something going on between them it had only began that weekend. I dont think this man would have been Sophies type given the men she normally went for - Perhaps he called knowing she was alone and expected her to fall into bed with him and then murdered her in a rage when she made it clear she was'nt interested. I dont believe she could have had any sort of relationship/hook up with him prior to that weekend.
Yes, I agree with this, I think the perpetrator either knew of her or knew her through work/random meeting. Then the perpetrator, no doubt with a large ego, fancied his chances after alcohol or drugs & decided to chance his arm especially given that she may have a reputation in the area. In 1996, Ireland was a very different country especially in communities like this
And if she was uneasy about it, why the urgency to head over just before Christmas to deal with it...
The legion of local peeping toms had hair taken for analysis.
Jeepers. Did they have a register of them or something?😲
How many is legion?
What if they were bald?
Plus given that no hair samples were found at the scene apart from Sophie's all a bit pointless, if it did even happen.
Good question. Must have been important/urgent somehow.
Members of the West Cork Peeping Tom Society?
I wonder do they have regular gatherings? Share tips on good 'viewing spots'? Borrow each other's binoculars?
Completely agree with you for the most part but you may not be aware that Sophie is said to have been known by the Bantry detective due to her reporting of possible drug activity.
Was the Bantry detective involved in the murder investigation? it would be bizarre if he wasn't at least consulted regarding her aforementioned reporting if indeed true.
A "fake" fact is the existence of the speeding blue Fiesta which may have been driven by the corrupt, drunken, womanising and (possibly) murdering now deceased policeman. This is one of a number of "fake" facts surrounding this case because pro Bailey(ites) believe every word of it to be true. There is not one shred of evidence to suggest a single word of it is in fact true. Nor is there one single shred of evidence to suggest that Alfie Lyons, the retired and physically infirm pastry chef, was, in fact, a major international drug dealing criminal capable of bashing a woman's head in with a concrete block. Do you not see that the few existing bits of hard evidence and established facts about this killing all point toward the guilty party being the chief and only suspect. Another true fact is the non-emergence - over a period of twenty-five years - of even one other serious suspect. That fact, in itself, is a rarity in such unsolved crimes and it says all that needs to be said really.
I just dismiss the idea that Sophie was having an affair with him. No doubt he did know Sophie from her visits to the Garda station. I have no idea if he was involved in the investigation - he very well could have been and covered his tracks that way. He may have took advantage of Sophie being alone and it being Christmas time but completely misjudged her. Then of course it's possible she was reporting drug activity in the area to a guard who was himself involved and she had to be got rid of.
The son of a French speaking publican in the area was also a fluent French speaker and was educated in Paris I believe.
"His determination to stay is to be admired, I have to say"
Stopped in Glengarriff at lunchtime today, Ian sat out in front of a pub supping a glass of what looked like white wine.
Instantly recognisable from across the street.
While we were having coffee close by a Garda car cruised by.
He certainly won't be hiding away or changing his appearance or name.
Fair play to him.
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