[sheep bleating]
[Bertrand in French] Sophie is at the centre of this story.
[sentimental music plays]
But it's true that for 23 years,
it's often forgotten, uh, who my sister was.
[Wassell] So much crime fiction involves the violent murder of women.
Those lurid covers of old-fashioned detective stories.
Sophie du Plantier really was very beautiful.
But there was so much more to her.
She was solitary,
thoughtful,
a romantic poet.
I think, for her, West Cork was a place to reflect,
to write, to read.
She loved Irish poetry.
I could just picture her in her woollies, drinking tea with honey and reading.
The glow of the Fastnet lighthouse outside.
There's a human desire to understand the mystery
that lies behind this terrible story.
[tense music plays]
[Ian] Here's a line from one of my own poems.
"That many other chapters are yet untold before the story ends."
[sighs]
[tense music plays]
[reporter 1] Ian Bailey, who'd been reporting the story for local newspapers,
has been questioned about her murder and released.
What happens now is up to the director of public prosecutions.
We would have to await a decision from the director.
[reporter 2] You're saying to me that you didn't kill Sophie du Plantier,
nor did you have any part in that?
I am saying to you I didn't kill her.
I had no knowledge of the killing. I'm an innocent man.
I was in a state of shock, and Jules was in a state of shock.
Looking back, actually, I guess we had post-traumatic stress.
That week immediately after and the week after that,
there were more media coming in. All sorts of stories were bandied around.
Everybody around here would know all these little stories and events,
and everybody would be discussing them. Everybody.
Look, it just got stranger and stranger.
[reporter 3] He had learned that Ian Bailey's hobby
was destroying religious artefacts.
[reporter 4] Gardaí asked, was it true he'd been seen out one night in the rain
wearing only his jocks and a hat.
[reporter 3] She'd heard rumours of him howling at the moon at night
with what he described as "Mr. Bailey's thinking stick."
People'd seen him, just pants on running down the road.
Bailey'd been outside the house roaring and wailing.
This is a month after the murder this has happened,
but it's a full moon.
I think he told us that he did commune with the moon.
That's where the word "lunacy" comes from.
He'd be howling at the moon
with his stick in the middle of the road… All this happened.
This was a story told to me. I presume it's true.
I mean, I know people that, they… they swear blind that this happened.
There were a whole lot of, uh, ridiculous allegations and suggestions.
There was one that I would howl at the moon.
That at the time of the full moon, they said, "Oh, Bailey, he goes crazy."
"He's got this stick as well. A magic stick."
I don't know, that I had this magic stick that was imbued with magic properties.
I used it to make spells and things like that.
[chuckles]
There are all sorts of rumours and… and misinformation being…
And who's behind it all?
I went to him as a friend to tell him what people were saying about him.
[bird chittering]
[Billy] I went round his house innocently, knocked on the door. He let me in.
He was sat down. He had drink everywhere and, like, rich food and all this stuff.
He said, "Want a glass of cider?" I said, "I'm working. I popped in to see you."
He was relaxed until I came out with what people were saying,
that he'd be howling at the moon and stuff.
Straight away, bang, he just went into a complete meltdown,
and he moved from where he was,
and he went white-knuckled, and his face changed.
He grabbed hold of the thing behind him, and he was astonished.
And he was like, "You fucker," like this to me. And I was like, "What?"
He said, "You saw her in Spar the day before she was killed
and you saw her tight arse and wanted to give her one."
He said, "When you went to her house at two in the morning,
she ran away screaming 'cause you scared her."
"You chased her, threw something at her head,
and realised you went too far." And I went… [gasps]
"Where did that even come from?"
It felt like he was saying what he did, but through me, you know?
I was scared when I left his house.
I'd just been sat with someone really fucking dangerous,
and I felt scared.
[producer] When he was telling you this, did it feel like some form of confession?
Oh, definitely, yeah.
Definitely, I'd say, by the way he did it to all the other people he'd confessed to.
[Wassell] We learned later
that he confessed, uh,
to a number of people in the community.
[Michael] One particular night, New Year's Eve, to be specific,
a local couple, Richie and Rosie Shelley,
were having drinks in a local pub in Schull
and got into conversation with Ian Bailey and Jules Thomas.
[Barry] They invited them back late on New Year's Eve.
Ian started talking about the murder,
and he became quite emotional and, uh, started crying.
And it was that sort of early morning thing after drinking
when he'd get strange.
[Michael] He started crying and hugging Richie Shelley
and saying, "I did it. I did it."
"I went too far."
They ran screaming from the house.
They ran away.
Any other psychic will tell you
that when you're compelled to say something, then you say it.
There was a German friend who had a party.
Ian was at the party, as were many other people.
It was just one of them little moments where we just happened to be together.
In my world, there's no such thing as coincidences.
You know, these things are put in place.
I said to him, "You murdered that woman."
She wanted to confront him with that.
And he looked me straight in the eye,
and he said he didn't mean for everyone to get involved.
That's what he said.
[animal screeching]
I knew Jules before I knew Ian.
She was my neighbour.
She had three daughters,
and then Ian turned up
a few years later.
In that community, you're used to giving people lifts
'cause there's no public transport.
So if the girls needed a spin up from Lowertown,
I'd often drive them all the way to their place,
or if they were picking up the girls, they'd drop Malachi off,
my eldest son.
Malachi was only 14 at the time.
He'd been at a friend's place after school,
and he saw Ian outside of the Courtyard,
and he gave him a spin home.
