He died earlier from a heart attack, very curious guy whatever you think of him. If he didn’t kill Sophie Toscan du Plantier he certainly didn’t help himself by his attention seeking behaviour.
You just raised the contamination angle with a question mark at end. You have referred to the scratches though and it logically follows that there should have been DNA left behind in such a scenario. But there wasn't.
There is no creditability in any aspect of the investigation. So good luck to the review team.
The DPP were actively shittíng themselves because O'Starsky and O'Hutch had gone full rogue in West Cork.
Members of the DPP don't usually completely and utterly trash a criminal investigation line by line.
You get a brief summary, a bit more if you apply for it.
I do wonder if the Gardai obsession with pinning it on Ian Bailey left them blind to other possibilities. It seems highly unlikely now that we will ever know the truth. Bailey could have done it but again their is only circumstantial evidence and a botched Gardai prosecution attempt. Just because Bailey was physically abusive towards his partner in doesn't elevate him to being a certain candidate to have murdered Sophie.
Having watched the first part of the netflix documentary it put a face to the horror of her murder seeing her family recall events at the time of her murder. Heartbreaking. It could be argued that the international element of the crime may have put the Gardai under extra pressure to solve the case.
Quote the post where i mentioned contamination. re the scratches again i dont believe i ever mentioned anything about her scratching him. Others have mentioned the scratches potentially coming from briars.
If on foot , return journey would be 5 miles over fields, 7 miles by road, and 11 miles if you believe the Marie Farrell sighting.
4km each way.
You are better off watching Jim Sheridan's one, the family did contribute but once they found out Jim may explore other suspects they pulled out.
The Netflix one is produced by a family member of Sophies AFAIK.
Even if you a 100% convinced Bailey should have at least seen trial, the family completely shutting themselves off to the notion of another suspect is very odd.
Wilful even.
Sheridan was convinced the answers lie in France.
Ok. Does anyone think on here there is any way of progressing this case to deal conclusion...like it's definitely worrying giving the gardai are working off pretty much all the same information and are open to a new information but basically if that information isn't there we don't have anything. It truly can't be acceptable to place blame on anyone unless that real DNA proves it. It's like reliability and anything credible are completely rebuffed now on any statements given on this case. So we need new witness or ideally new statement. Is there anything else that can be examined or really if the cold case file comes out..can that put people back in frame again..or what use does it serve if some of people are deceased. I note firmer deceives in bantry also deceased.
Dectuves
Detectives* deceased
The “French Connection” was likely never explored thoroughly or even partially - I would argue that any parties of interest remained out of reach for whatever reason
Was it realistic to consider? I think certainly when a spouse dies, the family situation and partner are one of the first areas explored. The husband never coming to Ireland certainly got a lot of people thinking and indeed talking.
We’ll never know- and coupled with this case apparently never going to come to any definitive conclusion, there will always be doubt around what else or who else should have been investigated
It would have to be a new witness statement or forensic evidence - of an seriously incriminating nature, not just more flimsy circumstantial stuff. Any thing based only on the what the Guards originally had, and was rejected by the DPP and is now tainted by the GSOC and Fennelly reports - would be unsafe.
Apologies, contamination post was another poster. In relation to briars, my point stands. It would be perfectly credible that he'd left blood behind in such a situation but still not a trace of anything found. So I just can't see them being of an indication of anything unless a clear link was established.
Was she not in the process of divorcing the husband, so its not that strange he wouldn't come over.
There's about as much chance as him having anything to do with it as the Royal family bumping off Princess Diana imo.
There is no record for example of Sophie expressing fear of her husband or what he might do. She wasn't hiding in Ireland from him. The husband went through wives like most of us go through pairs of shoes and there is no evidence he wanted any of the others bumped off.
Open to being corrected on this, if anyone can produce circumstantial or hard evidence. People tend to say it was the husband who did it, but apart from a motive offer no evidence.
I don't think Bailey also ever mentioned a French connection and was more focused on a local connection, but again I am willing to stand corrected.
Ok thanks. For me that nearly is the button line then. I just can't see that evidence coming to light. Evidence of some kind maybe yes of probably the flimsy circumstial side but nothing that could blow this open substantially . Unless in France. But if France have relied on our DPP file. Could they decide to open a file or their own , it's strange they didn't consider this already given as we mentioned the French people that were living in area even when she was murdered.
I have a vague recollection that Gardai travelled to France at one point and received little assistance from French authorities. Can anyone give any further info on this or am I wide of the mark?
It looks like the poor fella had his heart broken as well.
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/ian-bailey-recently-fallen-love-31937656
I remember seeing a link of a message he put up on socail media saying he had a spare ticket if anyone was interested in buying it.
We had tickets to see Phil in the INEC the previous evening, he's a great showman, a master musician, songwriter, singer and story teller. His glamourous wife came on and sang a few songs, magical stuff altogether and there was a brilliant young Tenor from Derry, George Hutton.
There was a lovely respectful audience too, it makes all the difference.
They would need some DNA or other physical evidence. Perhaps from what they have kept as evidence? DNA testing has advanced since 1997 and is far cheaper now. They had several briar samples as well and I wonder were all samples tested or just a sample at the time?
Come to think of your post I remember reading that long time back and where french were bit different in standoff with guardai in the sense where they were sort of like this is your investigation and you need solve it and get conclusion or focus it on bailey.
most of these are a result of this thing going out over 25 years at this point.
The investigation had dead ended early 2000s, this is the important part
samples have to be stored properly for the DNA not to degrade, so only properly stored samples, the gate the coat etc all useless after 25 years
I do recall that briar samples were sent to uk or maybe can be corrected on that..but certainly advancements in this area would be so important at this stage.
Apology accepted on the first point.
On the second point, its a long thread so I don't recall mentioning anything about his arm scratches, and if I did it was probably related to scratches made by briars and very unlikely dna could be recovered from them, with Irish weather conditions. I will look back later to see if i made any mention of them.
I know I mentioned the nick on his forehead and how that might have come about, possible hatchet/poker used on him first before he took it off her.
You probably didn't if you don't think you did. I just think in general it's a very weak piece of circumstantial evidence. Getting scraped in rural Ireland is just pretty common imho.
Good point.
https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/revolutionary-new-dna-test-could-lead-gardai-to-sophies-murderer/25961783.html
2005 article
The Netflix doco is trash
Eh I wouldn’t be so quick about discounting anything and I’d certainly not like you to lead my murder investigation if it ever happens.
Bailey mentioned a French connection in 2014 and again in 2017 when fighting his extradition. In fact in 2017 I’m pretty sure he called out Sophie’s husband.
There’s been a lot written about certain French nationals in the town around the time of Sophie’s death - even as late as 2022, Gardai were following up on some French nationals and a person who spoke french - link below
- but why discount anything ? It’s not like they have a clear case 🤪
This link below would give some hope that they have expanded their search beyond just Bailey - article mentions a number of different connections to Sophie
“But it is also understood Gardai are also pursuing a connection between the tragic filmmaker and two other French men who lived in West Cork, although the men themselves are not suspects.
The pair were hiding out in the isolated rural area after receiving death threats from a French criminal gang. It is understood that Sophie had met the men while she was in Ireland and Gardai are investigating whether she was targeted because of her friendship with them.”
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/ian-bailey-claims-french-connection-4625303.amp
What about the French guy driving a rental car on false plates
I mean that sticks out a mile doesn’t it - no idea but you’d kindof hope whatever his game was, that the Gardai are confident that murder wasn’t it.
