Ian Bailey, suspect for Sophie Toscan du Plantier’s murder, dies in Cork

Ian Baileywho ended up being the primary suspect for the 1996 murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantierhas actually passed away in west Co Cork

Mr Bailey, who would have commemorated his 67th birthday on January 27th, suffered a thought cardiac arrest near the Square in Bantry and waved to some passers by for help.

Members of the general public concerned his help and carried out CPR on him for more than 15 minutes before paramedics showed up and unsuccessfully tried to restore him.

It is comprehended that he was taken by ambulance to Bantry General Hospital, where he was noticable dead by a medical professional. The coroner for West Cork, Frank O’Connell, was then notified.

It is uncertain at this moment offered Mr Bailey’s current case history – he suffered 2 cardiovascular disease which had actually triggered substantial damage – regarding whether a postmortem will be performed.

Speaking with The Irish Times days in 2015 quickly before the anniversary of the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier’s death on December 23rd, 1996, Mr Bailey stated the 2 cardiovascular disease had actually triggered major damage.

He stated physicians had actually informed him he had actually suffered 75 percent damage to his heart and they were putting him on medication to attempt to develop the organ so he would be strong enough to go through surgical treatment. He stated he wanted to have the operation in February or March if he reacted well adequate to the medication.

After his conviction in France for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in 2019, Ian Bailey returned to his stall in Schull, offering pizza and copies of his poetry. Video: Enda O’Dowd

Born in Manchester, England, Mr Bailey worked as a reporter with a firm in Gloucester before transferring to Ireland and settling in west Co Cork in 1991. He contributed as a freelance press reporter to a number of papers.

He reported on the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier for a variety of outlets after her terribly beaten body was discovered on the lane resulting in her vacation home at Toormore near Schull on December 23rd, 1996.

Simply over a month later on, in February 1997, Mr Bailey was jailed over the murder and questioned by investigators at Bandon Garda station before being launched without charge.

In January 1998, he was apprehended for a 2nd time and once again questioned about the killing. He was once again launched without charge and a file was sent out to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

In 2001, a lawyer in the DPP’s workplace, Robert Sheehan, performed an evaluation of the file and concluded there was not adequate proof to warrant a prosecution versus Mr Bailey.

He later on brought a libel action versus numerous papers over their protection of the murder, however he lost on the substantive problem when Judge Patrick Moran ruled versus him at Cork Circuit Court.

Mr Bailey in 2014 brought a High Court action versus the State for wrongful arrest, declaring that gardaí had actually attempted to frame him for the killing, however he likewise lost that action.

In 2019, Mr Bailey was founded guilty in absentia in Paris of the voluntary murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier under French law, which enables suspects to be pursued criminal offenses versus French people abroad.

He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and the French authorities looked for to have him extradited on a European Arrest Warrant. The High Court in Dublin declined to permit his extradition.

The judgment successfully indicated that Mr Bailey– while he might take a trip easily within the Republic– might not take a trip abroad as he ran the risk of being jailed and extradited to France to serve the sentence.

Mr Bailey consistently rejected any participation in the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier and stated after suffering a cardiac arrest in 2015 that a Garda cold-case evaluation group would clear his name.

News of Mr Bailey’s death was welcomed with shock in France. Ms Toscan du Plantier’s uncle, Jean Pierre Gazeau, mentioned his discouragement at what the death of the prime suspect might indicate for the household’s look for responses.

“We are not delighted at this news,” he stated. “First, since a person has actually passed away, so we are sorry to hear that, however we are likewise sorry due to the fact that we fear the cold case evaluation group might not conclude its work,” he stated.

“Ian Bailey was founded guilty by the French justice system, however we desired him to live so that the Irish justice system might likewise reach a last finding that he was the individual who eliminated my niece.

“We have actually never ever had any doubt that Ian Bailey was the killer, however we had actually hoped that the cold case evaluation group would get DNA and forensic proof to show it beyond any doubt. Now, our worry is that we will never ever reach the complete reality of what occurred so I would prompt the Irish Garda to continue with their examination to be definitely sure that Bailey was the perpetrator.”

Mr Bailey’s attorney, Frank Buttimer, who represented him throughout the French efforts to extradite him along with in his High Court action versus the State, stated he thought Mr Bailey was innocent.

“I initially satisfied Ian Bailey in March 1997 when he entered into my workplace to ask me would I represent him if he was ever prosecuted for the criminal offense he didn’t devote – the murder of Madame Toscan du Plantier,” he stated.

“I felt right away it was clear that he had not devoted the criminal offense which in my view, it was consequently developed by details I obtained, that he had actually been the victim of State persecution.

“There is no concern in my mind however that there is an association in between his unfortunate death and current disease with what was done to him by State in incorrectly associating him with the murder.”

Asked how he discovered Mr Bailey on individual level, whom he stated “he assisted along the method” since that preliminary conference in 1997, Mr Buttimer responded: “How long have you got?”

He included: “Having stated that, I discovered him to be really fascinating, extremely checked out, extremely talkative, tough to recommend sometimes however constantly attempting to increase above the effects of the severe incorrect caused on him.

“He was an extremely durable guy. I constantly discovered he was constantly extremely favorable in his outlook on life provided whatever that had actually been done to him by the State over the last 27 years.”

Mr Bailey continued to oppose his innocence to the end. While he grumbled that the Garda Cold Case group had actually not called him, he was still confident they would clear his name.

“For the previous 27 years my life has actually been harmed by an incorrect allegation that I was the killer of Sophie. The incorrect allegation has actually led to me losing my profession, my partner and my health,” he informed The Irish Sun in December.

“There is now a cold case evaluation under method which I am waiting for to help, and my hope and my prayer is that the reality emerges before I pass away. The tension and stress troubled me have actually eventually led to a double cardiac arrest from which I am now recuperating.”

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