Cold Case Review of Sophie Tuscan du Plantier murder to proceed

Returning in a blue Ford fiesta at 7.30am? The blood on the door though ? Did they return to the cottage to get something connected to them which they’d given to Sophie the previous day?

One thing which wasn't done at the time and undoubtedly should have been was fibre takings. It was best practice, at post mortem, to tape the clothing and body of the victim to capture alien hair, fibres and other debris.

Nowadays, had those tapings been taken, there would be the potential to try and extract DNA from them. It has been done, very successfully, in cases older than Sophie's.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I'm just trying to point out things that should have been done and weren't and which could potentially have identified Sophie's killer either in 1996 or today.

Not really. Th whole point of taping is to remove all loose debris before it sheds. Once you start removing the clothing and packaging it you are losing evidence. In a case like this where there has been a struggle and therefore close contact between the victim and assailant it should be standard practice.

Wasn't there a video made of Mr Bailey at the Christmas morning charity swim in Schull?

I think it was taken by someone who was home for the holidays - the Christmas morning swim being an annual highlight of the season.

I even think I've seen it; but I've tried poking around on the Internet just now and can't find it. Has anyone got a link?

This was only a day or two after the murder: and Bailey said subsequently that the recent crime was the principal topic of conversation and red hot gossip was flying round the town. Naturally enough!

Apparently he was wearing a long dark overcoat. But could his hands be seen on the video clip?

iirc from previous discussions of the video, he wasn't making any attempt to hide his hands, no gloves, no keeping them in pockets.

Yeah it’s a good point - I guess he could have got a few from the tree cutting and a few from a turkey claw - was there an original mapping drawing done at the time in the Garda station?

I think he's only sceptical if he doesn’t get the answer he wants. Which is ironic because that's what has caused so many of the problems with the murder investigation.

Thanks - hard to keep track of everything.

I’ve never wrestled a turkey so can’t comment but you’d imagine the scars would be deep nearly requiring bandages.

I’ve cut back trees through the years- depending on the tree you could get “marked” - some species of pine tree can be a bit prickly - others not so much.

Briars are a b1tch - I actually got scratched recently- you stop dead in your tracks to remove the thorns and extricate yourself from the area asap, but slowly. Obviously if you’re in a tussle with someone that’s a different story.

While I don’t believe Bailey is involved, I’ve always felt those marks are briar marks- but really we’d need proper photo evidence - drawings 20 years on or whatever could easily be made to look like briar marks - But Garda and witness testimony of briar marks from the time is strong too - if you didn’t know the specifics you’d say “briar” marks as a catch all