A hearing into the proposed extradition of Ian Bailey to France, where he is facing a 25-year prison sentence for the murder of filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier, is expected to take place in early May.
It is the third time French authorities have sought Mr Bailey’s surrender in relation to the death of Ms du Plantier, whose badly beaten body was found outside her holiday home in Schull, west Cork in December 1996.
Mr Bailey, with an address at The Prairie, Liscaha, Schull, was convicted of the Frenchwoman’s murder in his absence in a Paris court in May 2019. The three-judge Cour d’Assises in Paris accordingly imposed a 25-year prison sentence on him in his absence.
The 63-year-old Englishman denies any involvement in the mother-of-one’s death. He did not attend the French court and had no legal representation in the proceedings, which he has described as a “farce”.
Lawyers for the Minister for Justice told the High Court today that they had received an affidavit from Mr Bailey’s solicitor, Frank Buttimer, which was “voluminous” and they required time to consider it.
Counsel for Mr Bailey, Marc Thompson BL, asked the court to reserve May 5 next as a date for the hearing of the case. That would provide ample time for the consideration of any issues that might arise, Mr Thompson said.
Mr Justice Donald Binchy fixed a provisional date of May 5 next for the hearing, which is expected to take three days in the High Court. He remanded Mr Bailey on continuing bail until that date.
The case will be mentioned on March 30 to affirm the hearing date, but Mr Bailey’s attendance will not be required on that occasion.
Mr Bailey’s senior counsel, Ronan Munro SC, previously told the judge that they will be opposing surrender on grounds related to “fundamental rights” and that the authorities’ previous two extradition attempts were “relevant” to their points of objection to the present attempt.
The court has also heard that Mr Bailey swore an affidavit setting out certain factual matters, particularly in relation to his health.
The Supreme Court refused to extradite Mr Bailey in 2012 and a second French extradition request in respect of My Bailey was dismissed as an “abuse of process” by the High Court in 2017. On that occasion, Mr Justice Tony Hunt held that the “unique features” of the case justified “termination” of the proceedings.
Mr Justice Hunt said Ireland’s Director of Public Prosecutions had concluded “long ago that there is no basis for either (a) charge or trial on this matter in this jurisdiction, and unusually, a comprehensive statement of reasons for this prosecutorial decision came into the public domain during the previous Supreme Court” case.
