BAILEY: I HAD TO MISS MY MOTHER’S FUNERAL BECAUSE OF SOPHIE PROBE
‘Prime suspect’ greatly saddened at not seeing mum
IAN Bailey has revealed his heartache at missing his mother’s funeral because he could not travel to the UK.
The Manchester-born journalist said her death in a nursing home in 2016 was one of the “cruellest blows” he has endured since being accused by French prosecutors of murder.
The 64-year-old was the subject of a European arrest warrant at the time and said he could not leave Ireland for fear of being taken into custody.
He added: “While I have experienced much during the course of the last 25 years, losing my parents Kenneth on Christmas Eve in 2000 and my mother Brenda in 2016 was hard to bear.
Although I was able to travel to England to be with my dad the night before he died, which was comforting, my mum died in a nursing home in 2016.
“But because of the European arrest warrant I knew if I went to England I would be arrested on entry.
“Not being able to visit or attend my mum’s funeral was the cruellest of blows and still greatly saddens me.”
Writing in the Big Issue magazine he claims there was a “witch hunt” against him as he reiterated his call for a Cold Case Review of the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder.
The Frenchwoman was found beaten to death on December 23, 1996, at the laneway of her remote holiday cottage near Schull in West Cork.
Two years ago, Bailey was convicted in absentia of her murder by a court in Paris – after a trial which he and his legal team described as farcical.
He said: “Ultimately I believe I was very badly served by the Irish legal system.
“It is clear to this day that there was a witch hunt to put me in the frame for a crime I had nothing to do with.
“Most recently I have written to the Commissioner of An Garda
Siochana, Mr Drew Harris, calling for a comprehensive Cold Case Review.
“Until this matter is fully explored not only has my life been ruined by a conspiracy which has robbed me of reasonable legitimate expectation and lead to the dissolution of my long-term relationship and rendered me homeless, but it has left a dark stain on the otherwise good name of the police force.”
In a 3,000 word piece – the third in a series of four articles – the author details a “nightmare” existence from the time he was arrested in early 1997.
He says he was “branded” the prime suspect in the case, which he never accepted, on foot of “a dirty rotten lie” spread by gardai.