Old thread seems to be permanently locked. It will be interesting if anything can come of this at last.
Threadbanned Posters:
Every single account I've ever read mentions the Richardson's place as being unoccupied at the time.
I wonder if it was searched, or checked out in any detail? (It must have been!)
I would hope it was searched but havent seen this confirmed anywhere.
We know very little about the Richardsons and how often they visited. Did they even know Sophie?
The blue fiesta seen speeding away the morning of the murder - surely that can’t have been that difficult to track down? Does anyone know who saw that car?
I am not clear if the Guards ever investigated into this direction? However just on the off chance I would have looked at how many Ford Fiestas are registered in West Cork, and to whom.
It was probably tracked down and a simple valid explanation given to the Gardai about it and thus was no longer a line of enquiry.
a thought has occurred to me… what if Sophie’s murder had nothing to do with her at all?
What if we are completely on the wrong track with regard to the reasons as to why someone would murder her? Maybe there was no reason at all.
There are only three houses up this rural lane in a very isolated part of the countryside.
Sophie visited only a few times a year, she was hardly ever there, not long enough to for example ever meet Bailey let alone give him a reason to murder her, to give anyone a reason to murder her. so why was she killed?
what if was a case of wrong house, wrong person?
For example, what if she was assumed to be Shirley?
We know the murderer returned to the house for reasons for which no one here can give a satisfactory explanation, when after committing a crime like that there would be no thought in your head other than getting away as quickly as possible.
Was he expecting to find Alfie?
That's possible but unlikely. Just to examine the possibility:
As mentioned before when looking at the drugs angle, the media reported that the cold case team were investigating Sophie having met with two French men hiding out from a criminal gang.
Hello,
Is there anything in the file re: Martin O’Sullivan and his statement of what he thought was a Ford Fiesta being driven dangerously on the morning of Sophie's body being discovered?
Thank you
I don’t mean a paid assassination.
But it was Shirley who found the body. If she herself were the intended victim, wouldn't she know that someone had a murderous intention towards her? A hostile ex, a former colleague, maybe a family feud or whatever…surely she would immediately have told the Guards.
As it is, she seems to have conducted herself exactly as you would expect a horrified innocent bystander to do: shock, summon nearest help, phone the police.
She probably drove over whatever traces there may have been of tyre tracks or footprints in the lane, but nobody seems to have thought about that at the time.
It's possible somebody paid to have her "taken care of" or not. We don't know that one.
I think the murderer would have easily distinguished between Sophie and Shirley. Shirley spoke English, whilst Sophie would have spoken English with a French accent. And any encounter between the killer and the victim would hardly have been without words.
There seems to be very little out there about this which is interesting in itself.
is there any evidence of this? It seems to be a story made up by Bailey that got legs to support the Randy Garda theory
There is no real evidence that it was the "randy Guard" who killed Sophie.
It is just one of many theories.
The only indication that it was the "randy Guard" is the way the Garda coerced witnesses, or gave drugs to transients to get close to Bailey, evidence gone missing, maybe deliberately? If that was ordered from above within the police force, it could have come from the "randy Guard" who was apparently from Bantry.
The "randy Guard" from Bantry certainly would have a way stronger sexual motive than Bailey.
But all "could" and "would", - hypothetically speaking.
Some locals in Bantry seemed to think it was true.
Is there evidence? No, nothing.
Is there anything to point to the original source of reports of this car?
Nothing really.
One single person is said to have seen a blue Ford Fiesta speeding in the area. There is no license plate number known, also no idea where the car really came from, where it was going or who was behind the wheel.
Only the "randy Guard" from Bantry is known to own such a car, one owner out of many, there are / were probably lot's of Ford Fiestas registered to lot's of people in the whole area at the time.
Nothing to go on, nothing to present as evidence in court.
Very popular then. Both the then current model and the older version. I wonder which?
A red number plate so probably older model. ( or foreign)
So probably a Mk II or even Mk1. Pre 1987, a ten year old or more. Unlikely to be a Garda car even then.
That one I don't know.
I am sure there is also a story about that. A speeding car almost 30 years ago won't ever be enough evidence for a killer. The reasons for speeding could be anything as well.
I've also heard from locals in Bantry about some relative of the "randy Guard" and a death bed confession to this relative.
There is no evidence which can be verified on that one as well. Quite possible local talk, or maybe not.
The speeding car could be anything but it could be something too. By and large a lot of focus in this case seems to be on the murder taking place at night but I think there’s a strong possibility it happened in the morning. If the speeding car is linked it doesn’t fit with the investigation’s narrative of a night time murder.
Bridget are you still here? Have you come across anything about the speeding fiesta in the files?
The problem is that there are too many lose ends, and too much focus on things we all don't have any answers to:
Suppose we had definite answers to all that, it wouldn't prove anything in a court of law.
