I'm not 100% pro bailey, I understand he's not a very likeable individual. I doubt I would even like him myself, breaking out into poems every hour or so, I think id find that hard to stomach. He is entitled to the presumption of innocence though, something that has been robbed from him by corrupt gards & an ineffective garda regulatory authority.
Yes, I want a proper investigatory body over the gards. Its something that should exist in any proper well meaning democracy. The consequences of not having one are quite serious as this case has highlighted. Do you think GSOC are fit for purpose? Do you think the gards acted honorably & without maliciousness in the investigation of this case? Do you not think there is a problem with garda corruption in this country given the numerous cases we have heard about including one where they tried to ruin a whistle blowers life by painting him as a pedophile?
I have not at any point said I have access to the garda file. I do not.
I think I verified I heard a couple of things down the pub.
And it could be utter shite.
Now jog on
he is allowed to be pro bailey but in terms of solving the case being totally pro or anti any one or any group won't help
Even if he is generally anti gard, so what?People are entitled to their opinions.
bad attitude to solving amurder. Need to be objective. The garda were anti bailey and look what happened
Jim has made articulate and intelligent points about the behaviour of the gardai throughout this thread.
Jim has made articulate and intelligent points about the behaviour of the gardai throughout this thread
most of his reference to garda/GSOC is totally against them. Some of the garda behaved very badly, not all garda
"solving the case"
Dya think the boards squad are going to solve it 🤣
not if they take a completely for or against closed mind position against any person or organisation.
I imagine most of us do have an open mind with this case, but we've come to learn of the vast garda malpractice and corruption involved and have swayed more in one direction.
I believe Ian is innocent, but that doesn't make me pro Bailey either, at least not in the way that people in this thread like to insinuate. He hasn't helped himself whatsoever over the last 25 years, enjoys playing people, is impulsive and difficult to work with by all accounts, and tends to do the exact opposite of what people advise him to.
His personality is irrelevant tho. He is an innocent man in this country and has been treated as if he's guilty for 25 years. This makes some of us understandably indignant, because the issues that caused this are still powerfully at play.
The only people that come across as having a closed mind on this case are the ones that continually try to paint Bailey as the murderer even though there isn't a shred of hard evidence against him and the circumstantial evidence against him is flimsy at best. The DPP at the time agrees with this point of view. Its a valid point of view because the serving DPP at the time is the only person who would have had access to all the garda files, who would have had experience of these type of cases previously & would ultimately know whether this was a case worth taking to court or not.
Instead he comes out with severe criticism of the case & the manner of the gards investigation. This is in spite of severe political & local pressure put on him. Now, people who are critical of the gards & believe Bailey didnt murder her have this to back this up. What do you have? apart from a kangaroo court in France where funnily enough none of the investigating gards were willing to attend. Not surprising because Im sure they know the consequences of perjury.
I think the senior gard theory in the locality is the most likely because it would explain alot of things about the investigation. Disposal & losing of key pieces of evidence (why not hang onto them rather than disposing of them), the complete lack of any forensic evidence at the scene, the silence in the community (out of fear of the gards most likely), the bribery of witnesses, the removal of pages from the evidence book, the intimidation of witnesses (Marie Farrell is terrified of the gards nowadays, not bailey), the list goes on & on. And im sure theres more we dont know about because of this cover-up.
In spite of all this, Im not 100% convinced it was a gard, it may have been a lover from france or ireland, it may have been a young local hornbag who fancied his chances, it might have been her husbands desire to remove her from his life, maybe Leo Bolger or Alfie Lyons who had a drug operation close to her. Im not ruling out anything so dont accuse me of solely focusing on the gards theory & being a closed mind. Ill leave that to you & moonie
Im not ruling out anything so dont accuse me of solely focusing on the gards theory & being a closed mind. Ill leave that to you & moonie
obviously you didn't read what i wrote or you would know i do not have a closed mind or believe garda theory. so you are wrong to put me with moonie. you do have a serious anti garda stance though
Anyone who doesnt have a serious anti garda stance after properly looking at this case, I'd be questioning their judgement. What more do they need to do before people doubt them? Not one of them was reprimanded or disciplined after their outrageous behavior. Seriously? Do you think that's an acceptable way for a country's police force to act. Bribing locals with money & drugs from the evidence room in an attempt to get Bailey to confess, threatening Marie Farrell, hounding Bailey & Jules Thomas. I sincerely hope you don't experience the long arm of the state or maybe if you did, you might open your eyes
It baffles me how people actually try and explain this behaviour away. The DPP report was damning for a reason and contained information we haven't seen. Yet people still criticise it.
