Death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier

[erobitha]

Was man B the one whom the Irish police allegedly paid in drugs and money to get information out of Bailey while they were in a cell together?

https://www.southernstar.ie/news/a-s...murder-4233025

You are mixing up two different witnesses. The one referenced in this article 'Man B' was imprisoned for the rape of his own daughter. So yes, his credibility is questionable. The wine bottle does exist and the police have it. Man B definitely did share a cell with Bailey and the two struck up a friendship. The witness paid in "drugs and money" was a local man.

I have said throughout that Police ineptness led to Bailey being a free man, but there really was no wide-ranging conspiracy to 'fit him up'. It's a story he loves to spin when the pressure comes back on him. I believe Jim Sheridan has fallen for the "little guy versus the state" narrative Bailey has constructed. It has appeal to certain liberal media types who feel they are the last barriers of defence against human injustice. It's an honourable viewpoint, but the facts are this:

• Bailey knew she was French before Eddie Cassidy knew
• Bailey knew she was not sexually assaulted before such details were made public
• Bailey often visited Alfie Lyons to buy weed, and knew of Sophie having met her the previous summer at nearby festival and having been introduced by Alfie Lyons when Bailey was doing work in his garden
• Bailey had cuts on his arms and head the day after her murder but not before as seen by witnesses
• Bailey was missing from his bed with Jules Thomas in the early hours of the morning in question. His excuse was he was writing an article that had a tight deadline. We never did get to know for which paper this was for or what was the deadline
• Bailey had been charged for physical assault against Jules Thomas and was known to have been physically abusive to her when drunk on numerous occasions
• He confessed on three separate occasions when drunk and each time blamed it on "irony"

Still not enough for a safe conviction on the above alone, but there are no other suspects right now or even then that have come even close to Bailey. As I have said, advancements in DNA technology may finally get the closure Sophie's family deserve.

[MrBarnett]

Thanks, E., thats a useful summary, but there’s not a lot of substance there. Given the complete incompetence of the police, you have to wonder how reliable any DNA evidence might be. Where has this bottle been for 25 years? It’s quite telling that they lost the farm gate smeared with blood but retained a bottle without considering that it might hold DNA evidence until now.

Incompetence doesn’t really cover it. As you say, Bailey left Thomas in bed in the small hours, but because Sophie’s body wasn’t examined for 24 hours, the time of death is unknown.

And when we hear of the police paying a criminal in drugs to get information from Bailey and consider Marie Farrell’s motivation for changing her mind, the possibility of the police having reached the conclusion that Bailey was guilty before having real evidence against him and fitting him up has to be real.

I wasn’t aware there were three drunken confessions. I’ll have to watch the films again and do some googling. This really is a fascinating case.

[MrBarnett]

Things are moving:

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/news/sophie-toscan-du-plantier-death-probe-moves-to-fresh-witness-interviews-amid-suggestions-gardai-may-revive-immunity-provisions-in-the-case-41560292.html

[MrBarnett]

According to the Irish Independent:

The Gardaí have always regarded the murder as a live investigation, despite Mr Bailey repeatedly writing to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, to demand a cold case review that he hopes would clear his name.


And yet the Independent and various other media have also frequently used the term ‘cold case’. So what point were they trying to make?

[Pcdunn]

Hmm. Sounds to me as if the Irish police don't consider this case all that "cold"??