Murder at the Cottage

[MrsPelligrinoPetrichor]

Documentary on Sky Crime, I think it is 5 episodes.

Omg it was so good ( if a programme about a murder can ever be 'good')

I can't remember anything about this in the news at the time so I was watching it with fresh eyes.

I started watching it, DH came in to get a coffee, sat down and he was hooked too which is rare.

Anyone else seen it?

Well said DoorAjar. It is actually quite a unique place and different to other parts of remote rural Ireland - as I mentioned earlier I know people born and brought up there who have 100% English accents. I winced a couple of times at some of the documentary makers - the West Cork podcast solemnly explained that the locals there had a name for the English hippies : "blow-ins" - but you could be a blow-in from two parishes down, it's a very common expression!

That's the impression I have @DoorAjar I don't know that area myself being a poor Dubliner with no second home, but it seems very clear that he's far from the only English person in the area. I can believe that he only remembers being asked to leave a place and loses all recollection of drunkenly heckling the band or whatever came right before he was asked to leave..

They talk about blow-ins in the UK too don't they? That explanation for an American audience.

I read the Sunday Independent every week but I think it is scraping the bottom of the barrel to interview a drunk person.. Sinead says he was fine to start with but got drunker and drunker as it went on. He is an alchololic - It was irresponsible of her to continue the 'interview'.

@Sailorsgirl44

I read the Sunday Independent every week but I think it is scraping the bottom of the barrel to interview a drunk person.. Sinead says he was fine to start with but got drunker and drunker as it went on. He is an alchololic - It was irresponsible of her to continue the 'interview'.

I don't disagree, but I think he was drunk for a considerable amounts of the monologuing footage in the Jim Sheridan documentary, too, though -- all those scenes where he's in his 'shed' in the garden, even when there's no visible drink present, his over-deliberate, slightly slurred speech and body-language suggests he's sunk a fair amount in the middle of the day, and he was responding to questions in those bits of footage.

And I can't remember whether it was the JS one or the Netflix one that had the scenes at Jules's birthday party where he's blind drunk and roaring along with the singer and trying all the wine bottles, and the one where he's watching TV footage of the trial with her? Those are less key in that he's not actually responding to questions, but I'm not sure he's sober a lot.

I can't read the SOC article as it's behind a paywall -- did it say anything of interest? The beginning, which is all I can see, suggests her take is that he's, like her, the worst possible advocate for himself, and that his alcoholism and general unpleasantness has made it easy for him to be painted as a murderer for 25 years, which isn't new or in any way controversial...

Maybe because it’s a couple of years ago but I don’t remember the West Cork podcast giving much of an indication of him being an alcoholic. I had no idea before watching the JS documentary. It’s odd I felt the West Cork presenters gave him an easy ride and I wasn’t sympathetic but after the JS one I did feel sorry for him.

I don't think there was anything 'new' in the SOC interview... I think she squandered a great opportunity to talk to him. Surely they could have gone for a walk or something? Somewhere alcohol wasn't readily available. And she stormed off like a child at the end of it.. Very unprofessional.
And yes, JS showed Bailey drunk a lot too. I agree - I don't remember him being so drunk in the podcast. He is an alcoholic. And it seems wrong to record him when he is in that state.

I've watched both series & I'm half way through Nick Fosters book.
I'm not convinced IB did it even though he's thoroughly unlikeable.
Local / Irish posters- there's mention of a German musician living 1 mile away who was supposed to be having an affair with STduP & he had no alibi that night. He passed her house on the way home from a gig in Schull. He also had a history of domestic violence towards his estranged wife & committee suicide in the Feb after the killing. Do any of you have any thoughts on his potential involvement?
It's strange how he's been glossed over too I think

www.buzz.ie/news/irish-news/sophie-west-cork-murder-suspects-24364066

The German man is mentioned in this article... Its strange that he is glossed over as a suspect.

Thanks @Sailorsgirl44 I read something v similar to that report. And I've also seem it referenced that in the 2001 DPP report it states that the German man was having an affair with her.
I've read the entire file linked here but saw no reference
Is there another DPP file? I've googled but can't find anything
It seems so very strange to me how this is not a bigger thing.....

I am not saying she did it, but I think Jules knows more than she is saying. Like a pp I am a fan of progammes studying body language ect. In the last episode of MATC she said 'He did not kill that woman'. She didn't mention Sophies' name. This is considered to be distancing language, which is often used by suspects.

@Fernticket true but the same could also be said for a situation where 'that woman' has in effect ruined her life if she knows the allegations are not true. It's not obviously the victims fault but after years of accusations it would wear you down. There are names in my life I find it difficult to say, not because I've committed a crime against them but because they have hurt me. I don't think it's enough on it's own to suspect Jules.

