West Cork is an Audible original production. It’s a gripping true-crime podcast series, where two investigative journalists — Sam Bungey and Jennifer Forde — walk us through the unsolved murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier which occurred in West Cork, Ireland in 1996.
IRELAND’S MURDER MYSTERY OF THE CENTURY
Sophie Toscan du Plantier was a successful French television producer, who owned a holiday home in the remote town of West Cork, Ireland. She was found beaten to death with a machete and had her head crushed in with a cinderblock just steps outside her property on December 23, 1996.
Ian Bailey, a floundering, and unsuccessful local Cork journalist (with a history of domestic violence and a shady past), soon became the one and only suspect the investigation clung to. For starters, Ian was the first on the scene of the crime before police and local news leaked details of where the murder took place. When Ian arrived, he was covered with scratches and wounds, and quickly wrote up many articles about the murder, revealing details that only the police knew. As months pass, under the influence of alcohol, he also confessed several times that he killed Sophie Toscan du Plantier. But that could just be hearsay of small town gossip. Though arrested multiple times, Ian Bailey never went to trial for the murder of Mrs. Toscan du Plantier.
Marie Farrell called in from a public phone box in Cork city, using the alias Fiona, to tell them she saw a man walking around 3AM the night Sophie was murdered. This was the hottest, and only lead the investigation had. The media encouraged this mysterious woman to call in again. And Marie / “Fiona” did, and again a few weeks later to verify, again using a public phone box. For whatever reason, she called in a third time. Though this time used her home landline, which was traced back to her. She was very secretive about what exactly she was doing driving around at 3AM, and who she was driving with. She made it clear it was a man who was not her husband. This went on and on, Marie changing her story, changing the description of the man over and over until the investigation decided she was describing Ian Bailey. Years later it comes out that Marie, the key testimony in many trials later to come, never really stood on solid ground. There is something SUPER suspicious about this strange bird. Even 20+ years later she will not give up the identity of the man she was with that night.
OK, so the web has been spun for you, and now it’s up to Bungey and Forde (the producers) to untangle this sticky mess. It’s not only an interesting case because this is Irelands most notorious unsolved murder case, it’s fascinating because of how well the story is told. STORY TELLING MATTERS! I believe that any story can be constructed and beautifully crafted to truly interest any audience. Bungey and Forde did a superior job here, with West Cork.
The first thing that occurred to me was how much I was reminded of Serial for many, many reasons.
West Cork vs. Serial
- Both productions are true-crime murders that occurred in the late 1990’s.
- Both productions dive deep into whether or not prime suspect no. 1 was wrongfully accused / convicted:
- West Cork remains open and unsolved, though the one and only suspect may have been wrongfully accused and harassed by law enforcement — while on the flip side, why was this suspect never put on trial?
- Serial explores the possibility that one man may have been wrongfully convicted of murder.
- Both murders have a slew of unreliable and shady af witnesses providing skewed testimonies (which is infuriating — we want the truth!).
- Both crimes have botched police / detective work, insufficient forensic evidence, and poorly constructed timelines.
- Both crimes sparked huge controversy at the time of investigation, and are still being talked about today.
- Both productions are strung together and told in an excellent, gripping manner.
West Cork is FANTASTIC. I highly recommend you give it a go. Seriously, if you’re into true-crime, you’ll LOVE this. It also scratched that itch I had to listen to / find a Serial-ish type podcast (which is why I was so so so disappointed when Season Two was released, what a let down!).
It took about two or three episodes for me to get hooked, but once I was there, I was totally in. And now that I’ve completed the podcast, I can’t stop thinking about West Cork!
Please download it and listen to it, so I can have someone to talk to about it.