The Sophie Toscan du Plantier Dossier, Part 1
The main witnesses and other names to look out for in the various TV documentaries, podcasts and books.
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I first came across the killing of Sophie Toscan du Plantier by watching the Sky documentary, Murder at the Cottage. I had never heard of the case before, and never heard of its presenter and producer, Jim Sheridan. It was later followed by an unrelated documentary called Murder at the Farm, of which more in a future post. There is something unnerving about murder in a quaint, pretty, idyllic rural location and it is something to do with incongruity. But I have since made a small change to how I describe such events.
It became important to me when getting deeply involved in the Sophie case last year. Murder, you see, is simply a legal definition. And its definition changes in every country, in every legal system. In both Murder at the Cottage and Murder at the Farm, there are continuing disputes about what happened. The only witness in each case is believed to be the killer, which you can imagine is never the most reliable source of fact. And so, if there is no body, as in the cases of Suzy Lamplugh and Claudia Lawrence, there is no murder and no killing. There is “disappearance.”
In the case of Sophie, given everything I know, which is considerably more than I know about any cold case I have ever looked at, I cannot be sure that the killing was premeditated. So much of the information in the public and private domains suggests a vigorous, unprovoked and unpremeditated attack. Quite a lot points to the possibility that Sophie did not know her killer. Disagree all you like, but “murder” requires a court to decide, a conviction. Jeremy Bamber was convicted of murdering his entire family, so we can safely call those farm shootings true murders. But is that the whole story? More to follow.
Meanwhile, I have decided to release my Sophie dossier in 2 parts. For today, I include the cast of characters and a more detailed look at the main witnesses who appear in the various documentaries. Next time I will share my proudest work on the Sophie case which is the timeline I put together based on all the publicly available information. I will send that out soon. Your free download is below and is the list of witnesses and others involved in the Sophie Toscan du Plantier cold case. This list is not 100% complete. I keep finding new names and relatives and other people, but I will continue to update it. If you believe someone crucial is missing, please tell me and I will add that person.
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