Ian Bailey's solicitor hits out at Tánaiste's comments on Sophie Toscan du Plantier case
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The solicitor for the late Ian Bailey has labelled Tánaiste Micheál Martin's recent comments on the Sophie Toscan du Plantier case as "extraordinary" and "a fair old attack on many of the pillars of justice of the State".
Sophie Toscan du Plantier's body was found badly beaten outside her holiday home in Schull, West Cork, in December 1996. She was 39 years old.
Ian Bailey, who died in January at the age of 66, was the main suspect in her murder. He was convicted in absentia by a French court in 2019 but he always denied any involvement.
Speaking on Thursday, Mr Martin said the State had "failed in our duty to find and convict a bloody murderer, and our system blocked alternative routes when others were not willing to accept our failures".
The Tánaiste said that the cumulative evidence against Ian Bailey was "overwhelming" from his own assessment.
"When you look at the details of this case and the scale of the evidence, it is very, very hard to understand why this evidence was not put before a jury," Mr Martin said.
Following the comments, solicitor Frank Buttimer said: "I found his contribution extraordinary is all I can say. I don't know where it's coming from."
Mr Buttimer said Mr Martin was likely basing his opinion on the content of a new book on the case, some of the content of which Mr Buttimer said "would not be evidential".
"He [the Tánaiste] goes on then to disparage the office of the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions], where three DPPs at least declined to prosecute Bailey, the Supreme Court, which he seems to suggest was used in an effort to prevent Bailey's removal, and then the other two high courts, which also refused to extradite Bailey.
"So it's a fair old attack on many of the pillars of justice of the State. Where it comes from, I have absolutely no idea."
Mr Buttimer said that he, having represented Mr Bailey for more than 20 years, had extensively researched the "dreadful murder of Madame Toscan du Plantier" which was "necessary professionally and properly to represent Ian Bailey in his various court travails over time".
"I absolutely assure anybody who's out there listening that there was nothing tangible by way of evidence against Ian Bailey, such as would even have justified a prosecution against him, let alone a removal to that other crowd over in France, to their system of justice where you are effectively guilty until proven innocent with all of the consequences that would have flowed from there."
Asked whether he believed Mr Bailey was innocent, Mr Buttimer said: "100%. Absolutely without question."
Speaking on with PJ Coogan on 96FM, Mr Buttimer said Mr Bailey first came into his office around March 1997.
"One gets impressions and one forms opinions of people as one meets them, maybe professionally or non-professionally. From that time onwards, I pretty much knew that the concoction against him was a load of rubbish," Mr Buttimer said.
"And then looking into the case in much, much more detail because of the stuff that was coming out and having to deal with the extradition defences and all that, and acquiring information about the total skullduggery that was going on, witness activity and stuff that the police were up to, and other failures, it was absolutely, manifestly obvious that there was nothing to go on."
Asked if we would ever conclusively know who killed Sophie Toscan du Plantier, Mr Buttimer replied that "in all probability" we would not.
"The passage of time is a huge enemy of finding out. The failure is going right back to 1996-1997 to conduct a proper inquiry. We can't turn back the clock on that one," he said.
"So I regret to say that the chances of finding out who did it are just going out with the tide."