Cold Case Review of Sophie Tuscan du Plantier murder to proceed

AI is giving me contradictory answers on this. On the one hand it says that umbilical blood can clot faster than normal but that the clot structure is different. My natural expectation would be that it would be important that the cord blood would clot quickly after a birth. Anyway I am comparing the composition of what is a smallish pool of bovine blood on a rubber mat to blood on a cooling dead human body as described by witnesses. As an experiment it`s all a bit too agricultural.

I don't agree with you about much, but this is a much appreciated contribution because I really have no idea. I imagine cows blood is a very good approximation, probably even umbilical cord but I'm sure there's some differences. Rubber is probably better than most materials at keeping it somewhat stable, and it might be hard to see a colour change, but a 4 hour window looking fresh is a decent yardstick.

For me the blood being wet as noted, might be an indication of a later murder, perhaps ruling out the first few hours of the window, say the night of the 22nd, and maybe leaning it into the early morning of the 23rd, perhaps 2 a.m. or later. If anything this would increase the likelihood of Bailey as he had a pretty categorical alibi up until 2.30 or so.

Blood analysis from the photos, knowing the conditions is probably something that could still be done, I'm sure there would be some experts out there who've written PhDs on the topic. May not be enough to stand up in court and give a specific time of death, but it would be interesting to hear if an expert felt the time could be pinned down a little tighter.

It could be seen as an indication of a two-stage attack, also I would imagine that pools of blood would change differently to smears of the face etc., or blood on clothing, and additionally a very slow trickle from gravity coming out of her wounds could be possible I would think, aside from the aforementioned still alive for a period after the attack.

Which with other evidence from the autopsy would point towards a time nearer when the speeding car was seen in the area. A car that was never identified or traced at the time of the original investigation.

My point is expressed in the line you quoted. Apparently bovine blood coagulates faster than human blood. I`ll pm you the photo if you want.

The car you are referring to was seen at approximately 07.30 on the morning of 23rd December heading north on the road from Toormore to Durrus (R591). At this time it was approximately 2 miles from Toormore. As the crow flies this is not far from Sophie's house however in order to get there the driver had the choice of 2 routes. They could either have turned right at the end of the boreen leading to Sophie's house, travelled down to Kealfadda, turned left to towards Schull and then left again on to the R591 heading towards Durrus. Alternatively they could have turned left out of the boreen, right at Dunmanus East and right again onto the road which joins the R591 below the turning for Lissacha. Unfortunately as it is unclear exactly where the witness saw the vehicle we cannot say definitively whether the car came from Toormore or from one of the other minor roads which join the R591.

I think it was on a sharp / hairpin bend on the road.

Looking at a map, there's a sharp bend about two and a quarter miles (3.4km) north of Toormore, just beyond Kilhealnagul ruined church and graveyard.

That would be left - right - left from Sophie's house, about 4.3km / 8 minutes from the house and the most direct route somone would take if heading towards Durrus / Bantry.

Knowing if the car was seen north or south of the junction of the R591 and the road towards Dunmanus pier would be useful.

13th Feb 2002.

The statement about the vehicle was not made until 2002.

Yeh, pretty much, I didn't realise it was taken this much later. I had assumed it was around the time of the murder. I've been pretty dismissive of statements, mostly about Bailey of course, that were not taken contemporaneously, so would certainly give the same level of credence to something like this. Certainly not to be outright dismissed, but should be taken with a heavy grain of salt.

I put more weight on later statements when somebody took an initiative at the time, say went to the gardai but was ignored, or wrote it in a diary, or made note in some other way at the time. To just turn up 5 years later and say I remember something is difficult, and there have been many witnesses who have done similar in this case. Having said that, when cold case reviews happen, it is usually some long buried memory that can bring authentic new leads, so a cursory look is usually warranted.

The McNally review into the murder took place in 2002 As part of that officers would be tasked with reviewing all previously submitted information. So it may well be that they discovered a phone message or similar from Mr O'Sullivan and decided to interview him. Hence the 2002 date on the statement.

Also it is possible that that 2002 enquiry traced and eliminated the blue fiesta. That information would be reported to the inquiry team and duly recorded but wouldn't necessarily be made public or included in the file that was sent to France as it would be deemed to be irrelevant.