LOVE SPLIT FOR KEITH VERY SAD
THE murder of tragic Sophie Toscan du Plantier has fascinated this country for the last 27 years.
But the public interest really accelerated following the screening of the Sky and Netflix documentaries into the killing which brought the larger than life figure of No1 suspect Ian Bailey into our homes.
The 66-year-old Englishman’s sudden death last Sunday was yet another twist in the long-running drama and he left this world protesting his innocence.
Sophie’s heartbroken family have waited a long time to get justice. From the get go, just like the gardai, they were convinced that Ian Bailey did it.
His conviction in absentia by a French court in 2019 gave them some solace but they were still angry that he did not serve a single day of the 25-year sentence the French judge imposed after the High Court refused to extradite him.
The reason was simple. The trial, in Irish legal terms, was effectively a kangaroo court and heard hearsay evidence that would not be permitted under any circumstances here.
Bailey obviously never turned up in Paris and was distraught but not surprised by the French conviction he received.
The verdict had a devastating impact on him personally but more importantly more and more people out there in West Cork began to believe that he wasn’t innocent and he did it.
I first met Bailey in the house he shared with his former partner Jules Thomas a few weeks after Sophie’s horrendous killing.
I fronted him up along with two other journalists and we asked him if he did it?
He denied he did it, that he ever knew Sophie or that he had a secret fling with her.
I have had many dealings with him on and off over the years and can honestly say that I do not know whether he murdered Sophie or not.
His image was very badly damaged by both TV shows.
He came across as an arrogant, upper-class English public schoolboy who also boozed far too much in front of the cameras.
Anyone who ever met him either liked him or immediately despised him.
Sadly the fast majority of people who didn’t know him, couldn’t stand the ground he walked on. I have met a lot of killers in my time, some of them real evil, despicable scum.
I have covered many murder trials and listened in horror at what one human being could do to another. Ian Bailey
I WAS very sorry to see that Keith Duffy and his lovely wife Lisa Smith are splitting up after 25 years of marriage.
They really were great together and did enormous work for various charities.
Keith is one of the really good guys and he has made a great career for himself in the entertainment industry since becoming famous with Boyzone all those years ago. had a lot of faults. He drank far too much, he beat up the woman he loved and he had a weird dark sense of humour.
The one thing I would say about him is he was always polite.
However, I could not imagine him bashing a beautiful young woman like Sophie 50 times with a rock in a fit of rage.
I don’t think he actually had it in him. He was not that type of psychopath but who knows, I could be wrong.
It is very hard to get away with murder and to keep covering your tracks.
You need a great memory to be a good liar. Bailey had been defending himself day in, day out since he was first arrested over the murder and never let up.
What really worries me is if he didn’t do it, who did.?
The film director Jim Sheridan spent seven years working on this story as he made the SKYTV series Murder at the Cottage.
At this stage, he probably knows more about the case than anyone.
He is convinced Sophie knew her killer and Bailey was innocent. He always felt he did himself no favours by his comments and actions, and that he foolishly made himself an easy target for the gardai to go after.
Jim believes the real killer is there and he could be right.
He says the answers to the whole riddle could well lie in France, and the French connection to the murder must be taken far more seriously by the investigators.
I am glad to hear the Garda cold case review into the murder willb continue.
Everybody needs to know the truth at this stage. If Bailey is not the killer then who is?
He knew his heart condition was extremely serious and that he might not have long to live. He had no new confession to make on his deathbed and instead stuck to the script.
He said to me several times in the past few months, “If I die, tell them I didn’t do it”.
He would laugh and joke and then admit Sophie’s brutal death and his association with it had absolutely destroyed his life.
The truth is it killed him in the end.
Bailey & Sophie Toscan du Plantier
still out