Ian seemed to be quite stressed,
and I think he'd been drinking.
Being polite, Malachi asked him how his work was going.
That's when he turned round and said,
"I went up there and bashed her brains in with a rock."
He just came out with this.
There was silence,
and I think Malachi just wanted to get home as quickly as possible.
He didn't say anything much that evening.
He didn't want to get himself into trouble
because he'd got a lift off somebody that'd been drinking.
But the following day, he explained what had happened.
I then said,
"This is too big for… for me or you to make a decision about this."
We then made statements.
Gardaí would say that was a critical development
in the investigation from their point of view.
[Irune] Like the rest of the community,
we didn't know all the evidence that the Garda investigation had at the time.
I only knew what was happening within my own family.
[Eugene] You have to understand,
that part of the country and most parts of Ireland,
people didn't talk.
Literally, you didn't say anything.
You might know something,
but you kept it to yourself. It's none of your business.
Evidence came through in small bits
from locals brave enough to say it to local guards or something like that.
[Irune] Malachi was very confused, frightened.
That stayed with him for many, many years.
I mean, I don't know if other people do this,
but, I mean, I do use sarcasm, and I do use irony on occasions,
and it was so ridiculous.
He called it "black humour."
Well, the population of Ireland at the time was about five million,
and amazingly, out of the five million,
there was only one fella talked about killing her.
How do you explain,
when a person is crying and hugging this person
and… and admitting to a murder, that it's black humour?
Not one of the people that he made those admissions to
interpreted it in that fashion.
[waves crashing]
[reporter in French] 9 a.m. in early winter.
It is still dark on the Mizen Head peninsula.
[sombre music plays]
Georges and Marguerite Bouniol, Sophie Toscan du Plantier's parents,
wanted to share a service with locals from this corner of Ireland
which she loved so much.
[camera shutters clicking]
A light has been on for a few days in this house
which is completely isolated.
There are flowers on the spot where exactly one year ago today,
the body of Sophie Toscan du Plantier was discovered.
[Pierre-Louis] I was immediately very protected after my mother died.
I didn't meet the police, French or Irish.
I didn't meet the journalists.
I was… very far from all that.
I was a little boy, uh…
simply a victim.
For days,
then weeks, months,
the police told the family
that the end was very close.
It was really round the corner.
[Jean-Pierre] The Garda never stopped adding things to the case file.
But we didn't know much about all that.
We were still all in a very emotional state.
[in English] I think that justice will be done once, we think, all of us,
but sometimes, we are, uh, a little bit despaired.
[Jean-Pierre in French] Then in early January,
once again the Garda told the family
that it was going to be resolved soon.
[radio static crackles]
[news intro music plays]
[reporter in English] Afternoon. The headlines this Tuesday lunchtime.
A man's been arrested in West Cork
by Gardaí investigating the murder of the Frenchwoman Sophie du Plantier.
[indistinct chatter]
A year after the first arrest, I was subjected to a second arrest.
[suspenseful music plays]
[Peter] He stood up and told enough people he'd done it.
So don't be surprised if you get arrested.
[Ian] They said, "We're special detectives."
"We're members of the National Criminal Investigation Bureau,"
and they were sort of supposed to be the elite Garda detective branch.
-[woman] Con, what's the story? -I don't know. I wish I did.
[Paul] Under Irish law, you've got two periods of detention,
both 12 hours each.
The Gardaí don't get a third opportunity to interview a suspect.
[reporter 6] The director of public prosecutions
is still examining a file on the murder.
[phone rings]
[Barry] The DPP is a law officer here who assesses Garda investigations
and decides whether or not
the Gardaí have managed to produce enough evidence to warrant a charge.
[reporter 6] He's being held under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act
and can be held for up to 12 hours.
[Daniel in French] I spoke to Jules when I arrived in the morning.
I went to her house, to their house,
because we were friends.
And I asked her,
"Do you think
Ian could be guilty?"
She said, "I don't know."
[tense music plays]
[reporter 7 in English] Gardaí are still questioning a man
in connection with the murder of Frenchwoman Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
[Ian] There were two Garda in particular,
and I can remember they said, "We'll have a break now."
I said to them, "No, no, I don't want a break."
"Um… Listen, we need a break from you."
[Barry] I suspect they were looking for a confession from Ian Bailey.
[in French] Someone called me saying,
"Tonight, Marie-Madeleine, I'll have good news for you."
And then that night, there was no good news.
The DPP had said no.
[in English] Again, he was released without charge.
Because they didn't get a confession
and the evidence they did have was still circumstantial.
[Bertrand in French] We were all dumbfounded.
Uh, It was very difficult for my parents.
[indistinct conversation]
[Jean-Pierre] In Ireland, the family of the victim doesn't exist.
The Garda leads their inquiry
and subsequently gives the case…
[cameras clicking]
…to the director of public prosecution, the DPP.
[in English] Nothing more is going to happen,
so we'd ask you to disperse quietly and quickly.
Is that all right?
[Jean-Pierre in French] What does he do? He reads through the dossier,
and it's him that decides whether to prosecute or not to prosecute.
If there is not enough proof,
not enough evidence,
um, then he will not prosecute.
[Marie-Madeleine] If you'll forgive me for saying, I think,
at times,
that Bailey had Ireland by the balls.
[seagulls calling]
[reporter 8 in English] After his arrest, Ian Bailey entertained the media
to the extent of inviting them into his home.
[reporter in French] With his partner, he answered our questions
and protested his innocence.
