NetFlix Documentary - Sophie: A Murder in West Cork

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The documentary follows the investigation of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier, a French film and TV producer who was killed while at her isolated holiday cottage in West Cork, Ireland, in 1996.

Review

Sophie: A Murder in West Cork. Netflix’s ‘poisonous propaganda’ series is gripping

I’d never heard of this appalling crime and I was riveted by the the revelations exposed by the series of three episodes. There is a prime suspect but only circumstantial evidence against him. The police have been corrupt or incompetent. A key witness retracts her statement after 10 years and storms out of a libel trial, only to lie in the witness box on her return.

There’s more, much more, but I will not divulge details.

I give it … :star: :star: :star: :star:

There is also a Sky documentary, which I have not seen:

https://www.sky.com/watch/murder-at-the-cottage

This five-part series examines the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in West Cork in 1996.

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@Omah ,sounds good, I wonder if I can get it on now.

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If you cannot - the paperback book and the Kindle version are both available on Amazon.

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Just found it, Sky crime on Now. Something for tonight.

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Have watched it all, the only thing to come out is, don’t let France judge you.

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You might come to a different conclusion if you watch the NetFlix documentary … :wink:

I might come to a different conclusion if I watch the Sky documentary … :man_shrugging:

However:

Sophie’s parents, Georges and Marguerite Bouniol, and her son, Pierre Louis, had their contributions (to the Sky documentary) removed at their request. The family said they had understood the series would be about getting justice for Ms Toscan du Plantier and that was the clear impression they were given at an introductory meeting with the production team in May 2015.

The family told Sky they could not subscribe to any view that the chief suspect in the case, Ian Bailey, and his former partner Jules Thomas were victims of “a vast police plot”, particularly after what emerged in a number of civil and criminal trials related to the case.

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oooo thanks, I’ll have a watch

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Latest development:

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Bolded bit, its all subjective imo, I don’t think they ( Bailey and Thomas ) were/ are seen as victims, the guy must enjoy the presumption of innocence particulary as there is not one iota of forensics to link him.
Omah did the Netflix mention the long black coat, its alleged in the Sky one the coat disappeared whilst it was shown from police files a black coat was seized and forensically examined.

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IIRC, the police were advised that a fire had been spotted behind Bailey’s studio - examination of the remains, in the garden, pointed to a mattress and clothes, including a dark coat.

Additionally, a witness later came forward to say that she had been a visitor to Bailey’s house before the fire report and had spotted a long dark coat being soaked in a bucket.

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The fire was also mentioned in the Sky thing, no mention of a coat soaking in a bucket.

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Did the Sky documentary mention Bailey’s multiple conversational confessions to the crime, which he dismissed as “black humour”?

… also his violence towards women, especially his partner, who was hospitalised after one of his attacks?

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Yes it did, the docu maker also picked up on the black humour. It also talked of the violence and showed the injuries to his partner, drink was the problem, but this was not mentioned in relation to the murder.

At the end it was revealed they had split up earlier this year.

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I think I may be able to obtain a copy of the Sky documentary - it will be interesting, maybe even revealing, to compare the two.

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@Omah Let us know if you do.

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I see the Netflix was a three parter, Sky could have done the same, there was some going back over the same thing to pad it out.

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I’ve signed up for NowTV and will watch the documentary later … :tv:

I’ve watched Episode 1.

Jim Sheridan is, so he says, a “storyteller” and, by heck, he knows how to to spin a yarn - the pre-title introduction alone was over 6 minutes long. Then he bangs on and on, using florid prose to “set the scene” - I struggled to maintain an interest until he got to the facts.

It seemed to me that much of the production was based on other people’s work at the time - the explicit, bloody photos were, presumably, from the police and the “Sophie” recreations were from, I think, an Irish TV “Crimewatch”-type program.

The inclusion of Bailey in the proceedings is portrayed as nominal on the day of the body’s discovery but by the 26th he had become as well-informed as the local police, although he had no contact with them - apparently, he gave reams of detailed material to a visiting Cork journalist.

In the NetFlix documentary, Bailey is shown as having a much earlier interest in proceeding on the morning of Sophie’s death.

The Sky documentary did point out that, shockingly, the state pathologist refused to travel down from Cork on the day of Sophie’s death, only arriving 24 hours later, after a freezing night when much material evidence, e.g. time of death, was lost.

I am looking forward to the next episode, when, presumably, Bailey’s movements on the night of Sophie’s death are subject to scrutiny.

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@Omah , by the end I thought this is a lesson in how to not catch a killer.

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Episode 2

More explicit photos of blood on the gate, blood and brain matter on the rock and block plus close-ups of the wounds on dead Sophie’s hands, which, apparently contained a few hairs (that was new to me).

This is when circumstantial evidence points to Bailey. He had been seen following Sophie in Schull, he had scratches on his hands and head, he was seen in the vicinity of Sophie’s house on the night of the murder and he had burned clothes items in his garden.

Bailey was arrested, but, despite lying about his movements on the night of the murder, released without charge.

No major differences to the NetFlix version.

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Episode 3

In this one, from the very beginning, Bailey, with an awful lot of f-words, portrays himself as the victim of a police conspiracy.

Some time is spent investigating the role of the long black coat, which readily identifies Bailey, because he is 6’4", probably the only male of that height in West Cork.

In the NetFlix documentary, the police claim that Bailey probably burnt it (and other evidence) in a garden fire just before Xmas. In the Sky documentary, Jules asserts that the fire was in November, maybe even in October, and that the police took away a long black coat, which is confirmed by a police officer’s statement. The coat “disappeared”.

The police submitted their circumstantial evidence to the Irish DPP for prosecution decision - it was insufficient.

In the Sky documentary, considerable time is spent talking to Jules about the appalling injuries that Bailey inflicted on her in one drunken attack (of at least three before the murder) in which he inflicted facial wounds, including a severe eye injury, a severe lip injury and a scalp injury. Bailey does not deny that he was violent when drunk and is suitably apologetic - his partner forgives him.

In 2003, Bailey sued eight newspapers for depriving him of a means to earn a living by naming him as the murder suspect. He lost his case because, among other evidence, the newspapers’ defence revealed his diaries, which were full of sexual violence towards women, the eleven “confessions” he made to people, including a 14-year-old-boy, and the assertion, from Sophie’s neighbour, that Bailey had met the murder victim. Sky covered this in greater detail than NetFlix.

The Sky documentary also pointed out that, while the French authorities steadfastly refused to let Irish police investigate leads in France, those same authorities now took an interest in prosecuting Bailey in France - this will be covered in the next episode.

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