Well for a start he had a string of convictions including violence - so saying he was not a likely suspect is not true.
Apparently a lot of witnesses were very frightened of him.
He did lie a lot ( he said he panicked) about his alibi and the gold necklace.
I think also at the 2006 re-trial they were aware that the lovers husband had known about the affair - but I don't think they were aware of with held DNA evidence or the full message from the informant.