01x03 - Justice

[bunniefuu]

[sheep bleating]

[Bertrand in French]
Sophie is at the centre of this story.

[sentimental music plays]

But it's true that for 23 years,

it's often forgotten,
uh, who my sister was.

[Wassell] So much crime fiction involves
the violent m*rder of women.

Those lurid covers
of old-fashioned detective stories.

Sophie du Plantier
really was very beautiful.

But there was so much more to her.

She was solitary,

thoughtful,

a romantic poet.

I think, for her,
West Cork was a place to reflect,

to write, to read.

She loved Irish poetry.

I could just picture her in her woollies,
drinking tea with honey and reading.

The glow
of the Fastnet lighthouse outside.

There's a human desire
to understand the mystery

that lies behind this terrible story.

[tense music plays]

[Ian] Here's a line
from one of my own poems.

"That many other chapters are yet untold
before the story ends."

[sighs]

[tense music plays]

[reporter 1] Ian Bailey, who'd been
reporting the story for local newspapers,

has been questioned
about her m*rder and released.

What happens now is
up to the director of public prosecutions.

We would have to await a decision
from the director.

[reporter 2] You're saying to me
that you didn't k*ll Sophie du Plantier,

nor did you have any part in that?

I am saying to you I didn't k*ll her.

I had no knowledge of the k*lling.
I'm an innocent man.

I was in a state of shock,
and Jules was in a state of shock.

Looking back, actually,
I guess we had post-traumatic stress.

That week immediately after
and the week after that,

there were more media coming in.
All sorts of stories were bandied around.

Everybody around here would know
all these little stories and events,

and everybody would be
discussing them. Everybody.

Look, it just got stranger and stranger.

[reporter 3] He had learned
that Ian Bailey's hobby

was destroying religious artefacts.

[reporter 4] Gardaí asked, was it true
he'd been seen out one night in the rain

wearing only his jocks and a hat.

[reporter 3] She'd heard rumours of him
howling at the moon at night

with what he described as
"Mr. Bailey's thinking stick."

People'd seen him, just pants on
running down the road.

Bailey'd been outside the house
roaring and wailing.

This is a month after the m*rder
this has happened,

but it's a full moon.

I think he told us
that he did commune with the moon.

That's where the word "lunacy" comes from.

He'd be howling at the moon

with his stick in the middle of the road…
All this happened.

This was a story told to me.
I presume it's true.

I mean, I know people that, they…
they swear blind that this happened.

There were a whole lot of, uh,
ridiculous allegations and suggestions.

There was one
that I would howl at the moon.

That at the time of the full moon,
they said, "Oh, Bailey, he goes crazy."

"He's got this stick as well.
A magic stick."

I don't know, that I had this magic stick
that was imbued with magic properties.

I used it to make spells
and things like that.

[chuckles]

There are all sorts of rumours
and… and misinformation being…

And who's behind it all?

I went to him as a friend to tell him
what people were saying about him.

[bird chittering]

[Billy] I went round his house innocently,
knocked on the door. He let me in.

He was sat down. He had drink everywhere
and, like, rich food and all this stuff.

He said, "Want a glass of cider?" I said,
"I'm working. I popped in to see you."

He was relaxed until I came out with
what people were saying,

that he'd be
howling at the moon and stuff.

Straight away, bang,
he just went into a complete meltdown,

and he moved from where he was,

and he went white-knuckled,
and his face changed.

He grabbed hold of the thing
behind him, and he was astonished.

And he was like, "You f*ck,"
like this to me. And I was like, "What?"

He said, "You saw her in Spar
the day before she was k*lled

and you saw her tight arse
and wanted to give her one."

He said, "When you went to her house
at two in the morning,

she ran away screaming
'cause you scared her."

"You chased her,
threw something at her head,

and realised you went too far."
And I went… [gasps]

"Where did that even come from?"

It felt like he was saying what he did,
but through me, you know?

I was scared when I left his house.

I'd just been sat with someone
really f*cking dangerous,

and I felt scared.

[producer] When he was telling you this,
did it feel like some form of confession?

Oh, definitely, yeah.

Definitely, I'd say, by the way he did it
to all the other people he'd confessed to.

[Wassell] We learned later

that he confessed, uh,

to a number of people in the community.

