Murder at the Cottage | Sky

That's what makes it even more unbelievable to me. It seems extremely unlikely that this French guy asked a travel agent in Galway about a B&B somewhere in West Cork and the travel agent a few hundred kilometers away was able to pinpoint the exact B&B he was asking about. So if he was looking for numbers there would be several B&Bs getting calls from a Frenchman the day the murder was discovered asking if he had stayed there and left without paying. Given all the house to house enquiries and massive media coverage, none of these B&Bs mentioned a bizarre call from a french person asking if they stayed with them the night before?

Even if the man in Galway knew exactly which B&B he stayed in in Cork, the B&B owner still had this strange situation where a frenchman left without paying and then somehow got the money to them after disappearing. I really can't see the B&B owner brushing this off and telling no one.

I think this is extremely unlikely. If Bailey knew her then it's highly implausible that nobody in town knew that he knew her - and it's even more unlikely that he wouldn't have told the world that he knew her and its even more unlikely again that she wouldn't have featured somewhere in his arduous journals

Maybe he just told Maurice Sweeney that he needed to contact them because he left without paying. If this man did just turn up hours after committing a murder its highly unlikely he would be telling the absolute truth.

Maybe he rang and threatened the B&B owners or bought their silence. Again just theorising.

Sadly I don't think Maurice Sweeney has ever specified if the man made the phone call in front of him or used a phone privately or called from a phone box.

Yes but thankfully Irish courts wouldn't try a man for murder with little evidence so the good people of boards.ie can get closure

But what if it was his only place to run? It was a 3 or 4 hour drive I think to Galway, i'd imagine its better than going into a travel agents in West Cork just after a murder of a French woman?

Perhaps he booked through Maurice Sweeney on the way over? Maybe through Sophies recommendation?

Do you think Maurice Sweeney is lying or?

I hadn't known that Marie Farrell had at some point named the passenger in her car that night.

I wonder if the details she provided had been confirmed.

The Longford guy... a Detective said he went there on her wild goose chase only to find out he was dead.

I'm not sure if there was someone in the car with MF that night, or even if she was in the spot where she said she was, but I'd be pretty certain she wasn't there with this scapegoat.

Conveniently he was dead at the time she mentioned his name so he couldnt confirm it. There was no records found of John Reilly being in Schull just before christmas 1996. It seems this is more of MF's lies. Lets face it she was probably at home in bed with her husband that night.

It's 4 hours now with the M20 and M18 motorways that weren't there in 1996. I think he probably did have someone in his office that day, was he French? Was he Dutch maybe or Belgian?

He was, but he doesn't speak himself on the podcast.

He said a man came in hours after sophies body was discovered. He never took his details but the man was 'frazzled'. He asked a question about West Cork and looked for recommendations for a hotel near the Airport.

It doesn't mention what Airport, but I think I've read before Dublin Airport.

Much has been discussed of the German man in West Cork who committed suicide, but on the West Cork podcast there was mention of a man from Marseille who lived in West Cork and also committed months after the murder.

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/film-director-is-key-sophie-du-plantier-witness-say-french-authorities-30242064.html

However, in a second police statement, which has not previously been published, Mr Carbonnet described an "odd meeting" between Ms du Plantier and a "man from Marseilles" in Schull.

Mr Carbonnet recalled: "One day, when on a visit to west Cork, we went to a restaurant in Goleen . . . There was a Frenchman at the neighbouring table and somebody called him the man from Marseilles. I cannot remember his name." He said he had a Marseilles accent and was a "Mediterranean type", with an athletic body and between 40 to 50 years of age.

He was dressed "like a gentleman farmer", he said.

"He came over to our table and introduced himself. He talked to us and asked where Sophie lived. When she told him he said he had tried to buy the same house. He asked me was I a hunting man and I said no."

He then said to Carbonnet: "But you're interested in women?"

According to Carbonnet, Sophie didn't like this remark. The man from Marseilles went on to talk about fishing and good bathing spots, and Sophie tried to find out where his house was.

"The meeting was odd," concluded Carbonnet.

A fisherman, originally from Marseilles, but who lived in West Cork, took his own life three months after Ms du Plantier's murder. It is understood that this man did not feature as a suspect in the garda's original investigation file.

Well two things would happen. Either she would remain inside and there would be a strong possibilty of the call to the gardai, or else she would come outside and confront the person. I'm of the belief the murder happened in the morning so the percieved security of it being bright out or partially bright would have played a part. Also considering what kind of person those closest to her have decribed her as there is a fair liklihood that should would have laced her boots up and came outside. Then the person could have backed down the driveway towards the gate which might have enticed Sophie to follow thinking she was gaining the upper hand due to the person fleeing. It's just a theory of course, no evidence of it, but it would explain how the boots were on, how she was down at the gate and why she was enticed out of the house. As i said previously it may even account for the wine bottle if she carried it with her as a weapon.

A 5 bar tubular steel gate ,well hung as this one appears to be, would be easy to open even for a petite person like Sophie

I know that it was reported that no useful forensic evidence was found at the time either on the body or gates or elsewhere. Was there any evidence of an attempt at a clean up i.e. use of bleach or absence of any fingerprints on used articles/surfaces?