Cold Case Review of Sophie Tuscan du Plantier murder to proceed

There is blood smears all over the rungs from top to bottom and all along Gate A, which presumably were left by Sophie as she scrambled/stumbled along the gate. Why did Sophie move from Gate B down to the Gate Post of Gate A in the first place, and then up along the gate to the briars. If she was trying to escape, she essentially turned back upon herself which doesn't really make sense.

Alternatively the gate was smeared by the perpetrator, but then why so much and all along also.

Sophie's movement seemingly looks like this (borrowing your layout):

They certainly haven't done too well on their own.

This is a picture of the pumping station taken on the night of 23rd. To the right hand side is a notch/hole in the breeze blocks. What are your thoughts as to whether this could be where the gate latch/bolt fitted.

Agree here it would certainly make the most sense from a practical standpoint for the first point of contact on the pump-house to be the latch location. In addition I don't believe the pumphouse is perpendicular in any case, it's skewed and the place where the latch is, is actually the only point at which they meet.

I presume the gardai took the top layer of blocks, and the roof of the pump-house as evidence, or else why were they removed at all. In addition I wonder why they didn't ever replace the top layer of blocks and roof, it looks much more ramshackle above. Perhaps it was just a temp fix that no one cared to upgrade again.

Looks like an ideal place to stash contraband. No absolute access to one person and fairly accessable.

There's no evidence linking Bailey to the murder scene. The story told by the Gardai is extremely unlikely and contradicts some of the physical evidence.

It’s pretty frustrating that it is taking so long for DNA results to roll in. Feels like everything has just dropped off again. No articles, no info coming from the local community about any interviews etc. Nothing really for the last few months. I just don’t know if they’re really that motivated.
Clearly nothing pointing to Bailey’s DNA showing up either.

In a case full of ridiculous complexity that leaves your head spinning, it really does start to draw you back to a simple solution. Prob 90 times out of a hundred in this type of case around the country, it's just a simple matter of happenstance. Two people in the in the right place, at the wrong time, and in a bad mood.

In the end, realistically, this is what everyone with even half of a brain expected anyway. Also it was mentioned right from the start of the cold case investigation that only if new evidence came to light, it would be shared with the public. As there hasn't there is also no official news.

And since it was the AGS which messed up the investigation from the start there isn't any real evidence left to really examine, even less a conviction in a court of law beyond reasonable doubt.

Suspects and witnesses died as well, memories fade, cross examinations aren't really an option anymore ( how can one realistically remember one single night nearly 30 years ago….?) and left over evidence has been contaminated many times with other DNA, other evidence as well as job books from the ASG disappeared, etc…. And looking at the way the AGS worked back then, the AGS is actually suspect like everyone else and that includes the Guard from Bantry, same as Bolger, Alfie, Finbarr or Bailey, or somebody from France acting on orders of the husband, or all the others, suicide or not…

Everyone favours a different story, even the media did, the book authors did, the movie makers did, but real evidence? Nobody ever had any.

MVac most likely produced not a shred of usable evidence which can be seen as beyond reasonable doubt or beyond any other form of doubt.

There is only potential for a large number of totally new leads wich can't either be proven nor varified in any way, due to the long time which elapsed.

Loads of DNA most likely by possibly anybody handling or touching that stone or anything else by even potentially anybody coming and going, opening and closing the gates, etc…. It could be anything from a mail delivery to a trades man doing some kind of service job at the pump or pumphouse every now and then.

The general public will always view the murder closly connected to Bailey. Anybody writing books or doing some movie might put that theory into doubt but again, there is no evidence.

All the others, Alfie and Shirley, Karl Heinz Wolney, Finbarr and Josie Hellens, Leo Bolger, that Guard from Bantry or a hitman from France sent or organizend by her husband could have been the murderers, same as Bailey, he could also have done it.

Some things might have been left to chance, accident or bad luck, like who really knew with certainty that Sophie was staying at her cottage, that she was alone, that the killer wasn't seen, that nothing was heard, or claimed that nothing was heard….

Some motives sound stronger than others, it's at least beyond doubt that some or many of the neighbours had brushes with the law and had some connection to drugs and that Sophie's husband Daniel benefitted the most financially from her death.

It would seem that Sophie was surrounded by people who had legal problems and financial issues and they all would have been better of, financially or otherwise, if Sophie was dead. Her being alone in a foreign country in a rather rural-remote house and no witnesses present would imply or possibly suggest that there was a chance for that crime being planned. But other than that, absolutely nothing.

It could easily have been planned or it could also easily have been a verbal argument getting out of hand, leading to the killing.

There is no proof either way and nothing is more likely or less likely.

Wellll…..the very fact that the Guards have not published any comment may, of itself, be a tiny bit suggestive that they did, in fact, find something.

For example; if the MVac testing had found absolutely nothing useful at all, zero, nada, nil, or close to that, the Guards could very easily have published a statement such as the following….(invented by me for purpose of example)

"THE ONLY DNA FOUND ON THE PUMPHOUSE STONE BELONGED TO THE PLUMBER WHO INSTALLED THE PUMP." Ruled out!

OR….(equally fictitious)

"NO DNA OF ANY KIND HAS BEEN FOUND ON THE ITEMS TESTED"

See what I mean? If nothing useful at all had been found, they might as well say so.

So the fact they they are keeping schtum may, in fact, mean that they actually did find something, or some hints or straws in the wind, which are being slowly investigated in order to be ruled out or in, one by one. A process that takes time, on a 30-yr-old cold case.

Unfortunately the majority of women who have been murdered in this country are murdered by someone they know.

Unless the DNA is from a stranger or it is DNA not expected to be left at the scene how will DNA solve this case?

I'm not sure if the M-VAC can discern whether DNA was deposited at the same time. For example in traditional methods the forensic team can usually identify if DNA is mixed up together (say skin, or blood cells mixed in with Sophie's blood), which is something only a perpetrator could deposit. If it just gets 'hits' of DNA, then they could have been deposited at different times, and therefore may not be sufficient to determine guilt.

Having said that, if the gardai were savvy, they would not disclose this to the suspect. They could arrest them, and take them in for questioning, and tell them that they have found their DNA at the scene, and then try to get a confession/admission from the suspect.

In any case, much still to be determined from the DNA testing, as I said I'm not sure if we'll hear much about it, but you would think that the testing should almost certainly be completed, and a report issued by this point.