Murder at the Cottage | Sky

The West Cork podcast said they could find no trace of him telling a friend he done a terrible thing, it was speculation based on gossip or word of mouth.

I think their exact line was something like "I heard from a friend who heard from someone in prison".

Also, do we know exactly where the bottle of wine was found?

Some interesting tidbits from an article.

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/the-complex-and-secret-private-life-of-fragile-sophie-26805384.html

Last October, Eamon Barnes claimed a garda tried to put pressure on his office in 1998 to bring a charge against Bailey. He didn't act on his concerns at the time. In an email, published here for the first time, he wrote: "I considered that any follow- up action by the office was unlikely to achieve anything useful. . . Recent reports in the media regarding the French investigation of Ms Du Plantier have caused me concern concerning it. There is now a real possibility that Bailey may be charged in France and perhaps receive a lengthy prison sentence presumably, inter alia, on evidence and conclusions provided by what I regarded at the time as having been a thoroughly flawed and prejudiced investigation, culminating in a grossly improper attempt to achieve or even force a prosecutorial decision which accorded with that prejudice."

He concluded: "I felt accordingly that as a matter of ordinary justice I was obliged to bring the matter to appropriate attention."

Detectives took Ms Hellen into Ms Du Plantier's house to see whether anything was missing or disturbed. She later told French magazine Paris Match that she noticed that a poker was missing, there were two glasses on the draining board and that two chairs were pulled in front of the radiator. This didn't necessarily mean she had company, according to one detective. Ms Du Plantier often let used glasses mount up and she could have used the second chair to put her feet up by the radiator.

It was interesting that, months after the murder, a bottle of wine was found in bushes near a laneway close to Ms Du Plantier house. It was an expensive bottle of French wine, unopened, that had lain there for some time. According to one detective, it would have cost £60 or £70 at the time. None of the local off-licences stocked it but it was for sale in airport duty-free shops.

"5) This bottle of wine, how rare was it, was it actually sold in the airport, or was it sold in Cork city?Or only in France and not in Ireland at all. Did Sophie like this particular type of wine, if she did, it would point to a killer who actually knew her"

She brought something with her from Paris airport;

1) Why was Karl Heinz not taken in for questioning? considering he lived in close proximity to the house, knew Sophie

Has this been established? According to an article quoted upthread he denied knowing her. Without that you got a guy who lived in her vicinity and committed suicide within months of her death. Enough to make him a serious suspect?

If I were Bailey's P.R. adviser i would be strongly advising him to lie low, stop doing interviews and stay off social media. He could well,if inebriated, say,write or post something self-incriminating.

Ian Bailey has asked numerous times to have the case re-opened and investigated.

He can't defend himself in an Irish Court - Because the DPP state they have no evidence to try him on.

Why should he, or any other Citizen of Ireland make their way to France to be tried for a murder they have already been convicted on.... Would you??

It's truly amazing.. The Irish courts couldn't even put Bailey on trial due to a complete lack of evidence (a basic fundamental requirement to have a trial) Yet the French can try him, condemn him and convict him for 25ys without even speaking to him...

The assumption of innocence until proven guilty by a Court of law, is an entitlement to every citizen in this Country, not a privilege!

"That was from the crime scene photos tho".

That's obvious ,

the point I was making was in response JimWallace that the wine may have come from Paris airport with her.

I know the Gardai were fixated on IB but hardly to the extent of ignoring something like the wine bottle.

Do you know where it was found by the way, other than " in a ditch by a lane near the murder scene"?

The DPP has not said there is no evidence, they said in the absence of new evidence they will not consider charging anyone. In the run up to IB's High Court action against the state the DPP tried to have their file and list of witnesses excluded from the case, it still had the potential to proceed. The DPP report that is often quoted predates several reviews and new case files submitted by the gardai so we have no idea what the current state of the investigation is here.

Karl Heinz Wolney was questioned, his statement is in the garda file. He was not known to have any connection with Sophie and if they were to arrest everyone who was alone that night within a few miles radius they would be lambasted and probably sued for wrongful arrest. Sure, with hindsight it might appear slightly suspicious that he moved home and committed suicide, but unless the gardai had a crystal ball they could not have known any of these developments in advance. He had no record of violent/sexual assaults that we know of? So, we have to ask again would it be reasonable for the gardai to demand or request a fingerprint or DNA sample from a man with no criminal history, no motive and no link to the victim?

The wine bottle and gate had to have been handled by several people, maybe dozens, before and after the crime. The only incriminating evidence was blood on the gate which turned out to be Sophie's. If someone's DNA was on the gate, that is not incriminating unless it was a mixed victim/perp sample or something like that. Nothing like that was found.

What made them focus on Bailey? People in the community reported the wounds on his hands and arms. Gardai observed the wounds directly while he was in a local shop. He acted suspiciously after the gardai noticed the wounds, walking down a side street then looking back to see if he was being followed. He was known to gardai for violently assaulting a woman. He gave two versions of what he did that weekend and omitted spending the night at a party the night prior, only correcting this after he learned the gardai had spoken to people who were with him. Several people said he told them he knew the victim. His newspaper article on the 26th said there had been no sexual assault, this was only known to the pathologist and senior detectives. The garda at the crime scene nominated him as a suspect because of his suspicious behaviour when he first arrived, he appeared to be acting like a reporter and made little effort to establish any of the facts or await any developments. He claimed to have been asked to make a delivery to Alfie Lyons three days after the murder, crossed the garda cordons and accessed the crime scene. He was able to drive directly to the crime scene after being told only the nationality of the victim. The person who gave him this information said he did not even mention that she was French.