Briton accused of murder by Paris court dies in Ireland

Bailey suffered two heart attacks last year, according the Irish Times newspaper

By AFP
January 22, 2024
Former British journalist Ian Bailey leaves from the High Court in Dublin on October 12, 2020, following the Courts decision to reject the French authorities request for a European Arrest Warrant, for the 1996 murder of filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier. — AFP
Former British journalist Ian Bailey leaves from the High Court in Dublin on October 12, 2020, following the Court's decision to reject the French authorities' request for a European Arrest Warrant, for the 1996 murder of filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier. — AFP

LONDON: A British journalist convicted in his absence by a Paris court over the 1996 murder of a French woman died on Sunday, his lawyer told Irish press.

Sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2019 for the death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, Ian Bailey consistently maintained his innocence and lived in Ireland, which refused to extradite him.

Bailey, 66, died on Sunday afternoon in Bantry, southern Ireland, following an illness, according to broadcaster RTE, which added that his death was confirmed by his lawyer Frank Buttimer.

Bailey suffered two heart attacks last year, according the Irish Times newspaper.

The body of 39-year-old Toscan du Plantier, wife of film producer Daniel Toscan du Plantier, was discovered by a neighbour on December 23, 1996 outside a holiday home in southwestern Ireland.

She had been beaten on the head with a concrete block and was wearing night clothes.

Irish police soon after suspected Bailey, who was arrested in 1997 and again in 1998, but was never prosecuted in Ireland due to a lack of evidence.