[Michael] One particular night,
New Year's Eve, to be specific,

a local couple, Richie and Rosie Shelley,

were having drinks
in a local pub in Schull

and got into conversation
with Ian Bailey and Jules Thomas.

[Barry] They invited them back
late on New Year's Eve.

Ian started talking about the m*rder,

and he became quite emotional
and, uh, started crying.

And it was that sort of
early morning thing after drinking

when he'd get strange.

[Michael] He started crying
and hugging Richie Shelley

and saying, "I did it. I did it."

"I went too far."

They ran screaming from the house.

They ran away.

Any other psychic will tell you

that when you're compelled
to say something, then you say it.

There was a German friend who had a party.

Ian was at the party,
as were many other people.

It was just one of them little moments
where we just happened to be together.

In my world,
there's no such thing as coincidences.

You know, these things are put in place.

I said to him, "You m*rder*d that woman."

She wanted to confront him with that.

And he looked me straight in the eye,

and he said he didn't mean
for everyone to get involved.

That's what he said.

[animal screeching]

I knew Jules before I knew Ian.

She was my neighbour.

She had three daughters,

and then Ian turned up

a few years later.

In that community,
you're used to giving people lifts

'cause there's no public transport.

So if the girls needed
a spin up from Lowertown,

I'd often drive them
all the way to their place,

or if they were picking up the girls,
they'd drop Malachi off,

my eldest son.

Malachi was only 14 at the time.

He'd been
at a friend's place after school,

and he saw Ian outside of the Courtyard,

and he gave him a spin home.

Ian seemed to be quite stressed,

and I think he'd been drinking.

Being polite,
Malachi asked him how his work was going.

That's when he turned round and said,

"I went up there
and bashed her brains in with a rock."

He just came out with this.

There was silence,

and I think Malachi just wanted
to get home as quickly as possible.

He didn't say anything much that evening.

He didn't want to get himself into trouble

because he'd got a lift
off somebody that'd been drinking.

But the following day,
he explained what had happened.

I then said,

"This is too big for… for me or you
to make a decision about this."

We then made statements.

Gardaí would say
that was a critical development

in the investigation
from their point of view.

[Irune] Like the rest of the community,

we didn't know all the evidence that
the Garda investigation had at the time.

I only knew
what was happening within my own family.

[Eugene] You have to understand,

that part of the country
and most parts of Ireland,

people didn't talk.

Literally, you didn't say anything.

You might know something,

but you kept it to yourself.
It's none of your business.

Evidence came through in small bits

from locals brave enough to say it
to local guards or something like that.

[Irune] Malachi was very confused,
frightened.

That stayed with him for many, many years.

I mean,
I don't know if other people do this,

but, I mean, I do use sarcasm,
and I do use irony on occasions,

and it was so ridiculous.

He called it "black humour."

Well, the population of Ireland
at the time was about five million,

and amazingly, out of the five million,

there was only one fella
talked about k*lling her.

How do you explain,

when a person is crying
and hugging this person

and… and admitting to a m*rder,
that it's black humour?

Not one of the people
that he made those admissions to

interpreted it in that fashion.

[waves crashing]

[reporter in French]


It is still dark
on the Mizen Head peninsula.

[sombre music plays]

Georges and Marguerite Bouniol,
Sophie Toscan du Plantier's parents,

wanted to share a service
with locals from this corner of Ireland

which she loved so much.

[camera shutters clicking]

A light has been on
for a few days in this house

which is completely isolated.

There are flowers on the spot
where exactly one year ago today,

the body of Sophie Toscan du Plantier
was discovered.

[Pierre-Louis] I was immediately
very protected after my mother died.

I didn't meet the police, French or Irish.

I didn't meet the journalists.

I was… very far from all that.

I was a little boy, uh…

simply a victim.

For days,

then weeks, months,

the police told the family

that the end was very close.

It was really round the corner.

[Jean-Pierre] The Garda never stopped
adding things to the case file.

But we didn't know much about all that.

We were still
all in a very emotional state.

[in English] I think that justice
will be done once, we think, all of us,

but sometimes,
we are, uh, a little bit despaired.

[Jean-Pierre in French]
Then in early January,

once again the Garda told the family

that it was going to be resolved soon.

[radio static crackles]

[news intro music plays]

[reporter in English] Afternoon.
The headlines this Tuesday lunchtime.