[Florence in English] He was engaged with the press, is what I would say.
He was very visibly engaged with them at that time.
We're not sure exactly…
[French voiceover] We're not sure who is benefitting from these lies about us.
But what I know is that the police have tried to pass me off as the murderer,
as well as my partner, Jules.
We really have nothing to do with it.
[in English] You see, that's the weakness in his personality, really.
He seeks that attention.
[Barry] The murder happened in December '96.
We had the arrests in '97, '98.
Things had quietened down. Obviously, the investigation was ongoing.
It appeared to the outside world that nothing happened for several years.
And then suddenly, it sprang back up into the public consciousness.
[reporter 9] Ian Bailey claims his life was destroyed
by articles on the Sophie Toscan…
[reporter 10] Bailey claimed the newspapers had defamed him
by naming him as the killer of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
Every now and again, there'd be a completely salacious, damaging story
in one of the papers.
Obviously, certain detectives were letting stories out to their contacts,
and I… I subsequently took a… a legal action over that.
[reporter 9] To clear his name,
he's brought the most extraordinary libel action.
Today, journalist Ian Bailey's libel action
against seven Irish and British newspapers,
arising out of their coverage of the case,
opened at the circuit court in Cork.
His barrister said for almost seven years,
Mr. Bailey had been put on trial
by a slanted media
which had set out to demonise his client.
But then, of course, newspapers applied to get access to the Garda file,
and they got that.
Which would prove hugely significant.
They subpoenaed witnesses who'd made statements to the Gardaí.
People who didn't want to be there
suddenly found themselves being brought in to court.
Obviously, I'd look at the RTÉ news, and I'd see the Schull witnesses,
who were up outside the courthouse,
trying to dodge the cameras, you know,
because no one wanted to be filmed for national TV.
We all took an interest in the case
because, you know, it's been part of our history now.
We learned a lot about the case, about the Garda investigation.
It was the first time the public got to learn about the details
of the Garda's case against Ian Bailey.
[reporter 9] The court heard evidence in this case may continue
until the end of this week.
So we got a picture of the case which the Gardaí had built,
which was hugely circumstantial, let it be said,
but quite detailed nonetheless.
[Jean-Pierre in French] Previously, we didn't have access to the Irish file.
What was extraordinary was that all the witnesses who had been interviewed
came forward during this trial to say the same thing.
They weren't the ones telling lies.
[Barry in English] From a situation where we never knew why Ian was a suspect,
we suddenly began to see, "Hang on."
"This is why they're pointing the finger at him."
[Paul] Although Ian Bailey took the newspapers to court,
it essentially turned into a murder trial.
[reporter 9] Bill Fuller said Bailey told him,
"She ran off screaming, and it stirred something in the back of your head."
"You went too far and had to finish her off."
[reporter 12] Mr. Fuller felt Bailey was trying to confess…
[reporter 12] Malachi Reed claims Ian Bailey replied,
"It was fine until I went up there with a rock and bashed her brains in."
[reporter 9] He put his arms around Richard Shelley and said, "I did it."
"I went too far."
It's strange that he didn't envisage that this would go badly for him.
[Michael] Bailey was gripped by a bit of hubris,
which he often was,
and thought he's gonna make a fortune and shut the media down.
[reporter 13] One of the more interesting pieces of evidence
to emerge during this libel case
centred here on Kealfadda Bridge,
about a mile from Sophie's house.
A shopkeeper from Schull told the court that she saw Ian Bailey here
at 3 a.m. on the night of Sophie's murder.
From a Garda point of view, Marie Farrell was critical.
She was the only person who could put Ian out of the house
and in the vicinity of Sophie's house.
[reporter 9] Marie Farrell told Gardaí she saw a man
she later identified as Ian Bailey at Kealfadda Bridge,
about a mile from Sophie Toscan du Plantier's holiday home.
[Frédéric in French] Marie Farrell is a central character
because she saw Bailey on the night of the murder
at Kealfadda Bridge.
She was a pivotal witness.
[interviewer in English] Are you 100% sure it was Ian Bailey on the bridge?
110%.
And Ian Bailey confirmed that to me when he came into my shop
because he said, "I know you saw me on the bridge."
[Barry] She was extraordinarily credible.
Very adamant, very definite, very clear as to what she was saying,
and very clear what she was saying
about being harassed and threatened afterwards by Ian.
[reporter 9] Farrell told the court
that Ian Bailey tried to force her on a number of occasions
to retract the statement she made to Gardaí.
She said he told her he knew things about her
and asked her to change her statement.
[Michael] She made many official complaints to the Gardaí
in relation to the campaign of harassment and intimidation she suffered
at the hands of Ian Bailey.
He arrived in the shop,
and he said that he knew I had seen him on the bridge
and that he wanted me to tell his solicitor
that the Gardaí had made me make up the story about him.
And if I did that, he would leave me alone.
And when I had no intentions of doing that,
he made my life hell.
And at one stage, I thought,
"He's so big. He could kill me here in two minutes,
and nobody would know."
We were waiting for the ice cream parlour to open,
and she came running down,
absolutely terrified, and we said, "What's the matter?"
And she said that Bailey had parked facing her in the car,
and he'd gone like this.
He, em, would make cutthroat gestures like this if he met me on the street,
or he would do this.
That type of intimidation went on for months and months.
She said she feared for herself and for her children.
[Michael] I did a lot of investigation.
I discovered there were other witnesses and neighbours he'd threatened.
So it was quite understandable
that particularly the female population of the area
should be scared of Ian Bailey.
