Cold Case Review of Sophie Tuscan du Plantier murder to proceed. **Threadbans lifted - see OP**

Around Christmas time is exactly the start of foxes mating season.

I'm a foxwatcher (love them!!) and those dark frosty nights are just when I would be on the lookout.

I don't see them too often at this season - they seem to be quite private about their sexlife - but you can often hear them; foxes have an impressive range of vocalisations - screams, wails, hisses, squealing, chattering - and that distinctive alarm call which is unmistakeable once heard; like a repeating siren.

The banshee screech is likely to be a vixen calling for some male attention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blvBBdvCgN8

I think it's not so much the dna aspect but that a large chunk of the Garda theory is based on the fact that he didn't have the scratches in the pub on the Sunday night and he did have them by the Monday.

If there are statements to say he did have them on the Sunday then it would remove a big plank from their case.

And to continue with the gloves angle... it was December, he could have worn gloves and long sleeve shirt when out and about and no one would have seen the scratches. Instead, seems like zero attempt made to conceal them.

Have to say The Phoenix magazine makes some great points- it’s a huge article but worth making a cuppa for

“This only partially explains the media’s refusal to properly investigate the French woman’s murder and Garda efforts to shoehorn Bailey into the frame. More specifically, the DPP explained in its document that gardaí had issued lurid warnings to both the DPP and the local community that Ian Bailey would kill again unless arrested; that he would attack witnesses living close to him; and that these dangers could only be averted by charging Bailey with murder.

The DPP went on to say: “There has been a consistent flow of information to the media in relation to the investigation into the killing… Once Ian Bailey was believed by the public particularly in the local area to be responsible for the murder the fear thereby engendered was bound to create a climate in which witnesses became suggestible.”

https://www.thephoenix.ie/article/profile-ian-bailey/

Wow! There's so much in that article that I could highlight but this in particular struck me the most:

"Aware of their clout at a high level, the family’s lawyer, Alan Spilliaert told the Sunday Times Irish edition in 2013 that Ireland had been a beneficiary of EU financial largesse and that if we wanted a better bail-out deal then Ireland should extradite Bailey."

The mere suggestion that Ireland should hand over an innocent man.. yes, innocent! As in, not found guilty of any crime in his home country.. in exchange for a better financial bailout (essentially political blackmail), is just shocking!

Yes.

Yes, she was at Shirley's retirement BBQ a year or so before the murder. She said Bailey gatecrashed the party and spent the afternoon trying to impress her. A blow-hole, she called him.

Sophie was at her cottage at the time but she wasn't at the party. When she returned from a drive with her guest at the time Alfie pointed her out to his guests, and muttered she was a moaning pain in the ass or words to that effect. Bailey showed no interest in Sophie.

A quote from an old post of hers; The link didn't work.

...................

A bit about Alfie here;

This was a view from the kitchen window; (sometime before the murder)

What was kept in the shed?

Who owned the shed?

So she did allow its use for storage?

She wasn't in a position to; she had to allow access to the shed because it belonged to her neighbour, Mr Lyons.

Seems it was also used by a couple of others, with Lyons' permission. This meant that whenever Sophie was at the house, she might see people crossing her land to get to it.

What was the issue involved?

She may have thought that access was restricted to just Alfie, which may have been the case, I don't know what kind of agreement they had. There is no right-of-way or easment marked on the landregistry map. She wouldn't be happy with every Tom, Dick and Harry passing close to her house, that's for sure.

For what it's worth, I believe Alfie had nothing to do with the murder of Sophie. He probably had his suspicions of who did, but he kept them to himself, and who would blame him?

If Sophie was standing there cutting a slice of bread, what did she see through this window?

If it was still dark, she may have seen lights; on the little laneway or at the shed.

If it was already daylight (less likely) she might have seen a person or people going to and fro, or AT the shed..

Did whatever she saw cause her to put on boots and go out for a look-see or to tackle someone? To eject a wandering goat or horse?

There are two separate areas of Sophie's blood (apart from the actual scene by the gate). The first is the smear on the back door which appears to have been caused by someone either closing or opening the door. The second is a single drop on a small stone just inside the field gateway. Other than that there is nothing between the house and the body and no disturbance in or around the house. Either or both blood stains could have been caused by Sophie herself or by her assailant who was contaminated with her blood.

As well as the blunt-force trauma, I believe the body bore faint traces of skin abrasion from something "striated" (eg like a comb or saw)

I'm pretty sure that even the most amateur detective would have tried matching up these marks against the bread-knife!

Interesting that no bread was found in the stomach.

What would also be interesting is the contents of the rubbish bins, especially the one outside the back door, maybe @bjsc might have information on that?

From the autopsy report;

“The Neck

13. An area of diagonal abrasion on and to the left of the midline of the neck at the front, up to 3/4in. wide and 1 1/2in. long. In this abraded area there were several fine parallel linear abrasions up to nine in number. These resembled slightly the imprint of a "Doc Marten" boot but could have been inflicted by some serrated object passing across the skin of the neck. Slightly similar marks were seen on the skin above the left eyebrow and below the left cheek bone, though these looked more like the mark of a rough serrated object passing over the surface of the skin where there was bone close beneath it.”

Horrible reading it in B&W isn’t it? An awful pity the remains and the crime scene haven’t given up their secrets after 27 years

Well, not necessarily. You eat your granola, you drink your coffee, you wash up the dishes and then you go to tidy up and put away the bread that you cut but didn't eat. You glance out the window...

and you see WHAT? or who?

Something unusual, maybe; if it was a normal everyday thing you wouldn't go rushing out. But then??

But whatever bread was cut from the loaf- it looks like a half slice off the bottom to me- is nowhere to be seen.