He Sees Sophie Everywhere

May 14, 2021·53 min·3 clips

French forensic scientists found an unknown male DNA profile on a swab from Sophie's left boot — and no official in France or Ireland will confirm whether anyone ever checked whose DNA it was.

A voice addresses Ireland. The speaker remembers first arriving there at eight, being fifteen when Sophie was killed, and insisting that Sophie is a victim rather than a ghost. That thought gives the episode its footing. The hosts then move to Paris, where the French trial begins after charges, appeals, and blocked extradition. The setup is strange from the start. An Englishman is being tried in a French court for a murder in Ireland, while Ian Bailey is not in the room. His absence changes the feel of the week. The old pull toward Bailey eases a little, and Sophie comes closer to the center of her own story. Then the testimony gets messy. A disputed account involving a fourteen-year-old and Bailey's car raises basic questions about what was asked, where it happened, and who was there. Tess is troubled by the practical gaps: why a child was questioned, and why the mother who knew the story was not treated as more central. Billy Fuller adds another jolt. He tells the court about drinking with Bailey, being accused by Bailey of killing Sophie, and hearing details that sounded to him like self-incrimination. Outside, on the stairway, Fuller tells reporters he believed the exchange was some kind of confession. It lands hard, but it does not settle cleanly. Fuller had made other claims too, including one about a big stick near the beach that the guards later disproved. Even after that, he struggles to let it go. The episode ends in that uncomfortable space, where pressure, suspicion, and closeness can bend evidence without anyone quite agreeing how far.

As heard by us

A grave, patient look at the May 2019 Paris trial, with Sophie at the center.

The episode stays with the May 2019 Paris trial, where Ian Bailey is absent and the attention returns to Sophie Toscan de Plantier after years of appeals and blocked extradition.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a courtroom case that keeps circling the missing center, press play.

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