So the Garda station given the job of investigating the first murder in the area in a very long time had two detectives and only one of them ended up involved in this case, is that correct?
You can search those archives without a subscription
Alfie has an unaccounted for first family living with him in Basil Bush restaurant and spoke several languages. He had been in the US doing we know not what.
My surmise would be not that he was not so much underworld as undercover.
It's very interesting IF a Detective in Bantry did not work on this case.. Its not as if that is a very busy station - you would think they would all want to get involved and get valuable experience.
My husband is a Guard though and he says there is no way they would have covered for him (even in 96) if they'd known.
Its an interesting theory though.. I think it's also very interesting that JODs family and former colleagues haven't spoken out to say the rumours are ridiculous.
Not quite the first in a long time,
almost a year to the day earlier, Drimoleague is about 20 miles from Sophie's and 9 miles from Bantry;
Well if a few gaurds were involved in moving drugs then they could easily be blackmailed to keep quiet.
Maybe this has already been mentioned on this thread but I didnt see this on the podcast or the documentries.
So Ian Bailey approached the crimecall film crew filming on 3 castles head a few weeks after the murder and told them he knew Sophie, he has met her on the 3 castle head walk. Of course Bailey denies saying this (which is a common theme with Ian Bailey) but it makes no sense that the film crew with no agenda against Ian Bailey would just make this story up so i persume Ian Bailey is lying when he says that he didnt say this to the film crew. So by his own admission there is a link between the two.
Or, he was lying and tried to get a paid interview in the documentary.
Or, the film crew are lying to drum up interest in themselves and their documentary.
They were only filming the reconstruction of the murder for crimecall on TV so there wasnt any benefit in it for them.
Possibly he said it to try insert himself with the film crew, pretending he knew more than he did about Sophie but his flat denial of ever even saying it
makes you more inclinded to disbelieve was Ian was saying about other stuff, like his flat denial about what Alfie Lyons said about him meeting Sophie up at this house.
Does it?
Of course there's a benefit to it, you're talking about them now and they work in the media.
So he denies meeting her in what is an innocent setting - multiple people around working in garden, which can contradict him. Which even if true does not in any way attest to a personal relationship.
But owns up to meeting her in more incriminating setting where they were alone together - to a Crimecall documemtary.
Do you really think a murderer would do that? I don't.
Given Ian's personality and a lot of what he does isnt what most of us would normally do so yeah i 100% believe he would have said it
Bear in mind this was only weeks after the murder before he became a fully fledged suspect so he prob not as carefull about what he was saying.
25 years onwards, it's really hard to prove if that's all truth or lies.
I think it's also very interesting that JODs family and former colleagues haven't spoken out to say the rumours are ridiculous.
They probably figure most people who are aware of the 'story' at all probably dismiss it as Gemma O'Doherty conspiracy-mongering. Making a big public statement would only increase awareness of it and perversely add credence to it in some people's eyes.
U weren't paying much attention to the Netflix documentary if u missed this in it, it's covered right at the beginning of episode 2
So, soon after murdering her, he decided - "you know what, I'll get involved in the reenactment and let them all know that I knew the lady I just murdered..."
If anything, Mr Bombastic landing himself into the Crimecall thing is another indication of him being innocent of the murder but guilty of being a massive arse.
It also supports the notion that if he actually did know Sophie well that he would have told the world about it and written at least seven terrible poems about his French dalliance. But not only did he not 'tell the world' he knew her - he told literally nobody, ever!
He didn't know her.
I don't think that it's any kind form of evidence whether Bailey knew Sophie or not. Even if they were seen holding hands in public or dinking coffee somewhere, it wouldn't mean that Bailey is the murderer. Or suppose a "credible witness" like Marie Farrell stated that she's seen them together numerous times.....
Disagree on two points:
1) If he knew her I think it is reasonably likely (though, yes, not certain) that he would have told somebody - one living soul - in Schull that he had a coffee with her; that he had a debate about postmodernism with her; that he pinched her arse - god knows what, but he very likely IMO would have mentioned it once to somebody... But he didn't. To anybody. Ever.
