Gardaí announce ‘full review’ of French filmmaker’s murder in West Cork

Irish police have announced a full review of the case of the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

The 39-year-old French filmmaker’s badly beaten body was found outside her holiday home in Schull, West Cork, in December 1996.

On Wednesday gardai said that, after a review by the assistant commissioner for organised and serious crime, the Garda Serious Crime Review Team “will now conduct a full review of this case”.

Police said the investigation into the murder “has remained active and ongoing”.

The police service said that when the review is finalised, the Serious Crime Review Team will provide recommendations to the local investigation unit.

Gardai said they continue to appeal to anyone who might have any information to contact them.

They added that as it is an ongoing investigation, police would be not commenting on the specifics.

In October 2020, the High Court in Ireland rejected an attempt by French authorities to extradite Ian Bailey for the murder.

Mr Bailey was facing a third extradition process to France in relation to the filmmaker’s death.

The court ruled that he would not be surrendered to France after a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued in 2019.

Mr Bailey, with an address at The Prairie in Schull, was convicted of murder in his absence by a court in Paris in May 2019.

The three-judge court imposed a 25-year sentence.

He had no legal representation for the case, did not attend the court and described it at the time as a farce.

He has always denied any involvement in Ms du Plantier’s death.