Murder at the Cottage | Sky

He should be treaded as a suspect, same as Bailey. Nick Foster wanted to sleep with Sophie that night, and though he could seduce her with a bottle of French wine. However, Sophie wasn't fooled by Foster, and the evening turned into an argument and into a killing. He should not only be brought in and questioned, he should be put on trial in France and convicted, with the same evidence as Bailey, even more, he knew how it happened.

So a late night caller decides to grab a wine bottle when the door is opened then runs off, Sophie puts her boots etc on and chases the wine snatcher as far as the gate? 🤔

I'm glad I didn't buy his book.

Well, it's hardly surprising that there have been no similar killings in the area since this notorious one in 1996. The killing of Sophie has all the hallmarks of being an unplanned, spur of the moment, crime of passion type of killing and not the work of somebody practiced in the art of killing - killing human beings, at least. So, the killer of Sophie is not somebody who feels a constant impulse to kill like a serial killer does. It's unlikely that, since that particular night, he has found himself in a situation even remotely similar to the circumstances he found himself on the night of Sophie's death. He is probably what would be regarded as a weirdo, a social outcast and pariah who has little meaningful interaction with others in what is the quite remote and sparsely populated region of West Cork where he still resides today.

I'd say, Nick Foster's motivation is only making financial gains out of this murder and draw attention to himself. He claims to know something, he may claim to have evidence but in reality he has nothing at all.

We do not know if the killing was unplanned or a pure crime of passion. It is just speculation, as all the other theories and as often stated, I tend to think it was planned, rather than unplanned, but again that's down to speculation. None of us knows, unless any of us actually did it.....

I still tend to go by motive first and foremost, as all the relevant evidence is missing:

1) Motive "financial": Her husband Daniel wants to have her our of the way, hires a hitman and manages by unknown means to keep the contract secret, avoiding a costly divorce and claiming the life insurance on her. It would be a very classic case in criminology between married couples cashing in on insurance and avoiding a divorce.

2) Motive "drugs": Sophie seen something, heard something, complained to the police, nothing was done, complained again, drew attention to herself and somebody in the drug trafficking did kill her, or was coerced to do so, - as it happens in these circles. ( Alfie, the Guard from Bantry, or somebody else in on it, or coercible for whatever reason, we do not know who )

3) Motive "sexual": Either the German musician, or that French fisherman, the often mentioned Guard from Bantry killed her on the spur of the moment as she declined their advances under the motto "If I can't have you, nobody else can". Also her former lover from France, Bruno would fall into this, he could also have hired a hitman as well. With the exception of Bruno, the motive "sexual" would have been the most likely an unplanned murder, rather than a planned one.

The interesting thing is, that none of the motives I could think of, could possibly include Bailey. Yes, he could theoretically have done it, but getting to her house possibly without a car hiking there on foot, after a night out in the pub, to see Sophie for what reason? Bailey probably had a bit of personal experience with cannabis, but wasn't trafficking, he was also in a relationship with Jules, and had no financial interest to gain in Sophie, at least none that I can see. ( Other than writing articles, but again, he could have written other articles as well...)

What I would exclude: The often mentioned bottle of French wine. We don't know if she expected a guest, or whether somebody brought it to her house. The usage of the bath tub in her absence. We don't know who used it, and why, only that the locks were changed and it stopped. I don't think it's motive for murder not even in passion. A neighbourhood dispute. We would have learned about that one by now. Questions raised to a solicitor, a planning permission not granted, other letters exchanged, or things being approved after Sophie's death, as she was no longer in the way? Nothing of that sort happened. Also the statement "The house is difficult to find" should be excluded. Anybody who wanted to get there for whatever reason would have found the place with ease, unless one has no sense of direction or can't read maps or follow whatever instructions.....

Fair question, but again, the bottle of French wine is no motive to kill somebody, nor is it the murder weapon, at least as far as I know. Also, we have no fingerprints on the bottle, we have nothing on the bottle at all and thus we can only speculate. Theoretically an argument over the bottle of French wine could have lead to murder among two drunks but in this case, I'd say it's more unlikely, but not impossible. We also don't know who brought the bottle, Sophie? or her son visiting later on? or the killer? Or how long the bottle was there, it could have been brought from France way earlier than on that trip.... And how sure can we be that the bottle was with utter certainty not available in Ireland, or in some special store in Cork?

