Family fulfil Ian Bailey's last wish to have his ashes spread in west Cork
Bailey collapsed and died from a heart attack while out walking in Bantry on January 21, 2024.
THE family of Ian Bailey (66) held a special memorial ceremony to spread his ashes in his beloved west Cork - a place they said he adored above all others.
The memorial was led today by Mr Bailey's sister, Kay Reynolds, who said her brother adored the area above all others and his family felt it was appropriate that his final resting place should be by Roaringwater Bay.
"We wanted to do right by Ian," she explained.
"He absolutely loved west Cork with a passion. There was the (European Arrest) warrant which meant he could not leave the country but he said he would not want to be anywhere else.
Ian Bailey was the chief suspect for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier. Photo: Getty
"It was very appropriate that this is where we spread his ashes. It is something he wanted. It came up in conversation with him."
His family said he spent the bulk of his adult life in the area around Schull and it had inspired much of his prose and poetry.
Mr Bailey collapsed and died from a heart attack while out walking in Bantry on January 21, 2024.
The Manchester-born journalist and poet was the chief suspect in the Sophie Toscan du Plantier (39) murder investigation.
Ms du Plantier, a French film executive, had tried to flee from an intruder at her home but was caught and savagely beaten to death on December 22/23, 1996.
British journalist Ian Bailey. Photo: Collins
News in 90 Seconds - June 20th
Mr Bailey had reported on the killing for Irish, British and French newspapers before becoming a Garda suspect.
Ms Reynolds said she believes the stress her brother was under from being wrongly associated with the crime for almost 30 years took a toll on his health.
"Without question - I don't think there would be any doubt about that,' she said.
"He had been quite fit until the last couple of years. It finally got to him. He was not taking care of himself but it was all to do with the pressure. It had been relentless for almost 30 years. It took its toll on him.
"There were times he did not help himself. I think if he had kept quiet it would have been better but that was not Ian's style.
"He had nothing to hide and he would not hide. He confronted his challengers face on."
Ms Reynolds said her brother was a hugely talented journalist - and regularly obtained details on stories that other journalists did not.
She said she believes his abilities as an investigative journalist most likely brought him to Garda notice because of the information he obtained about the case.
"Garda felt there were things that only somebody involved in the crime would have known. I don't think that helped,' she said.
"But as a family we never thought that he had done this. That was Ian's style of journalism - in Gloucester he did stuff about GCHQ that other journalists didn't. He thought outside the box.
"I think that was what happened there and became his downfall. That is how he became a suspect.
"From the moment he told us - he phoned us to let us know we would start to see things in the paper about him - we never doubted him that he had been involved in this."
Ms Reynolds stressed that her family have enormous sympathy for the du Plantier family and what they have gone through over the past 29 years.
"This is not to forget that a very young mother was brutally murdered. I feel so sorry for the family because of the misguided belief that Ian committed the murder they have just had so many years of torture,' she said.
"I just wish them peace around this. Hopefully the cold case will throw up something that will be of help to them.'
The ceremony was attended by around 40 people including members of the legal profession who had worked with Mr Bailey, journalists and local friends.
Mr Bailey, a freelance journalist, 'New Age' gardener and wood turner, collapsed and died while out walking on Barrack Street in Bantry.
He was pronounced dead before he could be transferred to Bantry General Hospital with his collapse coming just weeks after he had suffered a series of heart attacks.
Mr Bailey died just one week before his 67th birthday, having been warned before Christmas that he needed to get stronger before doctors would proceed with planned bypass and stent surgery.
His remains were cremated in a private ceremony at the Island Crematorium in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, with the arrangements handled by an undertaker from outside west Cork.
Ms Reynolds is Mr Bailey's next of kin and gave evidence in 2015 during his High Court action for wrongful arrest against the State as to the impact on her brother of the French arrest warrant and his inability to leave Ireland even to visit his dying mother.
Mr Bailey's long-time solicitor, Frank Buttimer, who attended the memorial service, said he remained convinced that Mr Bailey "had nothing whatsoever to do with this crime".
He also said he was convinced that being wrongly associated with the crime for so many years "was a major factor in his ill health'.