[Irune] A lot of women were absolutely terrified of Ian Bailey.
And a lot of women upped and left.
They'd left, and they didn't come back.
[reporter 14] Ian spent a third day in the witness box
in Cork Circuit Court today.
[Paul] It was incredible what was coming out.
You'd have something written by lunchtime,
and in the afternoon, that was gone out the window.
[reporter 9] Ian Bailey's cross-examination began this afternoon,
and almost immediately,
he was challenged about what's been described as his stormy relationship
with his partner, Jules Thomas.
He had beaten up Jules so badly, she nearly lost an eye.
[reporter 15] A friend of Jules Thomas's daughter, Peter Bielecki,
told the court about an assault on Jules Thomas by Ian Bailey in 1996.
[Peter] I got a knock on the door, and it was Jules's daughter Virginia.
Could I come and take Jules to hospital, please?
Jules is sat on the bed.
She's… She's curled up in a ball.
This eye is huge and turned in. Half of her hair is out of her head.
There's nail marks all over her face. Her lip is ripped open.
Uh, Fenella, who was the little girl, looked at me,
and, uh, to this day, I can't…
[inhales shakily]
Sorry. Just give me a sec. Um…
[voice cracks] It was the look on that kid's face.
Like, "Help. Help me, please,"
and I couldn't, you know?
[breathes shakily]
And, uh, I've never felt so useless in all my life.
I… I couldn't help this child, you know?
It became part of their life together,
um, and the neighbours got used to seeing her, uh, bruised.
After the third or fourth time, they'd see her with a black eye.
They were appalled by the savagery of the attacks.
[reporter 16] Paul Gallagher for the newspapers suggested to him
that he'd inflicted at least five assaults on Ms. Thomas.
[sighs]
It's not that I don't wanna go back into them,
but, I mean, they are long past.
On that occasion, she'd been drinking, we'd both been drinking.
I've maybe… I don't know what happened, but she started to grab me,
and I was pushing her back,
and I hurt her in that process.
[reporter 9] Mr. Bailey admitted
that Ms. Thomas had been left with clumps of hair missing from her head,
her eye was purple, the size of a grapefruit,
and her lip was severed from her gum. She needed eight stitches.
Mr. Bailey said he had drink taken and had lost control,
but he denied that he was a violent man.
I'd had a conversation with a local guard,
and I said, "She's not gonna press charges."
And he said, "She must do because…
[inhales sharply] …if she doesn't,
it could be worse next time. And it might not even be her."
[interviewer] In relation to Sophie's murder, when was this?
Hmm…
Six months before, I suppose.
At most.
I'd have to take full responsibility.
But, I mean, it does take two… You know, it takes two to tango.
But I'm not trying to absolve my…
my actions or,
you know, at all.
Ian is a very interesting paradox between being shameless and shameful.
[reporter 9] Today, Judge Patrick Moran ruled against Ian Bailey.
The newspapers didn't brand him the murderer,
and Judge Moran had no hesitation in describing Mr. Bailey as a violent man.
[Lara] He lost the case.
It did seem like almost an act of self-harm for him
to bring this trial upon himself.
[reporter 17] In Paris, in the home of Sophie Toscan du Plantier's parents,
her family welcomed the judge's ruling.
[speaking French]
[English voiceover] The verdict is right.
What's sure is that the judge insisted
he was a very violent person, mainly with women.
We hope that, with the new testimonies,
the DPP will take a decision very soon
to arrest the murderer.
You felt immediately that what was gonna happen
was that he was gonna get arrested now, and something was gonna come of this.
We were just still hoping that the DPP would carry on and prosecute.
[reporter 18] The Irish director of public prosecutions
says he has no plans to charge Ian Bailey with the murder.
[Lara] For me,
it's stunning to think that after all that came out,
all that testimony and all that evidence,
that Ireland never put him on trial.
[Jean-Pierre in French] It was evident
that Bailey seemed even more guilty than before.
But nothing happened.
[Pierre-Louis] Since my mother's death,
I've been lucky enough to put a big barrier
between… between me and this story.
[sombre music plays]
But, uh, time moves on. Uh…
So now it's been 23 years,
there have been two phases.
The phase
where I was, uh…
the child who's suffering,
crying, grieving,
and then the phase
where I enter the fight.
[suspenseful music plays]
The association is extremely important for me and for the search for truth.
Every month, whatever is going on in everyone's lives,
we meet.
Ça va?
[kisses]
It was founded by my grandma's brother.
[Jean-Pierre] We were very confident. The Irish police,
the Garda,
were going to solve the problem. "We'd found the killer."
Then, obviously, it didn't work out like that.
At that point, I started saying to my sister,
"We're stuck. We could wait years. Nothing is being done."
And so we created the association in 2007.
[Pierre-Louis] What's going on?
[woman speaks French]
[Pierre-Louis] Have you lost weight?
[Jean-Pierre] I didn't know anything about criminal law.
I learned about the differences between the legal systems.
Is it possible to convict in absentia in Ireland?
[Barry in English] The French system, it is such a different system.
It really is incredibly different, and you can't overstate that enough.
[Lara] In Ireland, which is based on the British justice system,
you have to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt,
and in France, it's un faisceau de preuves.
It's like a bouquet of evidence.
[Jean-Pierre in French] After the 2003 libel trial,
we have all the witness accounts. We have everything for the first time.
And it was the beginning of the legal fight in France
for truth and justice
for Sophie.