It doesn't mean that we can't talk about it, but what I am saying is that the bottle of wine doesn't lead us to the killer or to the motive in the current situation. Things would however be pointing into a new direction, if say, a whiteness from some wine store, in let's say Cork, came forward who stated that he sold that bottle recently to one of the suspects? This would only give reason for further speculation, unless we can firmly establish who bought the bottle and when..... 25 years onwards, it would be highly unlikely that one would remember.

Certainly, it would have been traceable in some way. However the bottle of French wine proves absolutely nothing, other than it was purchased outside of Ireland and quite possibly in France but maybe in another special wine shop in Belgium, Germany, etc... . We also don't know the year of the bottle and when it was bought or how long it's been out there, it could easily have been way before the murder, or months after... Anybody could have bought it, and left it there, for whatever reason. Alfie, Shirley, the Guard from Bantry, or one the absent neighbour could have brought it as well, anybody visiting Sophie, or Sophie herself or her son coming to the cottage later on. We don't know, we have no fingerprints or other DNA on the bottle, nor can it be reliably tied to the killer.

One peculiarity I always noted in France is that French supermarkets, no matter how big, always tend to focus strongly on the regional wine. Again, that doesn't prove anything, but it could be a further indication on where it was bought, if we knew from which region the wine was actually from.

Why do you think Bailey would not have had a sexual motive in attempting to form a relationship with Sophie? I think the possibility of him having it off with this young, attractive, intelligent and unaccompanied French lady would have been the most powerful motivating factor for him,if it was him who went up there that night. He is the ultimate narcissist after all so that would be his mindset. By the way, discounting this possibility on the basis that Bailey could not have travelled from his own home to Sophie's and back on foot is ludicrous. It is not a long distance between the two. Four kilometres, I would estimate. Big, long striding Ian - even in a pissed condition - could manage that round trip in an hour and a half, no problem.

Because, I think that Bailey was in a relationship with Jules. As far as he know, he didn't cheat, so from a sexual point of view he was content with her. Also he was gaining more by being with Jules, living in her house, getting driven around in her car, etc...

Yes, theoretically, Bailey could have hiked over to Sophie's, but it would have taken at least one hour, and him having had a few drinks in the pub. 4 kilometers would have been one hour to and one hour return. Getting to Sophie killing her possibly cleaning up the crime scene and returning, no more than 3 hours, plus cleaning himself up another hour and with some coordination or planning maybe beyond the notice of Jules? It's not impossible, but whether it's likely, we all don't know.

These three motives are just a basic speculation, as none of us know. However what is known in criminology is the main motives are always financial, drug-related, or sexual and murderer and victim are known to each other in some way.

If one goes by modus operandi, then yes, agreed, but then there is also the consideration that the murderer wanted it specifically to look like a crime of passion. It's not beyond possibility.

But if we stick to the sexual motive, this makes the murder the more mysterious. First of all, we don't know how many lovers Sophie really has had outside of marriage, what was going on longer, what was just casual sex, if it happend at all, and then we can't say who would have felt offended the most, if rejected by Sophie. Sophie seemed to have had "quite a reputation when it came to the bedroom" but nobody can say, if she actually slept with that German musician, with that Fisherman from France or even with that Guard from Bantry and if she wanted to end this or not. Also regarding sex, there is always a lot of talk, but nothing is really known..... This is all a very very grey area. If it's just down to getting sexually rejected by Sophie, then the Guard from Bantry would sure be number one suspect.

The only affair outside of marriage which we can be certain off, is with Bruno Carbonnet in France, but he would have had to have done quite some planning if he travelled to Cork by himself (flight with a stopover, or even the ferry, a fake passport), killed Sophie himself and then returned, while faking some receipt for a telephone technician, - or he hired a killer or had one hired. He also knew where the house was, the layout of the rooms, etc.. he's been there often enough to give discription on how to find the place. I also find this scenario a bit unlikely but not totally impossible, Bruno wouldn't have wanted to deal with the effort, also he had no financial gain from Sophie's murder.

Does anybody know if Nick Foster is related to Shirley Foster?