Murder at the Cottage | Sky

Wasn't Alfie arrested years later for growing drugs or was that just Leo?

Do foxes normally cry out at this time of year or is it just a mating thing at a certain time of year? I'd imagine anyone hearing a noise like that in the remote countryside would automatically think fox rather than 'woman screaming in fear of her life'. Is it possible someone Sophie screaming?

I know it's said that Alfie was too frail at the time of the murder to kneed dough let alone lift a block so would I be right in saying Shirley was the one who lifted the block when either of them needed to keep the gate open?

I suppose they'd only have to open it when Sophie was around, as she was the only one who closed it, it seems

I don't know what block was used to kill Sophie, the block I shoved over to hold that gate open was about 3/4 of a single concrete block, if you know what I mean. Just shoved it along, and shoved it back.

Actually, day of Shirley's party the gate was closed and Sophie wasn't there.

I think it was a case of Alfie couldn't be bothered closing the gate when he was going out so left it open. Depending on the weather when he got home he might or might not close the gate. Remember Alfie was in and out everyday and not feeling physically great. Sophie was there occasionally.

I admit I would have done the same as Alfie. If it was raining and I was popping to Scull I'd say f the gate.

If you are going to case doubt please at least get your facts right.

The party was the very end of August - I did say Shirley was a teacher in the UK, their summer holidays don't start until July. I made my notes in Jan. 5 months. BTW, there were other people involved in that conversation about Sophie's house. Not one remembers IB acknowledging he knew or or being particularly interested in talking about her.

But sure I can't be believed yet we can have pages and pages of discussion on 'someone read that someone remembered this and told someone else 20 years later' and 'I read somewhere that I'm not going to mention that this person said this thing and this other person got arrested for jam smuggling'. Not to mention the 'my auntie lives in the next townland and although she was never at either Alfie's or Sophie's says it's not that hard to find. Especially after details of how to get there have been discussed for decades.'

That may well have been that block that held the gate open at the time Bannasidhe was there.

But the block used in the attack was a full sized 17 ins block;

Which, by the way had no mortar attached.

This is the pump house that the block supposedly came from;

The block taken from this corner took the mortar with it ,

notice the clean face of the blocks underneath .

If the block that was used in the attack came from the pumphouse at that time it meant the attacker walked back up to the pumphouse

lifted the felt roof and timber frame from the walls, removed the block which was cemented into the wall and returned to continue the assault.

Why do that with all the loose blocks and rocks around?

I'd say the block had a size that even a man couldn't have hit somebody effectively by only using one hand. I'd suggest the killer must have used both hands to hold the block and use it "effectively". By that time Sophie must have either been unconscious or somebody else was holding her down?

Is it known if the block is from that site? Are there similar blocks in the area? If no, than it's possible the killer brought the block along with him.

If something significant happened now and it related to something seemingly insignificant at the time, that happened 3 months ago, that I might be asked to recall, a little time spent thinking back and making notes would help.

Like I said, if a few more potential witnesses did the same, maybe we would not be here now.

I think it's preposterous to think the killer brought the block with them. Why would they? It can't be used as the primary weapon, too big and cumbersome. So they would have to have planned to subdue/knock out/kill the person with another weapon and then have planned to use the block to deal the final blow. That just doesn't make any sense at all.

There were lots of blocks and bits of blocks in the immediate vicinity of the murder, the block came from there somewhere. I suspect that it may have even been on top of the felt/timber roof of the pump house, being used as a weight to keep it in place. Hence why it had no mortar on it.

Someone posted a couple a pages back... seemed to be moderate wind, dry, not frosty. Neither one thing nor the other.

"For the record the weather for Cork that night was temp 3-4C, wind speed 20 to 25 mph and from the East/N East not a gale."

tagged: weather_duplantier

Yes, the block that was used in the murder was a solid block, whereas the blocks used in the construction of the pumphouse were cavity blocks. But you can see bits of solid blocks behind the gate in the crime scene photo a few posts back. So there were some solid blocks around.

Like I said, I suspect the "weapon" block may have been sitting on top of the pump house. It appears to have had no mortar or moss on it so it wasn't lying in a ditch. It's hard to say where exactly it came from with so few pictures of the scene at the time available. But I'd be certain the block wasn't brought to the scene from elsewhere, I just can't think of any reason why someone would choose to bring a block.