‘Bailey was focus of series, but what about our Sophie?’
Filmmaker’s brother breaks silence on Sheridan account
THE brother of Sophie Toscan du Plantier yesterday revealed his family’s reasons for pulling out of the new five-part Sky documentary directed by the multi-Oscarnominated director Jim Sheridan.
Bertrand Bouniol said his family wanted their interview removed from Sheridan’s Murder At The Cottage because ‘everything is focused on Ian Bailey’.
He said he watched both documentaries that have come out about his sister in the past few weeks – Sheridan’s one and Netflix’s Sophie: A Murder In West Cork.
Mr Bouniol told RTÉ Radio 1’s Brendan O’Connor: ‘When we met the project of Mr Sheridan they told us that they want to also speak about Sophie so we said, “OK, we want to speak about Sophie”.
‘So, I met Jim Sheridan at different times, with my parents, and alone, when he interviewed us.
‘But from the beginning of [watching] his documentary it was clear that he wanted to be a witness trying to understand what the case is.
‘The objective of this documentary was not Sophie, it was Mr Bailey. And when you look at this documentary everything is focused on Mr Bailey.’
The family were a prominent part of the Netflix documentary and Mr Bouniol said they were happy to take part because Sophie was at the centre of the story.
Mr Bouniol also said Ian Bailey’s conviction in France for the murder of his sister was an ‘important step’ for his family.
But he said he was ‘frustrated’ because Mr Bailey didn’t attend and didn’t answer their or the judges’ questions.
When asked if he worries about sending an innocent man to prison, Mr Bouniol said it was not for him to answer.
He said: ‘I’m a victim because I’m Sophie’s brother, and one thing I’ve learned in the 25 years is that we the victims ask for justice.
‘Justice is given by the police, I have not decided that this man was guilty and that’s important. But, at the same time, we need to decide and define who is guilty or not.’
Mr Bouniol also told how his sister came to Cork for ‘peace’.
He said: ‘What is important is the project, which described by Netflix was to put Sophie in the centre of the story, and for the first time in the last 25 years someone put Sophie in the centre.
‘So it was important for us that it was told “Who was Sophie?” Because during the 25 years we forget that.’
The French documentary filmmaker was 39 when she was beaten to death at her isolated holiday home near Schull in West Cork in December 1996.
Mr Bailey was arrested but never charged with Ms Toscan du Plantier’s murder. France mounted its own investigation into the crime, resulting in the conviction of Mr Bailey for the murder following a trial in his absence. He has always maintained his innocence.
‘We need to define who is guilty or not’