Award-winning Irish film director Jim Sheridan (74) produced a Sky TV documentary, 'Murder at the Cottage,' on the Toormore killing.
He got to know Mr Bailey during the years of its production.
The documentary series was launched in 2021, the same year as a major Netflix series on the murder.
Mr Sheridan has previously insisted that all his research led him to believe that Sophie was killed by someone she knew.
"I genuinely believe the answer to the murder will be found in France,' he said.
"My conclusion is that in many ways Ian Bailey has been punished for this crime. He has been marked down as a killer for over 25 years and found guilty in a French courtroom, so he has suffered, even if he never faced a jury in a criminal case."
Mr Bailey was arrested twice by gardaí in 1997 and 1998 for questioning in respect of Sophie's murder.
He was released without charge on both occasions and has vehemently protested his innocence for the past 27 years.
No one has ever been charged in relation to Sophie's death in Ireland.
Mr Bailey sued eight Irish and British newspapers for libel in 2003 after claiming he was branded as the murderer.
He also took an action - which he lost - against the State for wrongful arrest in 2014/15.
After an eight year French investigation, he was prosecuted for Sophie's murder at a Paris trial in May 2019 and convicted of her murder.
He was sentenced to 25 years in prison - but had to be tried in absentia after he refused to attend the French hearing which he dismissed as "a show trial" and "a mockery of justice".
Mr Bailey warned the Irish Independent in April 2019 that he was "being bonfired".
The French failed on three separate occasions since 2010 to have Mr Bailey extradited to France.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) studied the Garda case file but ruled out any charges in 2000/2001 citing lack of evidence.
A Garda cold case review is currently underway and has continued despite Mr Bailey's death.
The Garda investigation into Sophie's death has been open and active over the past 28 years.
It is planned that a revised and updated file will be submitted to the DPP.
The campaign group which secured the French prosecution of Mr Bailey for Sophie's murder vowed to continue their campaign to secure justice for the mother-of-one despite his death 18 months ago.
ASSOPH, the association for the truth about the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, vowed that they will continue to campaign amid hope that "new elements" will finally reveal the precise circumstances of the death of the French film executive in the early hours of December 23, 1996.
Sophie was battered to death as she apparently tried to flee from an intruder at her isolated Toormore holiday home - running over fields before her clothing snagged on barbed wire allowing the killer to catch her.
ASSOPH claimed that Mr Bailey had "taunted" the police over the past three decades - and claimed that the Irish judicial authorities never wanted to extradite him to France despite three attempts to do so since 2010.
"On January 21, 2024, Ian Bailey passed away, 27 years after the horrific murder committed in Ireland against Sophie Toscan du Plantier, born Bouniol," they said.
"The Paris Criminal Court sentenced him in absentia on May 31, 2019, to 25 years in prison for murder.
"Despite this trial and France's repeated requests for his extradition, Ian Bailey remained free, never facing charges from the Irish justice system.
"With Bailey's death, Sophie's family and our association will never be able to obtain a confession from Ian Bailey.
"We continue our efforts for truth and justice. An investigation is underway in Ireland, and we are confident that the discovery of new elements, the hearing of new witnesses, and the revelation of possible complicity will enable Irish police to close the case, years after the murder."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
‘Putin has blood on his hands' blasts MEP as Irish mother seeks answers about son's death in Russian air strike
Liam Cosgrove Today at 06:00 Russian president Vladimir Putin has been accused of having the blood of a Reuters news employee with strong links to the midlands 'on his hands' as his Irish born mother desperately seeks answers over the circumstances which led up to his death. Thirty-eight-year-old Ryan Evans was working as a safety adviser with news agency Reuters when a missile struck the hotel he had been staying in with colleagues in the city of Kramatorsk on August 24 last year.
Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Tech tycoon Mike Lynch's sunken super yacht lifted to surface
Salvage experts lifted Mike Lynch's sunken superyacht to the surface and began pumping seawater out of it on Saturday, 10 months after it sank off the coast of Sicily, killing the British tech tycoon, his teenage daughter and five others. Mr Lynch was born to a Co Tipperary mother who was a nurse and a Co Cork father who was a firefighter. Work resumed at first light, with one of the most powerful maritime cranes in Europe having been used to haul the 56-metre-long (184-foot) Bayesian from beneath the waves. The upper decks appeared badly damaged while the blue hull was encrusted with mud. The Bayesian was moored off the small port of Porticello, near Palermo, in August last year when it sank during a sudden storm. The yacht was vulnerable to violent winds and was probably knocked over by gusts of more than 117 km (73 miles) per hour, an interim British report said last month. The vessel will be held in an elevated position over the weekend while checks and preparations are made, said TMC Marine, which has been leading the salvage operation, working with Dutch specialists Hebo Maritiemservice to lift the yacht 50 metres from the seabed over the past few days. It is then expected to be transported to the nearby port of Termini Imerese on Monday and handed over to the authorities who are investigating the sinking. The recovery process has been made easier after the vessel's 72-metre mast was detached using a remote-controlled cutting tool and placed on the seabed on Tuesday. In addition to Lynch, founder of the software company Autonomy, his daughter Hannah, lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda, banker Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy, and chef Recaldo Thomas were killed when the yacht sank. Nine other crew members and six guests were rescued.
Extra.ie
2 hours ago
- Extra.ie
Mistrial declared in the case of Dublin firefighter accused of rape in Boston
The rape trial involving Irish firefighter Terence Crosbie's in Boston was declared a mistrial this week, after the jury failed to come to a unanimous decision. Mr Crosbie was visiting Boston with the Dublin Fire Brigade to take part in the 2024 St Patrick's Day parade and is alleged to have raped a 29-year-old lawyer while his colleague slept in the same hotel room. He had pleaded not guilty. On Friday afternoon at Suffolk Superior Court, following a lengthy deliberation, the jury sent a note to the judge saying it was deadlocked. The rape trial involving Irish firefighter Terence Crosbie's in Boston was declared a mistrial this week, after the jury failed to come to a unanimous decision. Superior Court Judge Sarah Weyland Ellis then issued a special legal instruction aimed at producing a verdict before ultimately declaring it a mistrial. Having been deliberating since Monday, the judge deemed it 'a good time in the day' to issue the Tuey-Rodriguez charge. During Thursday's proceedings, the court heard how the DNA of the Dublin firefighter was not conclusively identified on the woman he was accused of raping. Mr Crosbie was visiting Boston with the Dublin Fire Brigade to take part in the 2024 St Patrick's Day parade and is alleged to have raped a 29-year-old lawyer while his colleague slept in the same hotel room. He had pleaded not guilty. Pic: Omni Parker House Two DNA experts took to the stand on the fourth day of the rape trial stating that the 39-year-old's genetic material was not found on his alleged victim when she went to hospital, according to reports in the Boston Globe. 'Your testing did not identify Terence Crosbie on the genital swab?' defence attorney Patrick Garrity asked an expert on DNA analysis, the Boston Globe said. The DNA analyst replied: 'It did not identify that individual on the genital swab, correct.' On Friday afternoon at Suffolk Superior Court, following a lengthy deliberation, the jury sent a note to the judge saying it was deadlocked. The analyst, Alexis DeCesaris, testified that while DNA from two males was found in the woman's genital swab, the amount was too small to compare to a person's genetic profile. During her testimony, the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, stated that she had met Mr Crosbie's fellow firefighter Liam O'Brien at an Irish bar on March 14, 2024. She alleged that after returning to Mr O'Brien's hotel room at the Omni Parker House hotel she had consensual sex with Mr O'Brien. She stated this week to the jury of nine men and six women that she went to the other bed in the room because of Mr O'Brien's loud snoring and got under the covers naked, unaware that he was sharing the room with Mr Crosbie, who was not present at the time. 'I woke up, and a guy was inside of me,' the woman testified, tears streaming down her face as she read a text message she sent to a friend shortly after the alleged attack. The woman stated that she believed it was not Mr O'Brien because he was bald and the person on top of her was not. She later attended Massachusetts General Hospital in the early hours of the next morning. A nurse who treated the woman and completed an 'evidence collection kit,' as well as a doctor involved in the treatment, testified to a 'tear' in the woman's vaginal area, but said that it was possible that this could have happened as a result of consensual sex, the Globe reported.