Suppose they find DNA on the cavity block or on the gates, ( suppose the gates were never lost as evidence ), suppose they can identify the DNA on Sophie's boot, it all doesn't prove who done it.
Neither the cavity block nor the gates are exclusive to anybody, as anybody could have entered, come and gone.
All the suspects and theories we have could have been the killer.
Regardless if it was the ex-husband sending someone, some lover whom she rejected, or something drug related, one story is as good or bad as the other.
The only real thing that stands out, is to what lengths the Guards went to coerce witnesses to false statements in court, collude and intimidate. The evidence in form of the Bandon garda station tapes does exist, and never an excuse why they gave drugs to transients, etc….
Further to that:
Come to think of it, what also stands out is that any physician should have been able to diagnose the time of death to narrow it down at least to around midnight or the morning. ( no need to wait for a pathologist for an approximate time )
I also disagree to the idea the killer "must have been a local" just because the house is remote or apparently "difficult to find". Anybody with any sense of directions, somebody who can follow instructions or has a map can find it. - I found it with ease not being a local.
All good points, except for maybe 1 or 2:
The "time of death" was pretty much a guess by Dr Harbison, based on the contents of the stomach and the state of rigor mortis. But he examined the body only after it had lain on the ground in mid-winter for at least 24 hours. The body temperature and degree of rigor are notoriously variable; so really, nobody could have done much better in an estimate of the time of death; and it could not have been any better than vaguely approximate. 7 am is only four hours later than 3 am! But may be the difference between recently eaten food, and a long-since-digested supper.
Secondly, you are right to say, there are no conclusive facts. But bear in mind that the police relentlessly harassed one man for years; whatever you may think of Mr Bailey as a person, it was a cruel injustice if he turns out to be innocent, as he himself always vehemently claimed. It would be good to maybe at least turn the spotlight of suspicion on to some other possible killer, if the evidence should point in that direction.
Well, I didn't mean Dr. Harbison, who travelled there from Dublin, but any local physician who would have been on the scene say 1 or 2 hours after the police arrived should have given you an definite answer as to whether we're speaking about around midnight or 6 to maybe 8 am in the morning.
Also the fact that the police harassed Bailey relentlessly and failed to look into other directions would sadly imply some police involvement and corruption regarding the murder.
Apparently they also knew they couldn't or wouldn't "pin it on anybody else" so they picked the unpopular Englishman with a drinking habit and priors of beating his partner and thought it would be easy.
There was a local doctor L O'Connor on the scene early who pronounced death. No mention in his report of taking a body temperature or Rigor mortis per BJSC.
Indeed, I was wondering if we could at least confirm a statement was actually made to the guards. That would then leave one wondering what, if anything, was done about identifying the vehicle.
In 2018 Gemma O' Doherty did this article in the Village magazine as part of her crusade on corruption within the Gardaí.
https://villagemagazine.ie/did-gardai-target-bailey-to-shield-sophies-killer-by-gemma-odoherty/
It's actually a good report from her before she want all batshit crazy.
A couple things though, she says Martin O' Sullivan made a statement to the Gardaí in the days after the murder, but the only statement by him is from 2002, a full 5 years after the murder. (I can't find a link to this now, maybe @bjsc could oblige) Of course the earlier one could be "missing".
Also,
"It was just after 7.30am as he made his way to work along the quiet road to Durrus passing a winding boreen that leads to the white-washed home of Sophie Toscan du Plantier. As he drove north towards Bantry, leaving the French filmmaker’s secluded farmhouse behind, a blue Ford shot up behind him at high speed."
"It was just after 7.30am as he made his way to work along the quiet road to Durrus passing a winding boreen that leads to the white-washed home of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
As he drove north towards Bantry, leaving the French filmmaker’s secluded farmhouse behind, a blue Ford shot up behind him at high speed."
If he was travelling from Goleen to Bantry via Durrus, he would be unlikely to pass the " winding boreen that leads to the white-washed home of Sophie Toscan du Plantier." He would more likely have followed the R591 rather than go up Kealfada.
I was always aware of this article by Gemma O'Doherty and always believed this would be one of the most likely theories.
Again, we have no prove and no evidence.
However, what we do know with utter certainty is the length the Guards went to pin things on Bailey, and to coerce and collude. One automatically asks why would the Guards be doing this? What is their motivation? Automatic answer: It was one of theirs, they needed to protect. Denial is also futile, it's all on the Bandon Garda station tapes. It's probably the only thing that is proven in this case.
Under any normal circumstances in any police investigation:
It is sadly proven beyond reasonable doubt that the Guards did all that.
Purely on that behaviour the Guards portrayed it would lead to suggest it was one of their own rather than anybody else.
If the motive of the killer being the Guard was sexual, or his complex sexual desires and his violent outbursts, or they were in it with drugs, possibly with Alfie Lyons or Leo Bulger, we don't know.
Thank you for posting that. First thing I noticed is it said blue Ford - so possibly not a fiesta after all but another type of Ford.
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