Exactly @AppleJane I believe Jules when she says that she believes his innocence. There is no doubt about that (IMO). So from her point of view, yes I can understand why she would refer to Sophie as “that woman” .
I notice Ian often refers to Sophie as ‘Madame Toscan Du Plantier’ . I think he is cleverly and intentionally calling her that to appear respectful of her

I found that YouTube body language expert panel posted earlier fascinating.

I wonder how they selected the 4 or 5 clips?

I am interested in his alibi. He said he got up at 2am to write an article at the kitchen table and then went out down to the studio to finish it a couple of hours later.

He said he had a deadline for the next day - so we know if he said where this article was filed or published? Did he make the deadline.

That Twitter link is v unpleasant. His leery objectification of women. He also seems quite manic. Was it only recently set up?

Also in the podcasts I think that they ref some of his very early diary entries about his problematic relationship with alcohol. If he has been hard drinking for so many decades he is likely now very cognitively impaired.

Not sure if anyone saw a news piece recently where police have accessed the Ancestry DNA data bases that people all round the world proactively add their DNA to and have managed to identify cold case serial killers from matches that random members of their extended family had put up. I really hope that there is some DNA and that Sophie’s family get some peace.

@Sssloou
I hope the Irish police use the Ancestry site to find the killer of the baby found in Caherciveen.

@LadyEloise I have just looked up that case - unbelievably vile, shocking, inhumane.

@Sssloou and that's just the police.

@CaroleFuckingBaskin

I have just finished watching. Excellent.

One question that keeps niggling. The elderly parents were waiting on news when they heard a woman's body had been found. Am I right that they phoned her husband with their concerns and he said not to worry because he had spoken to her only an hour ago?? This was well after the body had been found.

I'm wondering if it was the husband who sent someone to kill her...

This stuck out to me too! This makes absolutely no sense

Just watched this, watched the Netflix one a few weeks ago. God I dont know what to think. I'm Irish and have always assumed IB was guilty. That was always the general view. Now having seen the blatant cock up the Gardai made I don't know what to think. Their refusal to consider any other suspects is negligent.

The mention of a German suspect is very interesting. If there was someone she was in a relationship with so much more would make sense. It seems like such a personal attack and an impulsive one given that the murder weapons were items lying on the ground. It would explain why she left the house with no sign of a fight. He stayed the night, next morning she walked him out, maybe to close the gate after him. They argued at the gate. Would also maybe explain why the neighbours heard nothing. In the still of the night you would hear screaming but in the morning maybe not, if your busy , kitchen noise making breakfast, maybe in the shower. I cant figure out the blood on the door though.

A suspect known to her makes so much more sense.

@Tootshoots I agree. A far more plausible explanation. And I think the German suspect committed suicide not long after. I would have liked that angle to have been explored more.

Maybe if the argument began as someone was leaving, the blood on the door could have come from Sophie reaching out to steady herself after an initial blow. Perhaps she started to run down the hill after that. Or someone had to return to the cottage to get car keys.

I don't think he did it.
We're friendly though so I probably know a bit more about the case.
Alfie and Leo ran a sophisticated drug operation together, and Sophie had gone to the Garda about it... Except the Gardaí were complicit, receiving backhanders for turning a blind eye amongst other things. The Garda who's car was likely seen speeding away from near the scene at 7.30 am was involved in the drug operation...
So...
You work the rest out.

Another point: Jules had two ex husbands. The first is called Michael Oliver. He did time for attacking none other than Bill Fuller (who made various claims against IB) with a knife cos he was sleeping with his ex. The second ex is a paedophile and was sentenced to 6 years, his offences were after the murder. These are the 2 fathers of Jules daughters

Wow she has THE WORST taste in men

@NeuroMam

I don't think he did it. We're friendly though so I probably know a bit more about the case. Alfie and Leo ran a sophisticated drug operation together, and Sophie had gone to the Garda about it... Except the Gardaí were complicit, receiving backhanders for turning a blind eye amongst other things. The Garda who's car was likely seen speeding away from near the scene at 7.30 am was involved in the drug operation... So... You work the rest out.

Wow, I haven't heard that information before. I have no idea why the Gardai were so fixed on IB as the murderer considering there are more plausible suspects, with proper motives. Makes you wonder if there were backhanders involved in the drug operation.

Sophie's son gave an interview on the Late Late Show last night. It's a powerful, emotive interview. It must be horrible for him not knowing what happened to his mother, and why. Although him and his family withdrew permission for their interviews to be in the Jim Sheridan programme, he did reference it (along with the Netflix programme) when talking about renewed interest in the case. Apparently, Macron said dyring his recent
visit to Ireland that IB could be given a new trial if he was willing to go to France.