[Pierre-Louis] All those who knew my mom, uh, knew she was a fighter,
and, uh, I… I…
I am going to try and be a fighter.
One thing is for sure.
Bailey will not evade justice his whole life.
[distant cheering, applause]
[Jean-Pierre] We created the association in September 2007,
and the French investigation began in 2008.
[Barry in English] I've learned from this story, covering for 24 years,
is that every time you think it has played out,
it never fails to surprise you.
[bell dinging]
[suspenseful music plays]
[Paul] There was a development in the story
that took Ireland and France by storm.
I'm positive it wasn't Ian Bailey.
-You're certain it wasn't Ian Bailey? -[Marie] Positive.
[Paul] Marie Farrell had retracted her statements.
It was all more or less bullshit
in the statements, and I wanted to withdraw them.
[reporter 19] The principal witness has suddenly, irrevocably
removed herself from the equation.
[reporter 20] Marie Farrell turned the whole investigation on its head.
[reporter 21] She was with a man who was not her husband.
[Marie] If this came out, my whole life was destroyed, I thought,
because I thought my marriage was gone,
even though I hadn't been having an affair.
[reporter 21] Compromised by that,
she now claims police forced her to falsely identify their prime suspect.
[Marie] They told me not to worry about it,
that I would never have to go to court,
that they only wanted me to say it for their own records.
[tense music plays]
During the libel trial, I believed her.
She was giving evidence. She was very credible.
When she retracted her statements,
I believed her. She was very credible again.
[Marie] I told them I was withdrawing the statements,
and I was crying, and I told him. I said, "This is it. I'm withdrawing everything."
"I don't want any more of this. I can't handle it. I can't take any more."
Well, now…
[chuckles]
…I don't know. You see,
she kept to her story for ten years,
which I believed was right.
What made her change her story?
What do you think?
I am telling the truth now.
Why would I put myself in the spotlight like this
if I wasn't telling the truth?
Maybe you could be doing it if Ian Bailey was threatening you
or intimidating you,
as the evidence has been in court hitherto,
from your own mouth, indeed, you know, that you could be scared of him,
and this is your way to get him off your back.
No, I have not been intimidated in any way by Ian Bailey.
[Frédéric in French] Our family's great regret
is that we didn't stop the pressure
that Bailey exerted on Marie Farrell.
For many years,
she lived in the same village as Bailey, in Schull,
and she was put under enormous pressure.
[inaudible]
[Frédéric] The case swung, and Ian Bailey started to bounce back.
[Michael in English] Bailey was thrilled.
As he said, "Welcome onto the side of good."
[indistinct conversation]
They now had a witness on their side
who would claim, uh, that the Gardaí were corrupt.
[camera shutters clicking]
Bailey has always said that the treatment that he has received
at the hands of the Irish police has been corrupt.
[camera clicks]
[Barry] Was the investigation corrupt
with the intent of framing somebody they knew to be innocent?
I would contend that was more to incompetence
rather than anything deliberate or malicious.
[Paul] Unfortunately, I think the whole debacle
hinges on the way the guards handled this from day one.
[Pierre-Louis in French] Big mistakes from the beginning,
from the crime scene that wasn't preserved.
People could walk over it.
[in English] Exhibits have gone missing. Let's be frank about that. There's a gate.
[Paul] A big, bloodstained gate from a farmyard
in this investigation went missing.
How in the name of God can something like that go missing?
[Barry] Why didn't they have an identity parade
after Marie Farrell identified him as the man she'd seen at Kealfadda Bridge?
That was just one aspect, I think,
that the Gardaí would concede privately that they fell down on.
[Dwyer] We're like any police force. We're not perfect.
I'm not saying we didn't make mistakes, but there was no…
I'd say that anyplace. There was no corruption.
There was no setting people up.
It was done on the level.
[Barry] I don't think anybody would hold up the investigation
as a model of how it should be done.
But because there are failings in the Garda investigation,
does that automatically mean that he's innocent?
[seagulls calling]
[Irune] Six months went by, a year, then two, three, four years,
and you're thinking, "Why on earth isn't something being done?"
I just don't understand why the DPP didn't prosecute.
[reporter 22] Newly uncovered official files have begun to emerge.
Ten years ago, the DPP's office said a prosecution of Bailey was not warranted.
[Barry] In 2011, we learned why the DPP concluded
that the evidence didn't merit a charge against Ian Bailey.
[reporter 23] The documents included the opinion of Eamonn Barnes,
who was the director of public prosecutions
who made the decision not to prosecute Mr. Bailey.
He said in his opinion, the evidence in the case
came nowhere near warranting a charge against Mr. Bailey.
Mr. Barnes said the Garda investigation was thoroughly flawed and prejudiced
in relation to Mr. Bailey.
The DPP decided that there were some very questionable practices
being, eh, used by Gardaí in the course of the investigation.
[Dwyer] I was very disappointed with a whole lot of things.
I'm a cop.
My job as a cop is to collect what evidence we have
and submit it to the DPP's office.
And 'tis they make the decisions.
We're not in a position to dispute anything with them,
despite the fact that you see things there,
and they say, "How can he ignore that? How can he ignore this?"
[Barry] In almost every single case
where a witness gives a statement and Ian gives a different version,
the DPP tends to side with Ian's interpretation.
[Michael] He argued with every single witness
in terms of their credibility.
[Barry] People like the Shelleys, Malachi Reed,
he questions on the basis that they didn't make the statement immediately
and therefore they can't be reliable.
For example, Malachi Reed, at 14,
didn't say to his mother that evening when he came home.