Garda corruption was rife in the 90s. There's multiple examples of this. It's still rife now but I imagine the increase in technology has curbed it to a certain extent. Or maybe it's made it easier, like gardai ingratiating themselves on threads like these and making thinly vieled threats to people.
Anyone who doesnt have a serious anti garda stance after properly looking at this case
now you admit it
goodbye
It's like reading the journal comments lads
What is there to admit?? He's stating facts. They are glaring. This case reeks of garda corruption, and we certainly aren't the first to point it out.
The similarities between this case and the donegal one, 2 months before, are startling.
I've no idea why it's so hard to accept garda corruption, honestly. It's bloody obvious.
Log on to read the latest on the Murder at the Cottage thread
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Deleted
In my opinion none of you three ever brought anything worth arguing about to the thread.
But that's just my opinion.
Who exactly
Any local knowledge on this query?
So Sophie's house was been broken into and evidence to say that the bath had been used?
Changing of the locks seemed to prevent any further break-ins which would suggest that either the perpetrator's 'spare keys' no longer worked or they realised it was to risky to continue to 'break in' via the porch window.
It seems the purpose of the break-in was to use the facilities (not to mention snoop). So was it ever confirmed if any of the neighbours did not have their own bath and if so was it operational at the time?
Lastly, did the Gardai ever indicate why they initially thought it was a hit and run and how they eliminated that line of enquiry? Only car on the scene was allowed to be used later that day for a trip to the dump etc so It couldn't have been ruled out that quickly?
It was discussed earlier in the thread - I think it happened several years before the murder though, so hard to see it tying into it?
Also the article mentions a window left open, it may not necessarily have been changing the keys that stopped whoever it was, but ensuring they were closed.
There was talk of a local hobo who would use holiday homes when owners away & of alcohol being taken from drinks cabinets in holiday homes.
Was the 'Hobo''s fingerprints or DNA taken, I wonder? Indeed it may not be connected to the murder but who knows.
Yeah good question, haven't read anything one way or another about that.
I did read something to the effect the Garda spoke to him or looked into it and were satisfied he wasn't involved but don't know why. You'd even wonder if his prints would already be on their databases for other reasons.
I've never bought that Hobo link to Sophie's house or vicinity. Having worked with similar in the past, they tend to stick or hang around the more populated areas (i.e. towns) which also have an abundance of holiday homes (Schull for example has many).
So I can't see a Hobo going that far off the beaten track most likely on foot (It's some trek) and taking a chance that the very few holiday homes out that way are vacated. Seems all too convenient for me but then again that's just my opinion.
who cares about his opinion? I have my opinion of his contributions too.. Only my opinion
I wasn't talking to you?
Seriously.
Scooby, don't engage fullstop.
If you argue with a fool onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
You're quite right.
Back to Alfie getting busted for weed, this southern star article from June 94 is interesting. He wasn't charged because the warrant wasn't executed properly. It's only local rumour I think that Sophie was the anonymous source, but it seems certainly possible.
I think the general consensus was that Alfie was breaking in, or at least sophie thought it was him?
I don't think it was proven or anything
There appears to be a silence around Alfie when there is any information that portrays him as anything other than an easy going type, something like Jim out of "Taxi". It's just that maybe a lot of people have no experience of the raging finger-pointing paranoia that surrounds most movers and shakers in the smoke world.
No silence here, I've mentioned Alfie many times. I just don't think he murdered Sophie.
I do think however that he knew more than he said, and that himself and Sophie didn't get on at all, perhaps because she reported him more than once for weed related offences?
I would most certainly put Alfie in the "connected to the murder in some way" category
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