A man's been arrested in West Cork

by Gardaí investigating the m*rder
of the Frenchwoman Sophie du Plantier.

[indistinct chatter]

A year after the first arrest,
I was subjected to a second arrest.

[suspenseful music plays]

[Peter] He stood up
and told enough people he'd done it.

So don't be surprised if you get arrested.

[Ian] They said,
"We're special detectives."

"We're members of the
National Criminal Investigation Bureau,"

and they were sort of supposed to be
the elite Garda detective branch.

-[woman] Con, what's the story?
-I don't know. I wish I did.

[Paul] Under Irish law,
you've got two periods of detention,

both 12 hours each.

The Gardaí don't get a third opportunity
to interview a suspect.

[reporter 6] The director
of public prosecutions

is still examining a file on the m*rder.

[phone rings]

[Barry] The DPP is a law officer here
who assesses Garda investigations

and decides whether or not

the Gardaí have managed to produce
enough evidence to warrant a charge.

[reporter 6] He's being held under
Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act

and can be held for up to 12 hours.

[Daniel in French] I spoke to Jules
when I arrived in the morning.

I went to her house, to their house,

because we were friends.

And I asked her,

"Do you think

Ian could be guilty?"

She said, "I don't know."

[tense music plays]

[reporter 7 in English]
Gardaí are still questioning a man

in connection with the m*rder
of Frenchwoman Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

[Ian] There were two Garda in particular,

and I can remember
they said, "We'll have a break now."

I said to them,
"No, no, I don't want a break."

"Um… Listen, we need a break from you."

[Barry] I suspect they were
looking for a confession from Ian Bailey.

[in French] Someone called me saying,

"Tonight, Marie-Madeleine,
I'll have good news for you."

And then that night,
there was no good news.

The DPP had said no.

[in English] Again,
he was released without charge.

Because they didn't get a confession

and the evidence they did have
was still circumstantial.

[Bertrand in French]
We were all dumbfounded.

Uh, It was very difficult for my parents.

[indistinct conversation]

[Jean-Pierre] In Ireland,
the family of the victim doesn't exist.

The Garda leads their inquiry

and subsequently gives the case…

[cameras clicking]

…to the director of public prosecution,
the DPP.

[in English]
Nothing more is going to happen,

so we'd ask you
to disperse quietly and quickly.

Is that all right?

[Jean-Pierre in French] What does he do?
He reads through the dossier,

and it's him that decides
whether to prosecute or not to prosecute.

If there is not enough proof,

not enough evidence,

um, then he will not prosecute.

[Marie-Madeleine]
If you'll forgive me for saying, I think,

at times,

that Bailey had Ireland by the ba*ls.

[seagulls calling]

[reporter 8 in English] After his arrest,
Ian Bailey entertained the media

to the extent
of inviting them into his home.

[reporter in French] With his partner,
he answered our questions

and protested his innocence.

[Florence in English] He was engaged
with the press, is what I would say.

He was very visibly engaged with them
at that time.

We're not sure exactly…

[French voiceover] We're not sure who
is benefitting from these lies about us.

But what I know is that the police have
tried to pass me off as the m*rder*r,

as well as my partner, Jules.

We really have nothing to do with it.

[in English] You see, that's the weakness
in his personality, really.

He seeks that attention.

[Barry] The m*rder happened
in December '96.

We had the arrests in '97, '98.

Things had quietened down.
Obviously, the investigation was ongoing.

It appeared to the outside world
that nothing happened for several years.

And then suddenly, it sprang back up
into the public consciousness.

[reporter 9]
Ian Bailey claims his life was destroyed

by articles on the Sophie Toscan…

[reporter 10] Bailey claimed
the newspapers had defamed him

by naming him as the k*ller
of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

Every now and again, there'd be
a completely salacious, damaging story

in one of the papers.

Obviously, certain detectives were
letting stories out to their contacts,

and I… I subsequently took
a… a legal action over that.

[reporter 9] To clear his name,

he's brought
the most extraordinary libel action.

Today,
journalist Ian Bailey's libel action

against seven Irish
and British newspapers,

arising out of their coverage of the case,

opened at the circuit court in Cork.

His barrister said for almost seven years,

Mr. Bailey had been put on trial

by a slanted media

which had set out to demonise his client.

