Ian Bailey RIP - threadbans in OP

But was it a blow-in English horse, a visiting French horse, a local Irish horse or a Garda horse?

Apparently if you don't know the West Cork horse theory you have 'threadbare' knowledge of the case.

Humour is always a good move when you need to deflect.

Ah now that’s a horse of a different colour

Interesting article by a former colleague - certainly Jules appears to be now pushing the “Garda killer” story - it’s as good as any an explanation

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13028923/There-disquieting-eccentric-old-colleague-Ian-Bailey-believe-battered-beautiful-socialite-Sophie-Toscan-du-Plantier-death-dont-think-writes-DAVID-JONES.html

God your after turning very bitter all of a sudden. I guess all that time and effort you put into investigating non existant boundary disputes is wasted now that it`s clear the cold case gang are only looking in one direction. Leo and Alfie makes two witnesses telling the same story. Conspiracies all over the place.

All those hours and hours of Gardaí discussing the case, not knowing they were being recorded. Frankly, I`m surprised that`s all they came up with. If only every murder investigation was subject to such scrutiny.

I`ve only done WCP once, but I did take a few notes on points of interest along the way. The documentaries too. They all provide a level of access to witnesses that the DPP didn`t have. Dunno why you`ve put quotations around "files" because I don`t have any. So the Baily ship has sailed then. Right so.

Watching Part 2 of the netflix doc homing in on the suspect. Detective Dwyer does not come across well. Comes across as an idiot. I think Bailey's accusations about the Gardai who questioned him are plausible. Of course Dwyer is going to refute them. The fact that he was English may also have added ire to the attitude of the Gardai. Bailey comes across to me as fairly normal. Yes he was clearly not well liked in Schull and we now know was found guilty of domestic violence so clearly no saint.

Not sure I believe his explanations about the injuries to his hand and neck. That being said the woman who said she saw him at Culfadda bridge is a confirmed liar. Logically he would have had no cause to be in that area as it took him further from his house had he started out at Sophie's.

Thought the Gardai in general came across terribly.

One item that got under my skin was when the Garda (can't remember his name) held an impromptu press conference outside the Garda Station to announce Bailey's release. He said something along the lines of "hurry up now and ye'll make it to the pubs before they close at 11pm" and he also said "Ye expected me to come out holding a head".

This just completely struck me as amateur hour. Like this is a murder investigation following a gruesome killing. I thought the tone was incredibly amateur and disrespectful.

Appreciate it’s The Mail so not expecting accuracy -article was more a very light touch overview - still they could have got a bit more accuracy as the implication that Bailey had a witness who placed them in the house in the middle of the night is just adding to the massive amount of cloud and mist surrounding this case.

And considering how the DPP slated the “evidence” on the “official version”, it’s even more important to have accurate information out there now - I suppose it just adds to the whole conspiracy machine of this case

Hiking across fields and rough stony ground in the complete darkness of December in rural West Cork is far more likely to result in a broken leg than a leg over.

I've listened to the West Cork podcast, I thought it was pretty good, reasonably well balanced - after listening to it, I had very little doubt that Bailey wasn't the culprit though

Yes. I thought they presented the available "evidence" (including some off the wall sttuff) and allowed the listener to make up their own mind. IMO, there's simply no credible evidence that he did it

The Press were notified before both arrests and were at the station.

What I don't understand is, if the Superintendent felt so strongly that Bailey was going to kill a witness, why wasn't he charged and brought before an emergency criminal court and let a Judge decide on Bail?

When GSOC enquired about it during their investigation, it could not be located by the Guards.

Now maybe that is what happened to it, but then why couldn't the Guards give that straight answer to GSOC?

And there are multiple other pieces of evidence that could not be traced.

It was reported to GSOC that extensive searches had been carried out by An Garda Síochána for the missing items, which include:

• A blood-spattered gate taken from close to where Madame Toscan Du Plantier’s body was found.
• A French wine bottle found four months after the murder in a field next to the scene.
• A black overcoat belonging to Ian Bailey.
• The original memo of interview of Jules Thomas following her arrest in 1997.
• An original witness statement from Marie Farrell provided on 5 March 2004.
• An original witness statement from Jules Thomas dated 19 February 1997.

https://www.thejournal.ie/grave-concern-over-missing-evidence-in-du-plantier-murder-investigation-4161933-Aug2018/