MURDER IN IRELAND: SOPHIE TOSCAN DU PLANTIER

Sophie Toscan du Plantier, a 39-year-old French woman, was killed outside her holiday home at Toormore, Goleen, County Cork, Ireland, on the night of 23rd December 1996. Her badly beaten body, still dressed in white nightwear and outdoor boots, was discovered by a neighbour the following morning close to an entrance gate at the bottom of her holiday home driveway.

British journalist Ian Bailey, who lived several kilometres from Toscan du Plantier's home in Ireland, was a suspect arrested twice by the Garda Síochána, yet no charges were laid as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) found there was insufficient evidence to proceed to trial. Bailey lost a libel case against six newspapers in 2003. He also lost a wrongful arrest case against the Gardaí, Minister for Justice, and Attorney General in 2015.

In 2019, Bailey was convicted of murder by the Cour d'Assises in Paris, and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was tried in absentia in France after winning a legal battle against extradition. In 2020, Ireland's High Court ruled that Bailey could not be extradited. Publicly, he has insisted on his innocence.

This case story feature is based on existing documentaries, news archives and interviews. I have edited this presentation to remove some existing editorial biases and constructed it in a way to simply let the family of Sophie tell their account, as well as the prime suspect as the case unfolded over the past 27 years.

Prime and self-confessed suspect, Ian Bailey died of a third heart attack on January 21st, 2024 in Bantry, Cork.

It is a case I thought long and hard about covering on Radio Espial in recent months. This Radio Espial special feature is not intended to be one of our case analysis timeline deep-dives. Due to the intense profile and social media attention this case has had, please be respectful in the comments section - no trolling, agendas, wild speculation or baseless accusations of anyone featured in this case. Let’s stick to the facts and what is known and on court and public record, not casual opinions that cannot be proven.

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Mick Rooney | Journalist & Broadcaster

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