Old thread seems to be permanently locked. It will be interesting if anything can come of this at last.
Threadbanned Posters:
I said it before, and now again.
A male, wishing to minimise blood evidence and maintain silence may have well veered towards strangulation.
The frenzied animosity of what that lady suffered, should never rule out another female, who may have considered her a "threat".
How do you for sure know it was a single 'he' responsible?
How do you know for sure they arrived on foot?
Or went there with murder in mind?
You simply don't.
This is just claims and opinions misrepresented as facts. Backwards logic.
Some people simply want to cement the idea that just because the house is remote it could only have been a local who killed her.
As you said correctly, anybody who needed to find the house would have found it. No need to ask anybody. I did with ease and luck, others would have as well. And those who were "unlucky" means they had just taken one exit too soon, but would have been lucky 2nd time trying......
Your missing the point though - anyone that NEEDED to find that house would have found it. Are you telling me a hitman, a member of the Gardai or another randomer couldn't have possibly found that house - of course they could have using directions and maps.
A person on a mission to meet with Sophie that night /morning ( for whatever purpose) would have found her house.
Google StreetView takes you to within 200 mtrs of Sophie's house and the house is clearly visible.
In fact the house was clearly labelled on Google maps as "Sophie's House" and Bailey's house was labelled as the "Prairie Cottage" up to a few of years ago, these were removed to stop the weirdos and ghouls visiting the sites. But that's immaterial as that kind of information was not available 26 years ago. The boreen up to the 3 houses is a dead end and has no road number, in fact the road it's off, the L8413, (Kealfada road) has no L road number signposted at it's Dunmanus end.
No. It never was easy to find for complete outsiders visiting the area for the first time circa 1996 and that remains the case today. Google Maps/Streetview or whatever are of no use because no images or directions exist to this day of the (very minor) road leading to the house.
Bailey was friendly with Alfie and Shirley. They may have informed him that Sophie visited the cottage alone - more often than not. Whoever killed her knew she would be alone that evening and also that the neighbours would not notice his arrival and departure and were unlikely to hear any loud activity or commotion. The killer had probably scoped the area late at night beforehand and would have been familiar with Sophie's nocturnal habits and that she still would have been awake and up at that particular time of day. He arrived and departed on foot. I don't think there's any doubt about that.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41223016.html
The headline is possibly overstated. But with his lifestyle it's not surprising he has health issues
Been following this and regd to say Bailey in hospital after heart attack. Says no deathbed confession. He says if he dies he is innocent
Strictly theoretically yes it would have been possible.
However I doubt that.
The killing was about Sophie, to stop her from doing something and if she wasn't to be "reasoned with" to stop her forever and that with certainty. Also the house isn't visible from the main road, only if you drive or walk the road in, you'll see Sophie's house at some distance, - and certainly also lights on and a car parked in the darkness. But agreed, that's an opinion and a theory, not a proven fact.
There were also no random killings in the area.
"Certain is also that the killer knew Sophie was staying at her cottage."
If you mean they knew she was there and set out to engage with her for whatever reason, that's not certain at all. It's possible they didn't know she was there until they turned up expecting the house to be empty and only realised she was home when they saw her car there and the lights on.
I see this the same way. Anyone who needed to go there could do that, even without asking any locals, not drawing any suspicions.
On top of that, none of that talk would move this case forward anyway. It doesn't prove anything.
The killer got to Sophie's house, that's certain, how he found it, how he got there, even the motive for murder is unclear, same if it was planned or unplanned. Certain is also that the killer knew Sophie was staying at her cottage.
The rest is just a number of possible theories and personal views.
I don't agree with this at all. Anyone who needed (for whatever purpose) to find Sophie's house would have absolutely found it by whatever means.
That presumed it was targeted in some way (either the house or Sophie herself) it may have been unplanned or completely random. Nothing should be ruled in or out without evidence.
I think the answer has been given below:
Only, I didn't ask anybody, used a bit of common sense, assumed a bit, added one and one together, and got lucky the first time trying. If not, I would have gotten lucky the 2nd time.
I specifically didn't want to ask anybody local, as I didn't want to cause negative feelings, like another outsider - blow in, whatever sniffing around just for curiosity reasons.
It's really not too difficult for somebody with a bit of common sense and pratical thinking and a sense of orientation. The latter is probably hard to understand for some people with no sense of orientatin as they feel lost anywhere, no matter if it's during daylight or at night.
One definition of theory in this context is that it is a formal set of ideas intended to explain why something happened. Like the theories in this case, there’s more than one definition!
" To say the rural location rules out anyone outside of the locality as the murderer is absolutely ridiculous."
No, the remoteness of the location would suggest it was someone either familiar with the area or someone given directions to the house, they could be from anywhere.
I earlier described how a friend was crap at driving getting lost on the M50. I also know other people who, havng clear directions, would still manage to turn down towards Glan and manage to do the loop of Mt Gabriel. Lots of people are just crap at navigating!
It's very simple to find the house for someone who has been told. If you're heading from Schull to Goleen you only need to take two turns.
I can only conclude that any of the investigating team who had any difficulty locating the house after the first Garda arrived on site were either not given instructions, were instructed by an idiot, were an idiot or some combination of all three.
It's quite simple really, did you have Sophie's house marked on your map, if so where did you get that information from?
What do you want with your questions? State the contrary?
I bevlieve I've written it many times before.
What on the map specifically identified Sophie's house?
I just used a map, nothing more than an oldfashioned map. I didn't ask anybody for any sort of instructions.
This just proves the level of intelligence of the local gardai if they had to call Alfie for directions!
Prior to sat navs and google maps people did manage to find their way around rural Ireland relatively easy using maps and landmarks to guide them. To say the rural location rules out anyone outside of the locality as the murderer is absolutely ridiculous.
The location was easy to find for anyone that wanted and needed to find it.
Ok, so the Gardaí on their way to the scene had to call Alfie back for more directions when they failed to find the house.
The forensics team from Dublin failed to find the house and had to use a public phone to get directions.
Dr Harbison said afterwards the house had been difficult to find.
There's one thing having a map with the house marked on it, it's another thing getting verbal instructions. Which were you using?
Nope. Try again.
The local doctor arrived about 11am and pronounced her dead, he did not record the body temperature, but stated that some of the blood appeared fresh .
Harbison was the only state pathologist, he did not even have an assistant.
Sophie rarely used the back door, in fact all her's and her guests outdoor boots etc were inside the front porch. Josie Hellen was the only one to use the back door, the track outside was a muddy path down to Alfie's shed. The Gardaí found her keys in the front door and the lock on the latch in the morning.
" the forensic collection was so bad they couldn’t even confirm what seemed obvious- it was a handprint."
This "handprint"?;
It's a smudge.
As for ;
"futile comments which do not add an iota to our knowledge of this case. "
So don't be adding mis-information yourself now.
A theory is an explanation of one or more facts. A well-supported evidence-based theory becomes acceptable until disproved.
Do you know what a theory is?
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