The beguilingly enigmatic image of Sophie Toscan du Plantier has haunted this country for a quarter of a century.
The circumstances of her brutal murder twenty five years ago remains unsolved and is an open wound for her grieving family.
This story has never gone away.
Indeed, you couldn’t live here and not be, to some extent, aware of the killing and its aftermath.
The French filmmaker gave our little island a considerable vote of confidence when she chose us as the site of her refuge.
She decided on a cottage that looked out over the Fastnet lighthouse.
Sophie even had her bed built up so that the beam would illuminate her bedroom through the curtainless window.
The far southwest of Ireland was another world away from the gilded cage of her claustrophobic life in Paris.
Around Schull, she was not Madame Toscan du Plantier; she was just Sophie, which suited her perfectly.
She happily swapped haute couture for a duffle coat and wellies.
That part of the Rebel County had been known as a bolthole for Bohemian blow-ins for decades.
Consequently, it was a welcoming little corner of the island to those who wanted to live a different life.
In the initial days after Sophie’s body was discovered, an English freelance journalist Ian Bailey, who lived very close to Sophie’s holiday home, quickly became the go-to guy for the national newspapers.
They didn’t have a staffer in that remote corner of County Cork, so it made sense to use a local reporter.
Then in a twist that was too bizarre for crime fiction, the Englishman suddenly became the prime suspect in the investigation.
The local police quickly eliminated everyone else from their list, and they were only left with Bailey.
It is fair to say that the collective view of the Gardaí has not altered since the initial phase of the investigation.
Bailey is the only person ever arrested in connection with the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
Although, he has never been charged with the crime.
It must be stated here that the Englishman has consistently stated that he had no hand act or part in the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
Indeed, he has never been put on trial in an Irish court for the killing.
The DPP considered that there was insufficient evidence to bring forward a prosecution.
However, he was tried in absentia in Paris in 2019 and found guilty of the murder.
Bailey was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison for the offence.
Despite the French issuing a European Arrest Warrant, the Irish courts have refused to execute it.
This means that Bailey cannot leave the 26 county state while that Warrant is outstanding.
The case has even moved to the level of French President Emmanuel Macron discussing it with the current Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
These days Ian Bailey is a somewhat pathetic figure trying to sell his poetry at Schull market.
English journalist Nick Foster is also an outsider to this island.
That is value added as he brought his súil eile to the mystery by asking excellent questions.
At the start of the book, Nick Foster was quite open that he hoped to exonerate a wrongly accused man.
By the end of the journey into the real Ian Bailey, the ex-EU Diplomat has clearly made up his own mind about Bailey’s guilt.
Indeed, Foster tells him this over the phone in the final chapter, “The Unravelling”.
By the time he had finished his book, Nick had spent considerable time with Bailey.
After reading it, I contacted the author to offer my congratulations on a fine piece of work and to get an update on whether or not there would be a second edition.
He told me that since Murder At Roaringwater was published in May of this year, other pieces of the story had emerged.
“Since I first heard about the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, I thought it looked like the perfect ‘locked-room’ mystery. And it was – and still is – a very European, and a very contemporary, crime story. But what I couldn’t have imagined was the rollercoaster ride of false leads and improbable clues that ultimately led me to my own conclusion about the circumstances of the murder and kept me guessing until close to the end of my investigation.”
“And this investigation isn’t over – people are mailing me with new tip-offs and ideas, and I feel that now I am really getting to the bottom of explaining what happened at Sophie’s house in Toormore that night before Christmas. In particular, I think that soon evidence will emerge placing Sophie’s killer much closer to her house than Marie Farrell’s now retracted sighting at Kealfadda Bridge.”
I suspect that the final chapter in this saga has yet to be written.
Foster has delivered up a genuine cracker of a read on a hugely significant story.
If there is to be a second edition, the publishers should include a back of the book index and a list of main characters to assist the reader who is new to this story.
Murder At Roaringwater (Mirror Books 2021) is available from all the usual retail outlets at £12.99
Highly recommended.
There are four things that bother me.
Firstly, why would the woman, who is obviously scared of Bailey, make up the story of seeing him at the bridge and get herself involved, especially since she was seeing another man secretly. Therefore, I tend to agree with the French authorities that it is her retraction that is false.
Secondly, the ashes of the fire at the cottage contained traces of an outfit that he was described as wearing on the night at the bridge. Circumstantial but damming.
The last two I will not defend but in the interest of…
The third is more of stretch. the detective in charge did not seem to take the whole thing seriously, especially his interview although his attitude could be explained by a well earned distrust of the media. I found his statement, ” I had to make sure the investigation was “on the level” very strange. The more conspiratorial among us will know what that statement generally means.
The fourth, did the husband ever have any ” business dealings” with Bailey? I’ll leave it at that.
Don’t know if any of this is even legal.
Of course, remote judgement by film or by press can be easy, but also fallible in the extreme. However, having watched the in-depth Netflix docu-film, it seemed incontrovertible to both myself and my wife that Bailey was indeed the culprit. The ‘big drunken guy near the bridge with the long black coat, etc.’ fitted Bailey. His partner had various ‘memories’ of him being home or out. Sophie’d talked of meeting “someone of prose or poetry” before leaving for Ireland, someone she’d rather have met with friends around her, someone SHE CLEARLY DIDN’T TRUST.
Her family’s position, I think, was made fairly clear. Her husband (film producer) was not intended to accompany her. A close relation was ill (female?), a cousin/nephew (male) maybe more than one could not be with her.
Hell on Earth happens when you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Repetitions occur when the clowns and liars whom ‘manage’ things are perennially incompetent/corrupt.
Poor Sophie. Who’s next?
Ne’er forget the possible ‘politics’ here…..just THINK about it.
“Bailey near the bridge” statement was retracted and my first thought about the French relative saying, Sophie was going to meet a “writer and poet” seemed a little convenient. It is as fascinating a story as it is tragic. He “confessed” three times and later claimed sarcasm, however words were his tools and he must surely have known how they would have been received.
P.S. Phil, I meant to say, watching the documentary, apart from the man people think might have done it, the other thing that stood out was her husband’s behavior, odd that he didnt rush over to Ireland dont you think ?
Or was that dressed up for TV ?
The behaviour of Daniel Toscan du Plantier can easily be seen as someone in shock.
The idea of a “French connection” in the murder was quickly dismissed.
The killer almost certainly lived locally given the location of the crime.
People native to Skibbereen would struggle to find that cottage.
Very remote indeed.
Recently watched the documentary on Netflix about this, well worth a watch. Will look out for the book.