Cold Case Review of Sophie Tuscan du Plantier murder to proceed

The Guards seemed to lose interest in anything they couldn't link to Bailey.

Just like the boot print found at the scene.

The French didn't disclose in their kangaroo court trial that they had tested the item and it didn't match to Bailey. Utterly dishonest conduct and a stain on the French judicial system.

I think that you're spot on.

The more I study the case, the more it seems to me that the Gardai, for whatever reason, prematurely decided that Bailey was the killer. Subsequently, they relentlessly pursued any scrap of evidence that could possibly implicate him and ignored anything that pointed to his innocence. Confirmation bias seems to have been at the heart of the shambles that this investigation became. And the more their assumptions were challenged the more they dug their heels in as it became increasingly difficult for them to admit that they had got it wrong.

The same incompetent refusal to question their beliefs was apparent in the apalling treatment of Joanne Hayes.

I think what also was an influence was anti-English sentiment in rural Ireland which was still stronger in the mid 90ies, further strengthened by Bailey's difficult personality. And the rest was the lack of police training resulting in incompetence and focusing more and more on something which will never ever end in results.

I think we’ve heard enough over the years to say - “a bit from column a and a bit from column b

Could be trying to cover up the incompetence eg Harbinson delay... high profile foreign victim... desperate to get 'a result'. Cant let it be seen that someone could get away with such a murder. Getting the actual culprit not a priority. Tunnel vision on Bailey. They thought they could get a confession with their shenanigans and heavy handed tactics and threats.

"For whatever reason"

I kind of come at it from the other way, I think the gardai had whittled down the list rapidly (due to pressure) and erroneously ruled out the real killer. By the time they got through a dozen or so suspects, they were left with Bailey and a diminishing number of alternatives (Leo Bolger for e.g.). Meanwhile the real killer was never put in the frame again, and any evidence that may have pointed to them was ignored. Bailey was essentially the best of a bad (incorrect) bunch of candidates.

Agree with everything else too.

Yes, I can see the logic in that theory too.

As far as I can see, the evidence for the attack happening in the morning (in daylight) is compelling.

Phil Mathers on Reddit, has made a very strong case for this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MurderAtTheCottage/comments/vml384/was_sophie_killed_in_the_morning/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

And this is important, because if she was attacked sometime shortly after 8am, that virtually rules Bailey out.

"the incompetence eg Harbinson delay"

Whatever about the general incompetence of the Gardai investigation.. which became much more evident as time passed.. I find it shocking that there was not more of an outcry at the time re Harbinsons delay in attending the murder scene. Am I correct in believing the reason given was he received news of the crime on the day of his birthday (or the day after his birthday and he'd been celebrating the night before) and didn't want to drive from Dublin to Cork!?

If that was the reason given, it's more than just incompetent, it's downright callous! Leaving a murder victim exposed to the elements for ~24 hours because you're recovering from a hangover!

Were his superiors accepting of this excuse? Could he not have been provided with a driver? Or ideally a helicopter! I assume there was no assistant state pathologist. Did Sophies family and the French authorities kick up a fuss at this extreme lack of professionalism?

It's a shame bjsc doesn't post here anymore. As she was in a similar profession, it would be interesting to hear her take on this.

In fairness to Mr Harbison I dont think he is to blame. He was the only state pathologist in the country at the time which was the problem - so thats the governments fault. Mr Harbison was entitled to time off and a life of his own. Unfortunately this murder happened when Mr Harbison had personal plans. It was not feasible that he could be available 24 hrs per day every day of the year.

When you have investigators who are incompetent, or inexperienced they will be very skittish about what to do. This is why forensics exist. You might search a house, but ripping up floorboards is very destructive, and also in the back of your mind you might be thinking that you may inadvertently contaminate, or even undermine an investigation, cause evidence to be struck out etc. I'm not trying to justify it, just pointing out that doing things the right way, by protocol with a competent team, is there for a reason.

When it comes to Sophie's case I think that the inexperienced team members on the scene in that first half day or so, directed the proceedings towards a limited unlikely and limited pool of suspects and poisoned the well for the more competent investigators that came over the following days imo. If you are an investigator and you turn up on the scene, and one of your colleagues hands over a list list of people who have to be investigated, you're likely just going to start following those leads, if the murderer had already been struck off the list, you probably wouldn't bat an eyelid for a while, especially once you are rounding on what is considered the prime suspect, and pending DNA etc. Once the DNA came back as negative for Bailey, I expect many of those investigators were flabbergasted, but the horse had long bolted by then.

While the bureaucratic powers that be of the time have an awful lot to answer for.. not least allocating one state pathologist for the entire country.. the position is not a typical public sector 9 ~ 5 job. Thankfully murder scenarios are not an every day occurrence but when they do occur the state pathologist should be available 24/7. I'd expect it to be part of the job description. If the alternative is to allow a victim to be unceremoniously exposed to the elements for an unnecessary amount of time and thus resulting in time of death unable to be ascertained, that is a terrible reflection on the states professional and compassionate abilities.

Regardless of professional responsibilities, on a basic human level Sophie should not have been allowed to reside where she lay for that extended period of time. If Harbison did request Sophies remains to be removed to CUH and that instruction from the states highest medical professional was ignored, someone needs to be held accountable for that decision.

It's so frustrating that all this occurred merely ~30 years ago and these issues have not been resolved much less even addressed.

I would say (and I think what the poster likely meant) is that the state pathologists office should be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, as murders can happen at any time of course. It doesn't necessarily have to be the same individual the whole time. In addition there should be forensics experts dispersed throughout the country so they can be located relatively close to be able to determine facts on the ground as soon as possible as well as time of death etc. I would imagine this is the case today, but I'm not sure of the distribution etc. tbh. especially on peninsulas and islands etc.