But then, of course, newspapers applied
to get access to the Garda file,

and they got that.

Which would prove hugely significant.

They subpoenaed witnesses
who'd made statements to the Gardaí.

People who didn't want to be there

suddenly found themselves
being brought in to court.

Obviously, I'd look at the RTÉ news,
and I'd see the Schull witnesses,

who were up outside the courthouse,

trying to dodge the cameras, you know,

because no one wanted
to be filmed for national TV.

We all took an interest in the case

because, you know,
it's been part of our history now.

We learned a lot about the case,
about the Garda investigation.

It was the first time
the public got to learn about the details

of the Garda's case against Ian Bailey.

[reporter 9] The court heard
evidence in this case may continue

until the end of this week.

So we got a picture of the case
which the Gardaí had built,

which was hugely circumstantial,
let it be said,

but quite detailed nonetheless.

[Jean-Pierre in French] Previously,
we didn't have access to the Irish file.

What was extraordinary was that
all the witnesses who had been interviewed

came forward during this trial
to say the same thing.

They weren't the ones telling lies.

[Barry in English] From a situation where
we never knew why Ian was a suspect,

we suddenly began to see, "Hang on."

"This is why
they're pointing the finger at him."

[Paul] Although Ian Bailey
took the newspapers to court,

it essentially turned into a m*rder trial.

[reporter 9]
Bill Fuller said Bailey told him,

"She ran off screaming, and it stirred
something in the back of your head."

"You went too far
and had to finish her off."

[reporter 12] Mr. Fuller felt
Bailey was trying to confess…

[reporter 12]
Malachi Reed claims Ian Bailey replied,

"It was fine until I went up there
with a rock and bashed her brains in."

[reporter 9] He put his arms around
Richard Shelley and said, "I did it."

"I went too far."

It's strange that he didn't envisage
that this would go badly for him.

[Michael] Bailey was gripped
by a bit of hubris,

which he often was,

and thought he's gonna make a fortune
and shut the media down.

[reporter 13] One of the more interesting
pieces of evidence

to emerge during this libel case

centred here on Kealfadda Bridge,

about a mile from Sophie's house.

A shopkeeper from Schull told the court
that she saw Ian Bailey here

at 3 a.m. on the night of Sophie's m*rder.

From a Garda point of view,
Marie Farrell was critical.

She was the only person
who could put Ian out of the house

and in the vicinity of Sophie's house.

[reporter 9]
Marie Farrell told Gardaí she saw a man

she later identified as Ian Bailey
at Kealfadda Bridge,

about a mile from
Sophie Toscan du Plantier's holiday home.

[Frédéric in French]
Marie Farrell is a central character

because she saw Bailey
on the night of the m*rder

at Kealfadda Bridge.

She was a pivotal witness.

[interviewer in English] Are you 100% sure
it was Ian Bailey on the bridge?



And Ian Bailey confirmed that to me
when he came into my shop

because he said,
"I know you saw me on the bridge."

[Barry] She was extraordinarily credible.

Very adamant, very definite,
very clear as to what she was saying,

and very clear what she was saying

about being harassed
and threatened afterwards by Ian.

[reporter 9] Farrell told the court

that Ian Bailey tried to force her
on a number of occasions

to retract the statement
she made to Gardaí.

She said he told her
he knew things about her

and asked her to change her statement.

[Michael] She made
many official complaints to the Gardaí

in relation to the campaign of harassment
and intimidation she suffered

at the hands of Ian Bailey.

He arrived in the shop,

and he said that he knew
I had seen him on the bridge

and that he wanted me
to tell his solicitor

that the Gardaí had made me
make up the story about him.

And if I did that,
he would leave me alone.

And when
I had no intentions of doing that,

he made my life hell.

And at one stage, I thought,

"He's so big.
He could k*ll me here in two minutes,

and nobody would know."

We were waiting
for the ice cream parlour to open,

and she came running down,

absolutely terrified,
and we said, "What's the matter?"

And she said that
Bailey had parked facing her in the car,

and he'd gone like this.

He, em, would make cutthroat gestures
like this if he met me on the street,

or he would do this.

That type of intimidation
went on for months and months.

She said she feared for herself
and for her children.

[Michael] I did a lot of investigation.