He waited till the following day, so the DPP dismissed that statement.
Ordinary witnesses
who had no reason whatsoever, uh, to lie.
[Barry] His interpretation of Ian Bailey's previous behaviour,
I'm not sure how you can interpret something
as being sarcastic from a written script.
[Lara] One of the most shocking things about the report
is it says, "Well, yes, Bailey had been very violent towards women,
but then, unfortunately, this happens all the time," you know.
Sort of excusing it
and saying that the fact he had a history of violence against women
was not relevant to the case that this woman was beaten to a pulp.
Indeed, the conclusion at the end of the report is,
"We believe there are not sufficient grounds to send him to trial."
[reporter 23] James Hamilton said there was insufficient evidence
to charge Ian Bailey with the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
He said investigators can act on suspicion,
but the DPP must act on evidence.
[reporter 24] Sophie Toscan du Plantier's family
have established an association to maintain pressure on authorities
in Ireland and France.
That pressure led to the decision by the Garda commissioner
and the minister for justice to hand over the Garda file
on Madame Toscan du Plantier's murder last month
to a magistrate in Paris,
who's conducting his own investigation under French law.
[Jean-Pierre in French] When a French citizen is murdered abroad,
France has the right to carry out its own inquiry
and after that to prosecute
the suspect.
[in English] I think, and I hope, there will be a prosecution in this case.
We are working for this.
[Paul] It was the French family
that kept knocking on the door of the French government.
"Get the Irish justice system to sort this out."
"Get somebody on trial."
[Ian] I've got a stick which now contains all of the major documents.
The French file.
I'm fully sympathetic to the family,
but I cannot understand why it is
that they are so convinced by the evidence that we have shown in this country.
It's dodgy, to say the least.
There had been a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice
by getting Marie Farrell to make false statements.
So I was battling and trying to take legal actions to… to clear my name.
[tense music plays]
[reporter 9] Here in the place they call Ireland's Riviera,
they are bracing themselves for more revelations.
[reporter 25] Ian Bailey is suing the state
amid claims that he was wrongly targeted as a suspect in the murder.
[Dwyer] Bailey was taking us to court.
The truth always comes out at the end.
It might be a long time, but 'twill happen.
[reporter 26] The jury was told
some Gardaí conspired to implicate Ian Bailey
in the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier
and set out to blame him for a crime he didn't commit.
Certainly the way it was shaping up,
it looked as though Ian Bailey was going to win.
[reporter 26] Farrell said she'd come to court without any threat or inducement
and was under oath to tell the truth.
Of course, Marie Farrell, when she came up on the stand,
she was considered the star witness.
[reporter 26] Marie Farrell's time in the witness box was dramatic.
[Michael] But the defence counsel said
that her evidence was not credible in many matters.
And then it came to the issue of the man she was with
on the night she saw Bailey at Kealfadda Bridge.
[reporter 26] Farrell has never revealed the identity
of a man she was with on 23rd December 1996.
In the witness box today,
she still refused to name the man she was with that night.
"I will not do that," she said.
[Michael] He pressed her further, and then she says,
"I'm sick to death of this. It's all about my personal relationship."
"I'm not putting up with any more."
She took her handbag and her coat, and she left the witness stand
and departed the court,
to the horror of Bailey and his team.
And, I mean, Marie Farrell's walkout was, you know, box office.
The cameraman from RTÉ was really sharp.
He raced around from the front,
around the back, and got her walking out the back.
Frank Buttimer had to persuade her to come back.
[Michael] The judge warned her. He says, "This will be your last walkout."
He then said,
"You will have to give the name of this man."
"There's going to be no secrets in this trial. Name him."
She named a man.
It was another lie.
She had just actually lied to the court under oath.
[reporter 26] Lawyers for the Gardaí and the state
said Marie Farrell's story had varied so often over the years
that she couldn't be believed.
[Dwyer] Poor woman, she was telling lies nonstop.
Eventually, she didn't know what she was saying. She was talking rubbish.
The critical witness for Ian is Marie Farrell.
It really is the most important thing to his case,
and her credibility was completely shot,
and he was struggling after that and lost the High Court action.
Can't say anything at present.
[reporter 26] Bailey left the High Court having lost a marathon legal battle
to face a multi-million euro bill for costs.
[Ian] Can't say anything at the moment. Sorry.
The bottom line, as far as I'm concerned,
'twas she came forward to us.
We didn't go looking for her, and that's a very important issue.
[Denis] I remember her well.
I actually remember Sophie sitting here in the bar.
Always very low-key,
sat there quietly.
No bother to anybody.
You've certainly brought it all back.
Do you know, 24 years is a long time.
And, uh, you know, the memory goes thin,
and it's hard to remember everything in detail.
There's been court cases for libel,
court cases for other things,
and it's been known as the Bailey case ever since,
and I think the focus has to go back to Sophie,
the innocent victim of some terrible deed.
At the time, there were all these questions
that were not being properly answered.
We were all looking for the clue.
If only we could find the answer to make everything okay again.
There was a lot of local networking where…
It's like putting together a jigsaw.
We were all trying to make sense of all the little tiny bits of information
that everybody was trying to thread together
in some kind of narrative,
which all kept falling apart.
[tense music plays]
[Barry] There were good reasons, in some cases,
why Gardaí didn't get statements until weeks, months, or years later.
They didn't realise the significance of what the person had to say.
[Arianna] I remember the frustration of being interviewed by the Garda
years after the fact.
