Cold Case Review of Sophie Tuscan du Plantier murder to proceed. **Threadbans in OP**

The Priest who preformed the last rites on Sophie's body, Fr Denis Cashman died on Good Friday.

Saw a brief clip of him on YouTube explaining the anger at her body being left out all night..

He claimed that on the night in question he'd gotten up in the middle of night to do some work an an article. That event is obviously disputed, but the fact that he mentions this activity like it was something he did suggests that he was still working as a freelance journalist around this time, or at least trying to be one.

Given Jules Thomas' occupation of artist, I doubt she was ever particularly wealthy, herself. Maybe there was an inheritance or two to keep one or both of them afloat for a long period of time. Bailey did later claim, however, after splitting from Thomas that he'd been reduced to homelessness and living on benefits.

Anyway, Bailey just posted a link to this podcast episode on his Twitter...

The facts of the night are definitely heavily in dispute and I think both Bailey and Thomas have given differing/changing accounts of that particular span of time. Nothing to do with proving/disproving the veracity of Bailey's claim, though, just talking about how he may have been making a living at the time of Du Plantier's murder. In the podcast I linked above, Bailey mentions having done a variety of jobs after moving to West Cork, though the only one he specifically recounts is three months on farm, employed to keep birds off the seed and paid in room and board. By the time of the murders, he says he was back at the journalism and 'flying it', to use his words.

Bailey's claim of getting up in the middle of the night is repeated in the Wikipedia article about the murder. An interesting line also in the article is Jules Thomas's claim, highlighted here in bold,

So, before, going on I want to stress that the part in bold does not appear to have a cited source in the article. If Thomas really did say that, it sounds like a pretty damning bit of testimony, unless Bailey subsequently claimed that it was in the wee hours he decided to kill those turkeys or chop that tree. If Thomas said it, I'd be interested to see a link. If not, then I'd have to discount it by default.

Good point. I don't think we'll ever really know at this stage. The case against Bailey as it stands is based on testimony (some of which has plausible deniability or has been recanted/changed at least once) and circumstance, as far as I can see. There is no direct physical evidence linking Bailey to the crime. Maybe there would have been if the Gards had been more competent in their methods, we don't know, but it's water under the bridge. Unless someone can get some cold case DNA or something, it'll remain a mystery.

Excerpts from her diary were given to Michael Sheridan by the family of Sophie.

Here's an article about that

The extracts from the diary were published in a paperback, by writer Michael Sheridan, in 2004, Death in December — The Story of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20321277.html

I'd wait for any new evidence and see where it leads rather than repeat the error of looking for evidence against someone in particular and missing other potential evidence as a result.

A night out in the pub and drinking by both Ian and Jules on the one side and incompetent and corrupt Guards on the other side will probably never solve the mystery.

Suppose they find somebody's DNA somewhere, suppose it's a fire poke, or some other stone which may have been around in the open, all things that may be explained in some way or another. Anybody could have practically touched a cavity block sitting outside of a property near a gate and a pump house. I also think that if the French really wanted to prosecute Ian, they would have to have done a way better job as well. French police has no authority in Ireland, but they could have had some kind of watchful eye or even accompanied the investigation. All the French did, was insisting on a court ruling on false statements and false evidence collected by inept Guards in Ireland and Sophie's son and parents felt obliged to believe the outcome.

I think unless there is a deathbed confession we will never know.

I think the reputation of the area is negatively stigmatized ever since the murder and the poorly handled murder investigation.

To me the whole area is automatically as per my own prejudice an area of people of blow ins fleeing from a different or former life, strange characters who don't fit in anywhere else, idealist artists, dabblers in the drug business and corrupt and incompetent police.

It's nice countryside and cozy pubs, but nothing would ever motivate me to buy property there, for what it is they are overpriced anyway. The value simply isn't there.

The most realistic theory in my opinion was one stated by Bailey himself. He saw her in Spar, liked the look of her and went up to the house late at night. He was rejected and then things went wrong.

Bailey must have an abiding concern that someone in France will pay a few heavies to come over, abduct him and smuggle him to France, where he'll then presumably have to start his 25 year sentence in prison. Like what happened to Dieter Krombach.

If that was the reason, and that's a leap of faith in itself, then 'he' could have been anybody and we're still left with the problem that there isn't the evidence to identify let alone prove who 'he' is.

Some trek to make in the middle of the night, after a skinful, without knowing how it would go as well.

I think it's far more realistic than any other theory out there. Yes, it's been passed off as him joking but admitting crimes like this is something we've seen with previous convicted murderers. As well as appearing at the scene of the crime afterwards to try to stay up to date on where the investigation is going.

But we don't know his full history. We only know of the recent history at the time with Jules. And that was violent. How much do we know of his history in England? What he may have done that noone else has a clue about? It would be strange to discount the most realistic theory based on very little.