I discovered there were other witnesses
and neighbours he'd threatened.

So it was quite understandable

that particularly
the female population of the area

should be scared of Ian Bailey.

[Irune] A lot of women were
absolutely terrified of Ian Bailey.

And a lot of women upped and left.

They'd left, and they didn't come back.

[reporter 14] Ian spent a third day
in the witness box

in Cork Circuit Court today.

[Paul] It was incredible
what was coming out.

You'd have something written by lunchtime,

and in the afternoon,
that was gone out the window.

[reporter 9] Ian Bailey's
cross-examination began this afternoon,

and almost immediately,

he was challenged about what's been
described as his stormy relationship

with his partner, Jules Thomas.

He had beaten up Jules so badly,
she nearly lost an eye.

[reporter 15] A friend of Jules Thomas's
daughter, Peter Bielecki,

told the court about an as*ault
on Jules Thomas by Ian Bailey in 1996.

[Peter] I got a knock on the door,
and it was Jules's daughter Virginia.

Could I come
and take Jules to hospital, please?

Jules is sat on the bed.

She's… She's curled up in a ball.

This eye is huge and turned in.
Half of her hair is out of her head.

There's nail marks all over her face.
Her lip is ripped open.

Uh, Fenella,
who was the little girl, looked at me,

and, uh, to this day, I can't…

[inhales shakily]

Sorry. Just give me a sec. Um…

[voice cracks]
It was the look on that kid's face.

Like, "Help. Help me, please,"

and I couldn't, you know?

[breathes shakily]

And, uh,
I've never felt so useless in all my life.

I… I couldn't help this child, you know?

It became part of their life together,

um, and the neighbours
got used to seeing her, uh, bruised.

After the third or fourth time,
they'd see her with a black eye.

They were appalled
by the savagery of the attacks.

[reporter 16] Paul Gallagher
for the newspapers suggested to him

that he'd inflicted
at least five assaults on Ms. Thomas.

[sighs]

It's not that
I don't wanna go back into them,

but, I mean, they are long past.

On that occasion, she'd been drinking,
we'd both been drinking.

I've maybe… I don't know what happened,
but she started to grab me,

and I was pushing her back,

and I hurt her in that process.

[reporter 9] Mr. Bailey admitted

that Ms. Thomas had been left
with clumps of hair missing from her head,

her eye was purple,
the size of a grapefruit,

and her lip was severed from her gum.
She needed eight stitches.

Mr. Bailey said he had drink taken
and had lost control,

but he denied that he was a violent man.

I'd had a conversation with a local guard,

and I said,
"She's not gonna press charges."

And he said,
"She must do because…

[inhales sharply] …if she doesn't,

it could be worse next time.
And it might not even be her."

[interviewer] In relation
to Sophie's m*rder, when was this?

Hmm…

Six months before, I suppose.

At most.

I'd have to take full responsibility.

But, I mean, it does take two…
You know, it takes two to tango.

But I'm not trying to absolve my…

my actions or,

you know, at all.

Ian is a very interesting paradox
between being shameless and shameful.

[reporter 9] Today, Judge Patrick Moran
ruled against Ian Bailey.

The newspapers
didn't brand him the m*rder*r,

and Judge Moran had no hesitation
in describing Mr. Bailey as a violent man.

[Lara] He lost the case.

It did seem like
almost an act of self-harm for him

to bring this trial upon himself.

[reporter 17] In Paris, in the home
of Sophie Toscan du Plantier's parents,

her family welcomed the judge's ruling.

[speaking French]

[English voiceover] The verdict is right.

What's sure is that the judge insisted

he was a very violent person,
mainly with women.

We hope that, with the new testimonies,

the DPP will take a decision very soon

to arrest the m*rder*r.

You felt immediately
that what was gonna happen

was that he was gonna get arrested now,
and something was gonna come of this.

We were just still hoping
that the DPP would carry on and prosecute.

[reporter 18]
The Irish director of public prosecutions

says he has no plans
to charge Ian Bailey with the m*rder.

[Lara] For me,

it's stunning to think
that after all that came out,

all that testimony and all that evidence,

that Ireland never put him on trial.

[Jean-Pierre in French] It was evident

that Bailey seemed
even more guilty than before.

But nothing happened.

