Nearly 26 years since the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier at her holiday home in West Cork, there are still roads along which gardaí can catch the killer – or identify the culprit if the person is dead.
the latter is claimed by Ian Bailey who has been arrested twice, convicted of murder in France in 2019 and sentenced in absentia to 25 years in prison, although he has always denied any involvement.
The following are eight approaches that are open to investigators when a cold-case review is announced:
1.DNA
Advances in DNA over the past quarter century have been astounding, and even small amounts can lead to full genetic sequencing of the person involved.
Sophie’s killer swung a concrete block and a large stone at her skull as she fought for her life. Traces of blood on a five-bar gate (later disposed of with the family’s permission) were insufficient for identification when investigated in 1997, but were outside the splash zone, indicating that the gate was touched by the killer. .
There was also a smear of Sophie’s blood on the back door of the Toormore holiday home after the killer returned to their footsteps and closed it from the outside. Flakes were retained in both cases.
Meanwhile, a relatively new technique can now ‘hoover’ blood / DNA traces from the recesses of rocks and porous raw materials.
Sophie’s killer is thought to have suffered blood or tissue loss, albeit to a small extent, due to her fightback – as evidenced by her fingernail damage and bruising on her arms.
In 1996, hair found in the deceased woman’s grip offers the prospect of identifying her killer, as hair is a DNA repository. Unfortunately, the bunch that was tested turned out to be from Sophie’s own head.
2. Missing pieces of the jigsaw
A small red ax was missing in Sophie’s house, probably picked up by her as a precaution when she opened her back door after midnight.
She could have used it to inflict an injury on her attacker, and then dropped it in panic before fleeing – a scenario that could have brought the killer back to the back door to take it off the ground for disposal elsewhere. .
Apparently nothing else was missing in the house until April 1997 brought the extraordinary discovery of a full wine bottle in a field that had apparently been thrown away.
It was not sold in Ireland, but in French duty-free shops, indicating that Sophie had transferred it. She was known for keeping wine at the back door.
Another two months earlier, an identified man had claimed that a bottle of wine was missing in the house.
How did he know when the gardaí did not know it?
Meanwhile, branded shoes that are usually worn daily by a male suspect have also disappeared. Coincidentally or not, gardaí got metal eyes for boot laces from the ashes of a bonfire. There were dubious allegations at the time of a man being seen “what his boots were” in a stream near the scene.
3. Bloody clothes, bath and bleach
Confirmation is the key to signing many claims in the 4,000-page Garda file.
In some cases, it appears that small pieces of individuals’ statements cross-reference each other – such as the sale of bleach on Christmas Eve (an unusual festive requirement), along with items allegedly seen in the presence of bleach, although again this may be mere coincidence .
The Garda screening investigation suggests that the investigation did not even tie some clues, much less strengthened them through further investigation. A woman separately claims that there were dark clothes soaking in a bath.
Later, in interview material, she refers to a ‘bath’ – which leads to an alleged contradiction between bath and bucket. However, she has been living in the US for many years, where bathing is a synonym for bathing.
Meanwhile, as the Irish independent exclusively revealed, an elderly man came forward separately last year to sensationally claim to gardaí that a woman confessed to him in 2001 that she had helped handle a man’s bloodied clothes.
The plaintiff was not named, but a woman subsequently denied his account, saying she “barely knew” the man. Gardaí has received apparent confirmation here – but that could ultimately be a matter for the DOV’s judgment, long before any jury trial.
4.Preview
This is a very loaded area, but it may be that allegations of “impossible” prior knowledge can be further established in what would amount to circumstance, weight-of-probability evidence.
It appears that a man after the crime confidentially claimed that Sophie was not sexually assaulted.
In fact, gardaí did not know it then and waited for the result of laboratory tests that only came after that and which confirmed that there was no sexual assault.
Other areas of the post-mortem also appear to have been known by an individual when the investigators themselves did not know – a broken finger, for example, and an injury to the back of Sophie’s head that was possibly the first blow. brought her down as she fled down the field to the gate at the end of her driveway.
5. Neighborhood Watch
Neighbors can always sniff the wind, then and now.
An example is the case of a blind woman living nearby, who suffered from insomnia that night.
At one point, a coughing car squeaked at her home. The blind woman, whether or not she amplified other senses, associated the engine noise with a car she knew was driven by a neighbor.
This woman is now dead, but a remarkable number of Sophie’s neighbors remain alive, albeit poorly.
Several gave new explanations to gardaí
in recent months, some
confirm original statements and add new details.
Several sounds were heard that night, including screams, which at the time apparently came from foxes, but which indicate a time frame.
Similarly, movements have been reported by individuals who are intertwined, contradicting answers given by certain others.
Car movement is considered particularly crucial, as senior officers (most now retired) believe a car was used (and sometimes parked) the night Sophie died, as well as the morning after.
6. Short meetings
Did Sophie know her killer? There is growing evidence that she did this – after all, she opened her back door to the person.
“Twice-arrested suspect, Ian Bailey relies on his ignorance of Sophie and insists he was never introduced to her, even though a now-deceased neighbor for a Cork libel case said he was” 90pc sure “that he did.
Whether Mr Bailey met her or not, gardaí is convinced of previous interaction between Sophie and her killer, with special focus on an arts festival in Cape Clear last summer when Sophie was seen talking to a man.
At least one individual has identified this man, but corroboration and video or photos are the key again.
Four hours are missing in Sophie’s last day alive. Her rental car traced the passenger seat to its maximum size, as if a tall man could be present – while a garage man claims that a man was with Sophie when he bought fuel, although there are likely to be problems with this bill. .
Work was also underway to determine whether Sophie had been contacted by telephone from Ireland in Paris, as was allegedly told to her aunt, and whether anyone in front of her own housekeeper had known that she would be coming to Ireland that Christmas.
Meanwhile, a man in Ireland at that time was talking about Indian mysticism, and Sophie was writing at the same time about her awakened interest in Kali, Hindu goddess of death.
7. Self-incrimination
Much has been made of several alleged confessions, and suspect Ian Bailey has admitted that, in frustration at being wrongly linked to the crime, he sometimes resorted to black humor, suggesting he may have committed the murder. to have a story to write about. He did not think anyone would take him seriously.
However, there is at least one more required admission, until recently not recorded. It is said that a man gave details of the murder before saying, “I will go down for mental health, like that man in Sligo.”
Years earlier, in 1988, John Gallagher had murdered his girlfriend, Anne Gillespie, 22 years old like him, as well as her mother of the same name, after she discovered she was planning to break up with him.
The double murder took place in the park of Sligo General Hospital.
Gallagher was tried for murder and found insane.
He later escaped from Central Spiritual Hospital, and is now free. Gardaí believes eccentricities were played out at the time and had many versions of strange activities – along with drug abuse.
There is also incriminating writing from the period, which may contribute to a circumstantial case for an accused’s alleged guilt.
8. Persons released from previous obligation
Death came, not only for Sophie, but for some gardaí, witnesses and suspects, including Sophie’s ex-husband Daniel, while one-time lover of Sophie, artist Bruno Carbonnet, survives.
Mr Bailey, once a thriving journalist, says he believes Sophie’s killer died while a dozen new informants emerged, who had never spoken before.
Gardaí believes death or departure can sometimes loosen the tongue of a surviving spouse who lived around Toormore.
Circumstances change, even where death did not occur.
Friends can fall out, and doubt can intrude. Gardai are known to be extremely eager to provide immunity in exchange for assistance and have recently explored legal mechanisms for this.