Old thread seems to be permanently locked. It will be interesting if anything can come of this at last.
Threadbanned Posters:
I must admit, I always thought the idea of Sophie browsing in Tara fashions a strange one!
It’s not a paved area, it’s a gravel boreen with muddy verges. It’s unlikely anyone would have driven up through the gate past Shirley’s car the way it was parked. Moving the car would have compromised the scene.
Is the thread title a running joke
I pointed it out once or twice
I don’t believe she was
I don’t believe any part of Marie Farrell’s story
I don’t believe she was even out that night she went to the extreme of naming dead men as being with her
what I do believe is she’s covering for someone close to home and all of her lies are a distraction tactic
I do believe the detectives involved were too close with her and she used this to her advantage
@bjsc I don't suppose you have any statement from Dan Griffin in the files? He was Marie Farrell's landlord (now deceased) According to Marie they were both standing outside her shop chatting when they saw the man across the street and they remarked each to the other how out of place he was.
Was there really 50 suspects originally? As in, did AGS release this figure officially?
It just sounds like a rather large amount of potentially nefarious characters gathered in a relatively small location with the propensity to commit such savage violence on a young French tourist. If it was 50 individuals questioned or asked to provide a statement.. well that I can understand.
But 50 "suspects"!!
Not sure how much investigation all the 50 got... but here you go:
Gardai probing the murder of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier had more than 50 suspects at the start of the case – and Ian Bailey wasn’t one of them.
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/gardai-probing-sophie-murder-once-31977979
Actually it was more than 50..
I don't know if the Mirror is correct there, He was in the Garda jobs book as a suspect on the 27th Dec. He was number 7. I dont know how the suspects were numbered, but I suspect it was just in the order they were identified.
Cheers!
It just seems bizarre the Guards had amassed over 50 suspects within the space of a few days and Bailey "emerged as the prime suspect days after the killing".
A pity that Mirror article doesn't go on to list any other suspects apart from the 3 or 4 mentioned.
And remember we don't know how Bailey "emerged" as the prime suspect because some Guard(s) tampered with the evidence log.
Oh I certainly do have Dan Griffin's statement. Interesting reading.
Are you allowed to post it here?
Dan Griffin made his first statement on 28/12/1996. He speaks of going for a walk every day because of his arthritis. On either the Friday or Saturday he was returning from this walk and waiting to cross Ardmanagh Road at @ 15.30 when he saw "a man walking up the road away from me. He had a long black coat down almost to his ankles. He had a black beret on his head. He was walking fairly lively and I thought he was aged 35 to 40 years of age."
He then makes a further statement on 22/1/1997. In this he clarifies that the man was walking up Ardmanagh Road about 70 feet from the junction on the right hand side in the direction of Ardmanagh. He was over 6 feet tall and taking long strides.
He then goes on to say that on 12/1/97 he was "made aware of a man being in the Bunratty Inn bar. I went there and looked around but could not say if the man I saw was there. I left the Bunratty Inn and remained at the entrance to Marie Farrell's shop which is next door to my house. At about 3.30 on 12th January 1997 I saw a man walking down the Main Street of Schull. He appeared to me to be the same height and having the same long step as the man I saw on Ardmanagh Road on either 20th or 21st December 1996. He was not walking as lively as he was linking arms with a lady. When I saw him on 12th January I saw that the hair was very black and heavy which may have appeared to me a black beret when I first saw him....."
Considering the number of statements this man made, it could be argued that his account was led or suggested?
Where Sophie parked her car could have simply been an accepted account developed over 20 years? Maybe there’s a particular place most people shopping park their car? Who knows; whilst yeah it’s in the realm of a “gotcha” on first appearance it could also have been something that became “fact” through repeated accounts through the years- I mean every piece of evidence is talked to death - there’s bound to be some inaccurate accounts spoken as fact by some people at this stage
‘Several Garda sources familiar with the file on the matter have confirmed to The Irish Times that no witness had made any statement that indicated that Ms Toscan du Plantier had parked her car up Ardmanagh Road and that Mr Bailey’s podcast is the first time they had heard this information.’
https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/2023/12/23/ian-bailey-challenged-to-explain-how-he-knew-sophie-toscan-du-plantiers-movements-before-her-murder/
I believe Marie Farrell said, in the early stages, that Sophie went back down Main Street after she left the shop. I'll check.
Just reading her statements now. In the one made on 22.1. 97 she says the man went in the direction of the High Street. She makes no mention of Dan Griffin.
Sophie's first port of call in Schull I believe was the Spar supermarket at around 3pm. It would have made sense for her to park in the supermarket car park which is entered from Ardmanagh road. Although some reports say she parked in the public car park opposite the Harbour hotel at the other end of the town.
Interesting, Sophie withdrew cash from the bank on the corner of Ardmanagh road at 3:25. So Dan Griffin just missed her. So If Marie Farrell says Sophie turned right up Ardmanagh road, she must have been to the bank before she went into Marie Farrell's shop
Borrowed from Reddit'
In her 1st questionnaire Marie Farrell states that she saw Sophie in the shop and that she bought an Aran sweater. There is no date on this questionnaire but it would have been taken in the early days of the investigation. She also mentions the man in the street but gives no direction of travel.
But Marie Farrell says nothing about Ardmanagh Road until years later.
I think she said when Sophie left the shop she turned right down a side street, which would be Ardmanagh road ,could be wrong though
That comes from a statement made years later. I'll dig it out
Again, it shows just how threadbare and maybe “convoluted” this “evidence” is - it’s a brave enough move for an alcoholic, accused of murder, to go on record on a recorded podcast - a lot of room for mistakes, inadvertent things said that would only be known by the investigating team, and maybe not even known by them- so yeah- and considering I’m not particularly in the camp that believes Bailey killed Sophie, I would hazard a guess there won’t be anything in the Bailey tapes the Gardai are likely spending 1000s on getting translated into text via an app, so they can scan through them much more quickly - I’ve no doubt this has been done at this stage
Yes I agree, the Ardmanagh road bit was known since the Sheridan film aired, long before Bailey’s podcast.
Bailey just assumed that was where Sophie parked her car, just like I did earlier. An easy assumption to make if it’s what he always did himself.
But she says in the Jim Sheridan documentary she browsed but didn’t buy anything
That was the second questionnaire.
Statement dated 10.22.2006. "It was December 21st 1996, a Saturday. I was working in our knitwear shop in Main Street Schull. At 3pm I was standing at the door of the shop chatting to Dan Griffin who owned the house next door. There was an attractive petite lady browsing around the shop. I noticed a man loitering across the street. He was about 5'8" I height. He appeared to have a sallow complexion. He was dressed in a long black coat and was wearing a flat black beret. Dan Griffin commented to me that he looked like a strange character. The lady left the shop and turned and walked up Ardmanagh Road. The man across the road also walked up Ardmanagh Road behind the lady".
A man like that would stand out. Mind you Bailey was 6 4" that's an 8 inch difference. Did he slouch when he walked?
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