I was the person in the suspect's house
the day after it happened.
And that was something that I could never, uh,
remove from my memory.
When I was 20, I left Italy
and moved to Ireland, where I met Ginny Thomas.
I remember she was pretty open about her family, you know,
her, um, mum, uh, Jules,
and, uh, her notorious…
boyfriend, Ian.
I ended up actually going to stay with them at Christmas.
I remember on the bus ride from Cork to West Cork,
hearing about the murder.
Once I got there, you know,
I remember things being weird in a way.
I remember Ian covering the case as he was a journalist.
[suspenseful music plays]
He was a big guy with a big personality,
and, uh, I remember seeing the scratches on his arms.
The scratches were visible,
and, um…
I don't, uh, think they were caused by a Christmas tree
or from killing a turkey.
It's not like I was, uh, scrutinising him,
but, uh, you know, I can comfortably say
that maybe some thorns caused the scratches.
I remember, uh, you know, taking a shower.
There was a large bucket in the shower.
A dark coat soaked in there.
Heavy material.
I believe it was Ian's coat.
I would say that's unusual, you know,
you're washing such a large item that is not easy to dry,
you know, in the middle of winter, but, uh…
It's significant, and I remember clearly
that it was unusual.
[Barry] I still think there are a huge number of questions about the case
that he's never answered satisfactorily.
There are just so many contradictions between his version of it
with the witnesses who'd given statements to the Gardaí.
Take for example, did he know Sophie?
[interviewer on radio] Had you previous knowledge of this woman?
Had you met her? Were you acquainted with her?
Had you seen her before?
[Ian on radio] Um, I'd never met her, never been introduced to her.
I'd never spoken to her.
[reporter] Did you know Sophie Toscan du Plantier?
I didn't know her inasmuch that I had never met her,
but I had seen her once, and she was pointed out to me.
[interviewer] Did you know Sophie Toscan du Plantier?
I had never met her, never spoken with her.
I had seen her on one occasion when it was pointed out by a neighbour.
[Agnes in French] When Sophie died, it was such a shock.
As a result, I closed all the doors.
I didn't read, listen, or watch anything.
I didn't want to know anything.
The memory only came back because we created the association,
so it was a very long time afterwards.
It's one of those curiosities of the memory.
"A man who wrote poems" flooded back into my mind.
It may have been the first night she was in Ireland.
A few days before my birthday, she called me,
and we talked about everything,
about her life, her husband, her work, what she'd done that day.
At a point in the conversation where she was talking about her work,
she told me about this man.
This man wanted to meet her to tell her about a project
about poetry,
and she found him strange.
She found him a bit worrying as a character.
I said, "Don't see him alone. See him in a public place."
[Barry in English] He said he never met her. You've all these people,
at least eight other people,
giving statements that contradict Ian where he says he doesn't know her.
[church bells ring]
Perhaps the most significant of all is Guy Girard,
a film producer who worked with Sophie
and spoke to her before she left for Ireland,
and she again mentioned
that she was going to meet this man living in Schull who was a writer.
[Guy in French] This story extremely affected me deeply.
It profoundly affected me.
It was the evening before her departure.
I thought she was talking about a Breton director
who had a similar-sounding name.
So I said to her, "Oh yes, I know him. I've seen this film, that film."
She said, "No, you can't know him."
"Eoin Bailey lives next door to me in Cork."
She told me that he earned a living as a writer,
that is to say he's a journalist or a poet,
and that he was interested in stories about domestic violence.
[Jean-Pierre] Sophie knew Bailey. Bailey knew Sophie.
The second point is Bailey's confessions.
Bailey's confession to Malachi Reed, to different people,
"I did it. I did it"
The third point is Bailey's timetable during the night of the murder.
He himself confessed that he went out on the night of the murder.
So no alibi for Bailey.
The other point is, of course,
the scratches and the mark on the forehead.
[Lara in English] I mean, all of that is part of that faisceau de preuves.
The French say it's part of that bouquet of indications.
When you put it all together, it… it's pretty damning.
[Barry] We came to a situation then
that the French decided to proceed with the trial of Ian Bailey in absentia.
[in French] We had a trial that we'd waited for 22, 23 years for.
[suspenseful music plays]
[in English] Tomorrow in Paris, over 1,000 kilometres away,
Ian Bailey will be tried for the murder in his absence under French law.
Legally, it's unprecedented in Franco-Irish relations.
[Pierre-Louis in French] Just before the trial in France,
I wanted to go to Ireland with my uncle, Bertrand,
to explain what was happening
to the local community.
And why it was important for them
that I was fighting
for justice for my mother,
to clear their land's name.
This is a speech that I read out in the church.
[in English] "Dear friends, dear families,
dear Irish people,
in a few days' time,
the trial of the man accused of killing my mother
will begin at last."
"This is a trial of a crime
that does not fit
with what Ireland is like."
"This is a trial of a crime
that you and I didn't deserve."
[suspenseful music plays]
[in French] I have fought like a dog for years.
I've suffered for years.
My conviction for the past 15 years
is that everything points to Bailey.
Everything, everything, everything shows that it's Bailey.
There's no question.
[reporter 27 in English] Pierre-Louis Baudey-Vignaud
arriving at the criminal court of Paris
where the man accused of murdering his mother
has gone on trial in absentia.
There's no jury.
The case will instead be decided by three magistrates.
I think it's bizarre.
I mean, I interviewed Frank Buttimer prior to that,
and I said, "Are you going to send anybody over?"
