Murder at the Cottage | Sky

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117898603#Comment_117898603

This kind of drug trafficking has always been an unsaid problem in SW Ireland. I'd also say that in the 90ies and early 2000s the Irish authorities were totally unequipped to deal with this kind of issue. The Irish navy had limited capabilities compared to the Royal Navy. I am also not clear whether the Royal Navy would have offered some kind of help, because in the end the Irish drug trafficking issue would ultimately have become a UK issue. I would also largely believe that drug trafficking is now way better under control and policing has gotten a lot stricter. I also never understood how much fishing trawlers and fishermen were in it back then as well, taking on some extra baggage at sea, while unloading inconspicuously in some harbour in the SW of Ireland. Such an operation could only have continued with a certainty of impunity if a couple of local Gards were "paid off" to turn a blind eye to that.

I don't think that Sophie found out something because she had either a brief relationship or some kind of one night stand with that mentioned Gard from Bantry. I think Sophie would most likely have found out something on one of her hikes into the remote countryside and then later on confronted somebody she knew and thought he might be professionally interested in this matter. Little did she know that he was also in on it.

mamboozle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117898838#Comment_117898838

I never got the feeling that, given the circles she moved in, she would be bothered confronting people about drugs.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117898884#Comment_117898884

From what I've heard Sophie had concerns regarding drug trafficking in the area.

The rest is only speculation, one possible theory of what may have happened.

tibruit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117898586#Comment_117898586

It probably was investigated properly at the time. How do you know it wasn`t? Nobody is arguing about hubcaps. The rubbish you have come out with today is a classic example of how something takes legs and becomes a tale that never happened. We have an apparently lost statement about a blue Fiesta spotted somewhere on the morning of the murder.

The bould Garda hating Gemma comes along......ah yeah....Garda car.....the lothario in Bandon...etc

There is absolutely no evidence for any of this but now it is circulating.

The Garda dies. Paddy says to Mick...."Yer man below in Bandon is dead. I wonder did he confess to killing the French woman on his deathbed?"

Mick says to Tom..."I heard that guard confessed to killing yer one from France before he died"

Tom to Mary......"He did it alright....sure he confessed"

Eventually we end up with you coming on here implying that Sophie was driving around with a Garda a couple of hours after she got off the plane. If you had any basic knowledge of the case at all you would know it couldn`t be true.

Thompsonette has a "reliable friend" who says the Guard confessed. I won`t be holding my breath.

DivilsAdvocate

We don't know if she confronted Alfie Lyons or Leo Bolger or not but Ian Bailey has said that she complained to the guards about it.

Whether the guards were in on the drug growing or smuggling is not known and it might be a little farfetched, but I don't think it's farfetched to think Lyons or Bolger could have been tipped off about Sophies complaint.

Add that to the fact that Leo Bolger was trying to buy Sophie's house or land before she bought it and I'd be surprised if they werent considered suspects.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117898984#Comment_117898984

Er no, I never said that.

tibruit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117899004#Comment_117899004

Well something along those lines. It goes all the way back to the housekeeper in Bandon apparently.

mamboozle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117898986#Comment_117898986

One would think that if someone makes a complaint to the Guards about somebody growing/dealing drugs and is later found dead that there is a fairly obvious lead. But Alfie never seems to have been a suspect, so maybe there was never a complaint.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117899015#Comment_117899015

Does it? Sounds like you know more than me!

I know Gemma O’Doherty has fully gone off the rails, but her piece was published in The Village, right? A publication like that is not allowed to just publish someone’s notions, they have fact checkers etc. I’m not sure they would allow Gemma to insinuate these things unless they were satisfied that she could back her claims up to some degree.

tibruit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117899050#Comment_117899050

If I have misrepresented you or mistaken you for somebody else, then I take it back. Somebody said it on here several days ago. I thought it was you.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117899067#Comment_117899067

Can't remember tbh, don't think I mentioned her housekeeper. There's been a lot of talk last few days, hard to keep up

Also, some food for thought. Leo Bolger served in the British army in Northern Ireland. Many of them were really nasty pieces of work. A lot of them committed terrible crimes.

Between him and the potential guard (which of course is just a rumour, but how could there be evidence to back it up if the guards failed to investigate it??) you have two people who are of interest at least... a lot of murderers in the US for example turn out to be cops or former cops. Case in point, the Golden State Killer.

before anyone comes at me, I know Ireland is not America. We have enough to be going on with when it comes to our own history of corrupt Gardai, war crime-committing British soldiers, ex paramilitaries etc etc. It’s just something to think about.

