"West Cork" on audible about Sophie Toscan du Plantier

[WiseOwlOne]

I'm listening to this free series on audible now. It's fascinating. He was convicted in France in absentia because Ireland cannot extradite a British citizen to France I think.

How did he know where to go, the day his friend (another journalist) tipped him off about the story, the other journalist thought it was a foreign woman. It wasnt confirmed she was French until 14.00 and by 14.20 IB was at her house in his professional capacity as a journalist and his partner was there with her camera. So he went there on a hunch? How did he know for certain where to go? He thought nobody would doubt a (fake) posh British journalist.

It is a fascinating case.

Bailey is a violent narcissist but without any physical evidence, it would be completely wrong to convict him.

I feel sorry for Sophie’s family who still visit every summer but remain convinced it was a shitty cover up by the Garda.

I've seen the netflix episodes and I read a Guardian article about this yesterday. Underneath the article in the comments section there were several local people saying that IB was innocent and that the police had not just bungled but deliberately messed up the case. I do believe they were genuine locals as they had Irish names. They said the murderer is someone else who is now dead.

I find IB to be a deeply weird and unpleasant person and he is also violent. But there isn't enough evidence to say for sure that he did it.

@Briset A friend of mine has spent a lot of time in that area over the past 30 years or so. She also says that local people think he is innocent

@WiseOwlOne
You said this was free?
I presume you mean it was free if you did the months free trial of Audible?

I enjoyed the Netflix series and listened to Audible podcast subsequently. Have to say, I loved Tante Madeleine with her premonitions 😂 She was soooo French. As a French person I feel I can say that non-insultingly!

Agree that the couple who made the podcast, they seemed to get too close to Bailey.

I disagree on the hires hitman theory. It seems so very odd, to go all that way and to murder with weapons of chance, and in such an obvious way, too. You'd think they'd actually try to make it look like an "accident", if it were planned.

Bailey is a creep, but yeah... Hard to say. For sure the Gardaí fucked up the investigation royally.

The "confessions" I actually found compelling. Although it seems such a ridiculous risk, I can actually believe that he is such a narcissist that he couldn't help but boast to somebody. It was too much for nobody to know what he was capable of. So it came out when he was pissed and loose-tongued... Or with someone who he felt no one would believe, like a kid.

If Ian Bailey confessed to the murder to the police I'm not sure many people would necessarily believe him ... unless he was to produce a murder weapon like the missing hatchet.

My grandad was a Garda Sergeant not to far from Schull. Retired back in the 1950s. Then you didn't have to be Hercule Poirot to solve a crime in West Cork. Local knowledge was key. Back then everyone knew your business - Valley of the Squinting Windows my nan called it. Now? Not so much. Thousands of incomers who - gasp - don't attend Mass or support GAA. They come and go at irregular intervals. Tend not to have a local pub. Are not related to locals and so on. I know the Garda screwed up. So did the pathologist? But 1996 ...Ireland still had outdated mid century police methods. A hard lesson. RIP Sophie.

IB is a violent self serving narcissist. I think he did it and the Garda fucked up.

Did anyone watch the Jim Sheridan doc? I'm more likely to think Ian Bailey had nothing to do with it after watching.

He ticks a lot of boxes though. Narcissism , Grandeur ( the poetry bollox) lack of Empathy. OK not all people with these sociopathic signs are going to kill anyone. But how many psychos can the there be in a tiny place like Schull?

@Abhannmor

He ticks a lot of boxes though. Narcissism , Grandeur ( the poetry bollox) lack of Empathy. OK not all people with these sociopathic signs are going to kill anyone. But how many psychos can the there be in a tiny place like Schull?

1. Her husband... He didn't even come over at the time when she died and he certainly didn't mourn her for very long.
2. Her ex lover Bruno.. He had previously tried to strangle her in Paris - this is documented.
3. There was a German man living a mile away from her house in Schull - he had previously been violent to an ex girlfriend.. He left the country and committed suicide a few months later.
4. A blue car was seen speeding in the area very early that morning - the driver never came forward to rule themselves out of the investigation. A Guard was said to drive that particular make of car and was said to a be a violent alcoholic.
5. Someone had been accessing Sophie's house when she wasn't there - she changed the locks earlier that year because of it. This person (or persons) has never come forward to rule themselves out.
6. Marie Farrell was (apparently) out and about in Schull at 3am with an unknown male - this man never came forward to corroborate her story.