2) Knowing her doesn't make him guilty I agree, but the case against Bailey is strongly helped by him knowing her - that's why they go on about it so much. If he didn't know her then it's much harder to explain her putting on her boots and going outside to talk to him (or to confront him); it's also far less likely for him to murder somebody he didn't know from Adam - than somebody he had had a relationship (plutonic or otherwise) with.
I'd say that's part of the challenge, if not the problem. Just knowing people doesn't make you guilty at all. If that was the case, I myself would be in jail for the rest of my life, considering that some people I knew had a criminal history one wouldn't see the end of it.....
Well one counter to point one is if he had conceived what he believed was a grand passion for this mysterious French woman on the basis of one or two brief meetings, he had every incentive not to mention it to a soul, to stop it getting back to Jules. Totally out of character for Bailey I know, but men in the grip of infatuation do strange things...
I would like to hear from people who appear to have been intimate with or are sympathetic to Alfie, why we know so little about his life apart from that he might have been unwell at the time of the murder. I don't understand why people take such umbrage at the suggestion that himself and Shirley must have been the leading suspects for this murder, given they were the only people we know for fact were in the immediate vicinity and that it appears no forensics have been found associated with anybody who would not normally be there.
Shirley and Alfie also gave evidence that was contradictory to Bailey's and particularly damning, but appears unreasonable at best.
I don't think anyone would have "covered for him" rather told from above to get a conviction on Bailey etc. Very strange JOD didn't investigate. It's also been said there was no reenactment of Martin O Sullivans Fiesta sighting. Is that true?
It was never even followed up, and his original statement" lost".
There's a later one tho, I believe.
I'd say coming from a country place, that everyone around would have known her or at least about her. A woman like that with a house overlooking the Ocean! Her comings and goings would be well noted.
Told from above? By God, like?
I always thought the Randy Bantry Garda was put in the frame by someone with an axe to grind.
They picked GOD to publicise their story and she ran with it.
She was in high anti police corruption mode at the time and she would jump on any story like this .
I don't know what age the man was at the time of the murder, but he died 4 years later.
So maybe this man's name has been sullied like Baileys by someone who hate the Gardaí in general and this Garda in particular
and/or an English blow-in like Bailey.
Hate an English blow-in like Bailey...??
I think that's a bit extreme..?
Shur half the population have relatives born and bred in England. Its not that long ago the boats were full to the brim of fellow countrymen looking for a new life across the water, a lot settled and had their Family's over there.
And.... Are we really the type of people that would frame an innocent man for murder because he is a blow-in???
The Taliban would hardly be that extreme would they?
Not sure if you've missed it but pages and pages back we've fairly authentic claims that he confessed on his deathbed. I bet Jim is working this angle and investigations for season two are well underway.
The subject of Alfie and Shirley seems to baffle lot's of people. I still don't get why for instance they didn't hear anything that night. Not a sound, not any noise, apart from maybe foxes. Even if Susan wouldn't have screamed for help the sheer bashing in of the head must have made some unusual noise.
From Alfie House down to the gate looks to be a fair distance and looks to be out of thier direct line of sight. They may be able to hear a distant scream if Sophie had screamed but if they were fast asleep then seems unlikely it would have been loud enough to wake them.
I still don't get why for instance they didn't hear anything that night
You keep scratching your head over this. The attack was several hundred metres from their house. There have been cases where a woman was raped while her partner slept beside her. You don't find it hard to understand, you refuse to accept it.
Even if Susan wouldn't have screamed for help the sheer bashing in of the head must have made some unusual noise.
Her name was Sophie.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wa.vanillicon.com/v2/a04babac7ef9d681628a280d81c51a1e.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://wb.vanillicon.com/v2/bd89cdce15309a6ec2dff928c865017a.svg)