He said, "Why should I? He's going to be found guilty."
[reporter 28] The lawyer who has represented Ian Bailey
for most of the past 23 years since the murder
has dismissed the proceedings as invalid.
No, he doesn't… he doesn't recognise
that the proceedings are, in fact, valid or just.
He will not be attending. He will not be represented.
[Pierre-Louis in French] I won't let it go.
I won't leave him alone.
[in English] More than 30 witnesses have been called to give evidence.
[in French] I went to the trial, and I was questioned as a witness.
It was very difficult to go through, very intimidating.
I had to say that Sophie had spoken to me about this man.
That's what was important.
[in English] It was all very intimidating, but, um, it was the right thing to do.
I can only do my little bit,
and hopefully if all those bits come together,
then it will make a difference.
My deposition was an important factor.
Which, you know, made me,
uh,
made me feel that I was doing the right thing,
talking about it, finally, being open about it.
[in French] I think that my witness statement
and all the other witness statements were useful for the outcome of the trial.
[in English] It was quite nerve-wracking, but I wanted to say
what I've been holding for the last 23 years.
I want closure. This is all I want.
That's all everybody wants at the end of the day.
They did consider that Marie Farrell's testimony was legitimate,
even though she had retracted it.
I think the assumption in France was that the initial testimony
was probably the true testimony.
[Bertrand in French] For the first time,
it was people on the outside of the subject who were judging.
Everything we imagined, all of our hypotheses
laid out by the judges, who are objective and professional.
The last day, the verdict, of course, was the most dramatic moment.
[camera shutters clicking]
[in French] After 22 years of waiting,
22 years of suffering,
22 years of questions,
the judges convicted Ian Bailey,
who killed my mother over 22 years ago,
to 25 years in prison.
Mr. Bailey was guilty.
[clicks tongue]
It's clear. Uh… He killed her.
The judge said it.
[indistinct chatter]
[reporter 29 in English] Father Georges left the court
a short time after Ian Bailey was convicted in absentia
and sentenced to 25 years in prison for his daughter's murder.
-[camera shutters clicking] -[journalists exclaiming]
[sombre music plays]
It was a very emotional moment, certainly for the family.
[in French] It's a verdict. It's the first verdict,
and I don't see how Ireland could refuse to extradite him.
Now justice must be done.
This is the European arrest warrant, and it's alleging that I am…
guilty of…
wilful homicide and serious assault and battery…
of Madame Toscan du Plantier.
Well, I now find myself in a situation where I've been charged with murder
without having ever been interviewed by the French.
This isn't the end of the matter. I will be pursuing this.
Even if they do extradite me
and I finish up rotting in some French prison,
all they will have achieved is convicting an innocent man
of a crime he had nothing to do with.
[reporter 30] News that has broken just a couple of hours ago
and that is that the High Court ruled
that Ian Bailey cannot be extradited to France
to serve a 25-year prison sentence.
[Pierre-Louis] What happens next?
I don't know. [sighs]
[in French] I don't know.
If Bailey continues to slip through the net,
I assure you I will make sure the net comes down on Bailey.
[Marie-Madeleine] He was convicted in France. Now I don't understand
why this man is walking around in Ireland.
Can you explain to me why this man is free?
[in English] I'm writing a poem which I'm trying to get committed to memory.
Um…
If I write it down repeatedly and I recite it, it…
It… Eventually, it sticks.
[Paul] He's aging.
He's slowing down.
He's got a lot on his mind.
He's carried this with him for the past 20-odd years.
And he's carried it
whether he's innocent or whether he's guilty.
If he is innocent,
he's been basically persecuted for the past 23 years.
[Len] His life, it can't be normal. He knows people are avoiding him.
He knows that people aren't talking to him.
It's not right.
I think he's been convicted on his personality.
[Wassell] Maybe in other parts of Ireland, neighbours would have harrowed him,
and he would have had to leave,
but the fact that he's still there, I think,
indicates how, uh, tolerant his neighbours were even after the murder.
But it's tremendous trauma for the community.
[Irune] Well, I very rarely go to a market
for obvious reasons.
And this is 20 years later.
[Ian] I'm good. I'm just writing a new poem.
[Irune] For me, it doesn't sit well
that this person… [inhales sharply]
…can cause so much pain
and just…
carries on skipping on by.
So I wrote this last week, and this is the second draft.
I thought I had a handle on it
I thought I'd seen it all
But something very strange has happened
And the handle's fallen off the door…
[Pierre-Louis in French] I've seen Bailey at least twice.
He recognised me one time.
He's convinced himself of his story,
but…
I have no empathy. None.
Just the feeling of having seen a void.
Nothingness.
[in English] It's never got out of my mind
because there's something every day in the paper.
There's courts coming up. There's appeals coming up.
It becomes part of your life.
But I do feel sorry for her father and mother.
How did they live since it happened?
She was their pride and joy.
Everything that they were living for.
[in French] What bothers me is that he hasn't confessed.
You would feel that justice had been done if he confessed though?
[Georges] Right.
Marguerite is convinced it's him.
But would it bring peace?
You don't get justice when it's the death of your daughter.
[inhales sharply] No.
[Pierre-Louis] The house in Ireland, for me, is the only place
I would go with my mother and where I still go today.
It's like going to see her.
It's like going to stay with her every time.
[Sophie speaking French]
[Pierre-Louis] My mother is very present in this house.
[Sophie] Look how white the hail is.
[Pierre-Louis] She is very present.
[Irish folk music plays]