exclusive Ian Bailey interview: ‘It is as if some people are trying to feed off my carcass while I am still alive’ 

“It is as if some people are trying to feed off my carcass while I am still alive.”

Mr Bailey has vehemently protested his innocence in relation to the west Cork crime for 24 years – but was convicted in absentia of the killing by a Paris court in May 2019.

Ireland’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ruled he did not have a case to answer after he was twice arrested by gardaí in 1997 and 1998 but released without charge each time.

On three occasions, French bids to have Mr Bailey extradited to Paris were rejected by Irish courts.

He has now written to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, Taoiseach Micheál Martin and the DPP seeking a fresh review of the case to confirm his innocence.

The Manchester-born journalist claimed that a senior former garda cold case official said he should have been eliminated as a suspect years ago given the evidence.

Mr Bailey’s comments came as, over a 12-month period, two major TV documentaries will be released on the unsolved killing, an updated podcast series and five books in France and Ireland/UK (including one by this author).

Over the next fortnight, two eagerly-awaited TV documentaries will be released on the case – one by Sky and the other by Netflix.

The Sky production is by Academy Award-nominated Irish director Jim Sheridan.

Titled Murder at the Cottage: The Search for Justice for Sophie, it will piece together some original evidence as well as never-before-seen footage, not to mention unprecedented access both to Ian Bailey and Sophie’s family.

Mr Sheridan’s project has been almost five years in the making and the five episodes will be available from June 20.

The Netflix series is by Academy Award-winning producer, Simon Chinn.

His three-part series is titled: Sophie: A Murder in West Cork and will launch on Netflix on June 30.

The documentary team said that in making the production: “We wanted to honour Sophie, her family and that rural community in the south west of Ireland.”

Sophie’s family were deeply involved with the Netflix production.

Mr Bailey said he had a lot of respect for Mr Sheridan who had devoted years to preparing his documentary.
“That project is not about money.”

However, he was very critical of the forthcoming Netflix production which he said he fully expected would “demonise” him.

“I believe it is more a piece of propaganda.”

He also said that several of the books published on the case ignored key facts and went with the “created narrative” that wrongly involved him.

“I have been fighting for justice for 24 years – people tend to forget that. I am an innocent person caught up in this nightmare. This has been a never ending nightmare for me.”

Mr Bailey’s solicitor, Frank Buttimer, has repeatedly warned that his client’s life was destroyed by being wrongly linked to the crime for 24 years.

Mr Buttimer also described the Paris prosecution as “a show trial” which made “a mockery of justice.”

A journalist, poet, law student, wood turner and bodhrán maker, Mr Bailey acknowledged that it has been very difficult over recent weeks.

Last month, he was convicted of drug driving before Bantry District Court though he is appealing that conviction.

He also split from his long-time partner, Welsh artist Jules Thomas.

The generation of so much publicity by books and TV documentaries about the Sophie case has also inflicted its own pressure – but he said that, as a journalist, he knows how the media industry works. “My name is Ian K Bailey – but I sign myself off as KBO. Winston Churchill signed himself off as KBO – basically it means Keep B***ering On. That is what I am trying to do.”

He said the Covid-19 pandemic has also brought its own pressures, particularly the impact on his market stall work in west Cork. “I have been doing everything I can to stay calm in the middle of all of this. That is not easy when there are some devils out there who are determined to see me bonfired.”

“This has been an absolute torture and there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight.”

Mr Bailey said that what has shocked him most is that he believes there are people in Ireland who know he is entirely innocent of the crime – but yet they have remained silent while he has been subjected to various judicial proceedings since 1997.

“It is like being caught in a storm. But I have been meditating and writing poetry which, of course, always helps.”

Mr Bailey said he remains a keen practitioner of Theravada forest Buddhism meditation to deal with stress.
“It has been enormously helpful when you feel you are caught in the eye of a hurricane.

"I have become quite expert at it over the years – at times it feels as if I have been trained in a Buddhist monastery for 25 years.”

He also said he was very grateful to a close circle of friends in west Cork who have been very supportive of him over the years.

“They have been tremendously supportive and I know they are there for me if I need them.”

December marks the 25th anniversary of the brutal murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in west Cork.

The French mother of one was beaten to death as she attempted to flee from an intruder at her isolated holiday home at Toormore outside Schull on December 23 1996.

She ran downhill from her home, across a field but got caught near a gate where her clothing snagged on barbed wire.

The savagery of the attack shocked veteran gardaí and left locals living in fear.
Such were the repeated blows to Sophie’s head, detectives believed the killer tried to render the mother of one completely unrecognisable.

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