Ian Bailey may get the headlines but there's a whole lot more to this story and that's why it keeps being talked about.

I've just watched the Netflix programme on this.

Goodness what a mystery.

Her poor family.

The missing gate-that just about turned it into a farce

I think he believes he didn't, after all this time he doesn't think he did. But he might have.

Whether he did or not it doesn't matter.

I can't quite get past the losing of that gate.

@WiseOwlOne

I have binge listened this series today. I did go for a walk and tidy up and eat and do yoga and go to the loo but I just kept pressing next!

The couple that did the podcasts, I think they spent too much time with Ian Bailey and they were very careful about what they were prepared to say at the end. I think that he won them over. His partner stays with him despite all the beatings he's doled out and the two journalists who deep dived in to this topic for this podcast eventually hold back on any insights! because........... he gave them coffee, cake and charm.

He is the obvious suspect and the gardai did have evidence, but they knew they didn't have enough evidence. Such as the scratch on his forehead the da after. He was introduced to her and lied about it. He did seem to ''know'' she was the foreign woman who'd been killed before he could have had time to hear that on the news and then drive there. Not only had he attacked his partner (at least) 3 times but the way he was able to distance himself from it as he minimised it was eye-opening. He can really create a narrative. He is Richard Burton and his partner is Elizabeth Burton, fighting and making love. That's how he sees it! His partner ended up in hospital with bruises and cuts all over her face and a broken hand. Her friends bought him a one way ticket to London but he did not go.

audible 13 episodes

I've watched both the Netflix and the Jim Sheridan documentary. There certainly does seem to be a lot of evidence pointing to Bailey and he does come across as very self-agrandising, and has form for domestic violence, which may be seen as implying Cluster B personality traits. I certainly do suspect it was him! The trouble is, they couldn't get the evidence that would convict him "bang to rights"! I feel for her son and parents, they're still devastated and why wouldn't they be. And poor Sophie, her last moments must have been terrifying for her. Whoever did it is a foul, malevolent creature and I hope and pray is brought to justice before it's too late!

This crime is back in the news due to a cold case review.
I'm about 98% sure Bailey didn't do it... There is a chance he did but there are a number of other suspects (as I outlined in an earlier post).
It would be fantastic if modern methods with dna analysis could throw some light on the investigation. Any thoughts?

Not really. I was in Glengarriff and Bantry recently and Bailey was in both towns. Flogging copies of his poetry book. € 12.50. Or 25 with author's signature. Bit of a mark up there!

He looks a bit shook and was leaning heavily on a wooden staff , very Gandalf. With his keffiya and straw hat he is basically a 'brand' now. He talks - in his booming I Am A Great Poet voice - to anyone and everyone. His whole world revolves around this case and his notoriety and sense of victimhood.

But why not I guess . He's giving ppl what they want after all. At the Bantry market a hippyish Irish woman was chatting away to him. She gazed at him fondly as if he were some wise old Seanchaí.

I so hope the review turns up something for the sake of the family.

Yeah, bizzarely even if he is innocent, at this stage it's in his interest to maintain this ambiguous persona as he's making money from it and getting attention, which to him is probably more important than money.

But Bailey wrote poetry and was a 'loud presence' long before the murder - that is the sort of person he is. Should he hide himself away because a lot of people think he did it? Or should he continue to be himself?

Again, I'm no great fan of his but this case is such an interesting character one.

I'd recommend listening to Crime Analyst. The unpicking is fascinating.

@StrictlyAFemaleFemale
Can you give a very brief summary of what Crime Analyst concludes please?
Bailey guilty or not?

Points towards him being guilty by analysing his behaviour.

Certainly a lot of locals suspect him, but equally many blame him for making Schull and environs notorious with his self-aggrandising behaviour, regardless of his culpability — it’s become a macabre sideshow. I know people who travelled from the UK specifically to see him at the market and drive to the house, and when a friend went to view a neighbouring house to Sophie T du P’s which was for sale (Alfie Lyons’ place), she was an hour and a half getting back down to the main road with a virtual traffic jam of rubberneckers driving up the boreen as far as the gate.