Murder at the Cottage | Sky

That's true but it cannot be definitively stated how long it has been on a surface.

"Forensically valuable DNA can be found on evidence that is decades old. However, several factors can affect the DNA left at a crime scene, including environmental factors (e.g., heat, sunlight, moisture, bacteria, and mold). Therefore, not all DNA evidence will result in a usable DNA profile. Further, just like fingerprints, DNA testing cannot tell officers when the suspect was at the crime scene or for how long."

The idea that Ian Bailey was the perpetrator is like a ghost story, no actual physical evidence but many people prepared to believe it. If I believe a house is haunted, science will never be able to prove me wrong.

The only way Bailey can be exonerated is by finding the actual killer. Highly unlikely that will happen.

I wouldn't mind if Bailey would rot in a jail somewhere, never seeing daylight in his life, if there was real evidence leading to his conviction beyond reasonable doubt. However as written before, we have nothing, not on anybody. Only theories, only speculation on what might have been more likely or not.

Judging by the brutal way and not the motive on how Sophie was killed, it was either to send a message to somebody, or extreme hate built up over quite some time, or extreme rage about something which came up in a short timeframe. The first two options would suggest a planned murder the latter one more towards something unplanned.

While opinions might differ as key evidence is missing, I find it a bit hard to believe that a man like Bailey, being out in a pub having a good time there, being in good company, only thinks about Sophie, builds up enough hate and decides to hike or one hour, kill her and hike back, and Jules not noticing anything. Theoretically it's possible, but considering what we know on how he spent the evening, this kind of scenario is hard to believe.

Of course not, it's simply that the almost automatic dismissal of the person(people) who we know was nearest the scene as a suspect has always struck me as strange. We have been told that Alfie was sick at the time but we have to consider that he might have been exaggerating this for different reasons.

I can understand why you might think that and the impression has been reinforced by the 'hilarious' story of goats eating his marijuana plants. There is a tendency to consider people who smoke dope as being laid-back and mellow but from my extensive experience there are many exceptions. I have known people who smoked morning, noon and night and were very nasty people. One in particular who committed a heinous murder on a completely innocent person.

I can speculate, reasonably, that the Guards could easily have been wrong-footed in the immediate aftermath of the murder by Alfie and Shirley's demeanour. If they had eventually begun to consider them, they would have realised how stupid they would look arresting them given that any evidence was probably long gone and this couple had a rock solid alibi.

I'd say Macron was under pressure to raise this with the Irish Government and has asked at the highest level that something be done to look at the case right from the start.

This kind of job is never to be the envy. Just wondering, are some parts of Irish society which think that the background of Drew Harris is not acceptable? From Belfast, degree from a university in England, etc... Is Garda corruption this bad currently in Ireland? I don't know.

Regarding DNA, I don't know if 25 years are enough for the evidence to go away, but I think they must have a certain amount of it, to have a decent answer. I am sure, there will have to be an update, if there is an investigation, they must say the results if there are results.

I don't think that somebody coming forward would be enough to hold up in a court of law. The judge would automatically question why it has taken so long, and how one can be sure, of the exact memory over this long period of time. It would certainly not have looked good on any decent citizen not to come forward for so long as well.

Foster wants to make money here. Sell his literary achievements on that murder. Something like that.