Search for truth lasts 2 decades

DECEMBER 23, 1996: French film-maker Sophie Toscan du Plantier is found dead outside her holiday home in West Cork.

FEBRUARY 10, 1997: Freelance journalist Ian Bailey is arrested on suspicion of murder. He is detained at Bandon Garda station for 12 hours and released without charge.

JANUARY 27, 1998: Bailey is arrested for a second time and released without charge.

JULY 1, 2008: The body of mum-of-one Sophie is exhumed by French investigators.

FEBRUARY 2010: French authorities request Bailey’s extradition on a European Arrest Warrant.

MAY 2012: Supreme Court rules Bailey will not be extradited.

MARCH 30, 2015: Bailey loses civil damages case against the State and the Garda Commissioner.

AUGUST 4, 2016: French authorities issue a second Bailey arrest warrant.

DECEMBER 23, 2016: Sophie’s son Pierre Louis Baudeyvignaud, now 35, vows to never give up in his attempt to find justice for his mother on the 20th anniversary of her death.

JULY 24, 2017: The High Court in Ireland refuses to extradite Bailey to France for questioning over the murder.

FEBRUARY 1, 2018: A Paris appeals court rules Bailey should stand trial in France for voluntary homicide.

FEBRUARY 3, 2018: Sophie’s son pleads with him to “respond in person” in a French court.