Cold Case Review of Sophie Tuscan du Plantier murder to proceed. **Threadbans lifted - see OP**

Nobody gets up in mid winter and pulls on a pair of lace up boots without first putting on some socks, unless it was in haste. This wouldn`t in itself rule out an 8 or 9 AM time of death but it does rule out the stomach contents as being specifically a breakfast meal. If your plan was to get up and amble about and have some breakfast, then you`d put on some socks.

That would be a high risk strategy - checking to see if there were potential witnesses and risk being apprehended. The killer knew Sophie was alone that night.

The killer was either local to know, or if not was informed ( possibly via the husband ) that Sophie was alone that night. The killer might also have known that the Richardsons weren't there as well, maybe via a casual question by the husband on the phone on the matter or state of the neighbourhood.

Guessing that the murder took place in darkness or semi darkness, I doubt the act of killing would have been seen, not from a distance to Alfie and Shirley's house. There are no street lamps as well.

Do we know if it is the killer who removed the block and that it was done the night of the incident?

Alternatively, someone else could have done it beforehand as, fot example, they needed something to prop open the gate. Block may have already been on the ground in the vicinity the night of the murder.

The DPP cherry picks his way through the evidence to try to undermine the Garda case. Why accept Jules`s version of the breakfast time (9 AM), but not Bailey`s (11 AM) and yet be happy to accept Bailey`s timelines when they were contradicted by multiple witnesses? You couldn`t make it up. Then he comes up with a scenario to undermine, that basically sees Bailey returning to the scene to take photos before 9 AM. What a load of nonsense.

Does the Netflix doc include his sworn statement too?

How can you make an assessment of whether someone is truthful or not, when they are concealing that what they are saying now is different to what they put down in their official sworn statement as a Garda officer.

The boots she was wearing had integrated boot toppers. So no actual socks but the make up of the boots could give the impression of socks until they were removed.

Later in the report, once he had removed the boots in Cork, he says;

"These were indeed boots with a coarse woven sock like material integrally sewn into the neck of the boot and not true socks "

Going back to the DNA testing. The DNA profile of an unknown male was detected on one of her boots and a large number of briar cuttings were taken at the time. Some were tested but only Sohpies blood/DNA was found. Were the other cuttings tested since are they still in existance?

No; the autopsy report describes the uterus as normal; and as a forensic pathologist he definitely would have looked for signs of pregnancy, and would certainly have mentioned such if it were found.

No, she certainly was not pregnant. It has been speculated a lot, but there is absolutely no evidence for this.

If she was expecting to meet somebody in Ireland, why ask somebody from France to go along with her? I don't think she would have asked, if she wanted to meet somebody in Ireland in a dicreet way.

Otherwise you're correct about the trip just before Christmas. However there could have been a simple reason, like a very busy week or months ahead in her job just after Christmas. It could also have been that she wanted to be somewhere she liked so desperately, somewhere nice, and that was her cottage.

No. Not Pregnant just that she was looking for a companion but none were willing to come at that time.

Sure, if she went into a pub in Schull, then anyone who frequented that pub might have seen her there, obviously.

Can we suspect them all of murdering her on the strength of that?

Not necessarily. Did he clarify when Sophie would be in?

Weekend of the murder Sophie visited the Courtyard late afternoon / early evening for tea and scone iirc. Bailey seems more sort to arrive for the night until closing.

Certainly there were a few different pubs in Goleen, Schull etc. and Sophie seemed to travel the area quite a bit too, she frequented Crookhaven etc. but I don't think there was a huge range of options, of places to go. I'd say it was more a case that even though she wasn't there frequently, when she was there they perhaps visited some of the same locations, shops, pubs etc. perhaps even at around the same time. Bailey though seemed to be more of a night owl, and Sophie more of an early bird from what I've seen.