Murder at the Cottage | Sky

This is are all good points which gave me the opinion that Shirley knew a lot more than she admitted.

Alfie and Shirley not hearing any noises at night, is something which bothered me also a lot, but I always tried to explain it that the killer may have hit Sophie with a rock totally unexpected from behind. She never knew what was coming and most likely trusted the killer and knew him well.

Also, did the police never investigate Alfie for growing drugs on his land? Did they know about this? Or where do we have that information from that Alfie was growing drugs on his land? They arrested that farmer Bolger but never Alfie? Why?

Sophie's blood was found on the gates as well as near the door handle of the door to her house. So if she was injured there, but died on the side of the road, how did she get there? And not be screaming for her life? Or was the blood stain near the door handle caused by the killer, as he was full of blood, trying to maybe wash it off in the sink in Sophie's house? And if the killer did wash his hands in the sink of Sophie's house, he probably had a good look around, looking for diaries, maybe wiping his fingerprints off somehow?

Lot's of questions here.....

I believe it was in the report of Garda Gerard Prendeville, who conducted the initial interview with AL.

One of them would have been blank.

Edited to add;

I suppose it could contain future appointments.

Just wondering what would happen to Ian Bailey if he decided to return to the UK? Would he be arrested and then extradited to France? ( given the fact that the UK left the EU now) Innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt also applies to the UK law, as far as I know or the Irish law is more or less based on the UK system at least from a historic perspective.

Diaries war written to keep track of important experiences. Noticing drug activity in the area would probably have been noted in there. Thus the killer would have to made sure, they were gone, thus he must have been inside her house, possibly have known her ways of doing/hiding things? It's at least another theory.

Could it have been Sophie who may have wanted a divorce instead of her husband? And possibly considering meeting a divorce lawyer in Ireland? Probably not? Divorce wasn't legal in Ireland back then yet? or maybe it was?

June 1996.

I doubt that as well.

The thing is, we all know way to little of the motive.

It's entirely possible that if Sophie would have filed for divorce in another country other than France, that she would have gotten more out of the divorce.

The UK seems to be such a country, for instance, where it's more "lucrative" to get a divorce, if more money can be gained. However I am not a divorce expert.

The circumstances of the marriage and the possible divorce plus the existing life insurance Daniel had on his wife are certainly a very very good motive for murder.

This also makes me wonder, if the life insurance was also to be paid, not only in the case of death by natural causes, but also in the case of murder? And if it was paid at all, wouldn't the insurance like to see some evidence? Insurance companies do have their own investigators as far as I know.

Logically thinking..

Among the whole cast of suspects (and they are indeed a rare bunch..), one must put the Hubby at the top of the list.

Why?

He was having an affair at the time of Sophie's death, a young piece of fluff by all accounts..

Sophie was being rogered outside the marriage as well. This could have caused immense embarrassment to the high rolling, powerful film maker? Was she becoming troublesome to him, was he getting tired of her indiscretions?

On the last night before Sophie was murdered, the Husband rang his Wife at around 11.30pm. The call lasted around half an hour, with one exception. The Husband hung up on Sophie for six minutes before re-dialling her number. This was the last phone call Sophie would ever receive.

What did the Husband do in them six minutes? Did he confirm Sophie was at the cottage alone? Did he pass that on to someone with bad intent? All speculation of course..

The Husband didn't fly to Ireland with the family to identify Sophie - Very odd behavior.

The Husband gets the piece of fluff in the family way and marries her (not the antics of a heart broken, grieving widower)

And finally, to top it off.. He boots Sophie's Son out of the house. (No love lost there ...)

Would the Gards not be better off looking at the Husband before Ian Bailey??

If the diaries existed, they would be a real game changer. The obvious conclusion being that they contained information about Sophie's troubled life, and who the main agitators were..

The problem is, we have no evidence at all, and that together with unreliable and clearly lying witnesses like Marie Farrell, other possible witnesses who passed away by now, general memories fading, corrupt and / or incompetent police officers etc... it's even unlikely that any kind of serious retrial is an option to either clear Bailey or convict Bailey beyond reasonable doubt.

That is unless there is new evidence, like maybe the find blood stained clothes belonging to Bailey with Sophie's DNA all over, in some plastic bag conserved, and buried behind the Studio, etc....

Other than that, we can only speculate on the motives to the murder. Regarding motive, Bailey would come in last in terms of ranking when it comes to any form of financial benefit to Sophie's death. Taking a hike at night to Sophie's house, killing her, hiking back, and hiding and later burning his clothes, and that all, after a night out in the pub, would technically make it possible for Bailey to do it, but the motive for that is more than unclear, there isn't even a financial benefit to him nor is there a shred of evidence backing up this theory.

Number one motives ( no evidence as well ) would still be either :

• drugs, Sophie seen or heard something, somebody felt threatened and murdered her or pressured somebody who was in it as well to murder her....
• the avenging lover ( the Guard from Bantry , the German musician) the husband or ex-lover in France hiring a hitman, cheating on marriage, avoiding a costly divorce, cashing in on the mentioned life insurance upon Sophie's death....

Other than motive there's nothing really to go on other than speculation and unanswered questions.

Ultimately, it's down to the police to gather and present the evidence, to the judge. If there is no evidence there is nothing to convict anybody, thus the killer walks free.....