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, County Cork, following an illness, his lawyer Frank Buttimer told Irish broadcaster RTE. Bailey suffered two heart attacks last year, according the Irish Times.
The body of 39-year-old Toscan du Plantier, wife of film producer Daniel Toscan du Plantier, was discovered by a neighbor 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. A Paris trial, however, ruled that there was "sufficient evidence" linking Bailey to the crime. Multiple French extradition bids for Bailey were struck down by Irish courts.
A documentary released in 2021 on streaming platform Netflix had once again brought the case to the fore.