DivilsAdvocate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117899023#Comment_117899023

Ian Bailey would have more knowledge of the case than all of this group combined you would imagine, considering he has the Irish and French police files.

So if there was a complaint made, then you'd have to ask how come Leo Bolger wasn't charged for growing 150K worth of weed until over 10 years later.

Could his charge coincide with when Bailey first found out Sophie complained about drug growing or dealing to the guards? Who knows.

DivilsAdvocate

Interesting to note and something I was never aware of is that the judge in Ian Baileys libel trial was the same judge who presided over Leo Bolgers criminal trial

Curious_Case

Random points --

Skid marks? a car skidding to a halt or wheel spinning away could be taken as an attempt to intimidate?

A car skidding to a halt could also be taken as an angry approach or a desperate attempt to *intervene in time?

*Could a "white knight" have arrived too late and subsequently sped away? (did someone become aware that Sophie was being/about to be "frightened off" from causing complications to "supply lines". Could an assailant have left the area by small boat?

Surely a guilty perpetrator would "creep" away to avoid attracting attention?

Furthermore, a party's presence at the scene does not necessarily imply guilt of murder.

jimwallace197

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117899110#Comment_117899110

Haha! Really, I didn't know that, the same judge that left him off with a suspended sentence where he should have been looking at ten years in prison, using the excuse that its hard to make a life in west cork as a reason for his lenient sentence. Yah nothing fishy about that at all, no wonder he was keen to help the gards and falsely implicate Bailey. God, the more you look into this case, the more corrupt it gets, there's no end to it.

DivilsAdvocate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117899136#Comment_117899136

I'm not sure how many circuit court judges there would have been in Cork though, maybe someone else on here would be more knowledgeable.

marieholmfan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117899136#Comment_117899136

Same judge that presided over the libel trial presided over the miscarriage of justice action.

DivilsAdvocate

Nick Foster not even hiding his bias anymore.

"I'm working hard at a couple of new leads that point one way only"

No ****.

jimwallace197

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117899225#Comment_117899225

Yep, its the same one, Judge Patrick J Moran.

Bolger pleaded guilty to the offence, which carried a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life imprisonment. However, the prosecuting garda informed the judge that the defendant had been assisting them with another case (The Bailey Case). To the consternation of the court and the defence team, Bolger was given a suspended sentence as the sympathetic judge stated he was “perhaps trying to survive in the magnificent peninsula of Dunmanus Bay”.

Now, some posters on here are continually quoting this judge & using excerpts from that trial. For me, this judge has now lost any credibility when it comes to Bailey, that's an absolutely disgraceful decision. Same posters here dismissing the DPP report while simultaneously saying we should be taking this judge seriously when it comes to Bailey, don't make me laugh.

Massive Berevement

How is it no forensic evidence was found in her house if someone had been using her bath? They didn't even clean up after themselves hense the reason it was discovered.

DivilsAdvocate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117899291#Comment_117899291

I read an article recently that had a passing comment that Ian Baileys DNA didn't match up to the DNA in the house, it was in the Daily Mirror so not the best source.

Does anyone know if there was DNA found in the house but it just didn't match Baileys? Or was there just no DNA bar Sophies?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117899245#Comment_117899245

He's such an ass.

Massive Berevement

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117899245#Comment_117899245

Moonies looking well

jimwallace197

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117899245#Comment_117899245

How on earth anyone can listen or trust what that snake in the grass says about anything, I'll never know.

This is the same guy who befriended Bailey just so he could get information out of him to then go on & write a book on him, condemning him.

Jim Sheridan completely exposed him for what he was on Blindboys podcast, a two faced liar.

New leads?? Im sure, the only decent information he's ever managed to get about this case was from Bailey himself.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117899291#Comment_117899291

My understanding was this had been happening prior to Sophie's Christmas 1996 visit? Presumably she had cleaned and used the bath herself in the interim, no reason for a big forensic investigation at that stage.

DivilsAdvocate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117899376#Comment_117899376

He lost a lot of credibility to me when he was on Pat Kennys radio show and refused to accept that Bailey could have been using black humour.

He thinks it's more likely Bailey would confess to a 14 year old than Bailey using black humour.

MrMischief

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117895143#Comment_117895143

All of that would also suggest that she was murdered some time after breakfast (bed made, breakfast had (stomach contents and loaf of bread out) and no house lights were on).

drumm23

I think early morning remains more likely.

Again, the primary thing pointing at middle of night is Marie Farrell imagining that she was there at 3AM and just happened upon the only murderer ever to walk that road in a hundred years.

Whereas there is some "evidence" that actually aligns better with morning time of death: the wet blood, the muesli in her stomach, no alcohol and going out without a coat.