[Pierre-Louis] Since my mother's death,

I've been lucky enough
to put a big barrier

between… between me and this story.

[sombre music plays]

But, uh, time moves on. Uh…

So now it's been 23 years,

there have been two phases.

The phase

where I was, uh…

the child who's suffering,

crying, grieving,

and then the phase

where I enter the fight.

[suspenseful music plays]

The association is extremely important
for me and for the search for truth.

Every month,
whatever is going on in everyone's lives,

we meet.

Ça va?

[kisses]

It was founded by my grandma's brother.

[Jean-Pierre]
We were very confident. The Irish police,

the Garda,

were going to solve the problem.
"We'd found the k*ller."

Then, obviously,
it didn't work out like that.

At that point,
I started saying to my sister,

"We're stuck. We could wait years.
Nothing is being done."

And so we created the association in 2007.

[Pierre-Louis] What's going on?

[woman speaks French]

[Pierre-Louis] Have you lost weight?

[Jean-Pierre] I didn't know anything
about criminal law.

I learned about
the differences between the legal systems.

Is it possible
to convict in absentia in Ireland?

[Barry in English] The French system,
it is such a different system.

It really is incredibly different,
and you can't overstate that enough.

[Lara] In Ireland, which is based on
the British justice system,

you have to prove guilt
beyond reasonable doubt,

and in France,
it's un faisceau de preuves.

It's like a bouquet of evidence.

[Jean-Pierre in French]
After the 2003 libel trial,

we have all the witness accounts.
We have everything for the first time.

And it was the beginning
of the legal fight in France

for truth and justice

for Sophie.

[Pierre-Louis] All those who knew my mom,
uh, knew she was a fighter,

and, uh, I… I…

I am going to try and be a fighter.

One thing is for sure.

Bailey will not evade justice
his whole life.

[distant cheering, applause]

[Jean-Pierre] We created
the association in September 2007,

and the French investigation
began in 2008.

[Barry in English] I've learned
from this story, covering for 24 years,

is that every time
you think it has played out,

it never fails to surprise you.

[bell dinging]

[suspenseful music plays]

[Paul] There was a development
in the story

that took Ireland and France by storm.

I'm positive it wasn't Ian Bailey.

-You're certain it wasn't Ian Bailey?
-[Marie] Positive.

[Paul] Marie Farrell
had retracted her statements.

It was all more or less bullshit

in the statements,
and I wanted to withdraw them.

[reporter 19] The principal witness
has suddenly, irrevocably

removed herself from the equation.

[reporter 20] Marie Farrell turned
the whole investigation on its head.

[reporter 21] She was with a man
who was not her husband.

[Marie] If this came out,
my whole life was destroyed, I thought,

because I thought my marriage was gone,

even though
I hadn't been having an affair.

[reporter 21] Compromised by that,

she now claims police forced her
to falsely identify their prime suspect.

[Marie] They told me
not to worry about it,

that I would never have to go to court,

that they only wanted me
to say it for their own records.

[tense music plays]

During the libel trial, I believed her.

She was giving evidence.
She was very credible.

When she retracted her statements,

I believed her.
She was very credible again.

[Marie] I told them
I was withdrawing the statements,

and I was crying, and I told him. I said,
"This is it. I'm withdrawing everything."

"I don't want any more of this.
I can't handle it. I can't take any more."

Well, now…

[chuckles]

…I don't know. You see,

she kept to her story for ten years,

which I believed was right.

What made her change her story?

What do you think?

I am telling the truth now.

Why would I put myself
in the spotlight like this

if I wasn't telling the truth?

Maybe you could be doing it
if Ian Bailey was threatening you

or intimidating you,

as the evidence
has been in court hitherto,

from your own mouth, indeed, you know,
that you could be scared of him,

and this is your way
to get him off your back.

No, I have not been intimidated
in any way by Ian Bailey.

[Frédéric in French]
Our family's great regret

is that we didn't stop the pressure

that Bailey exerted on Marie Farrell.

For many years,

she lived in the same village
as Bailey, in Schull,

and she was put under enormous pressure.

[inaudible]

[Frédéric] The case swung,
and Ian Bailey started to bounce back.

[Michael in English] Bailey was thrilled.

As he said,
"Welcome onto the side of good."

[indistinct conversation]

They now had a witness on their side

who would claim, uh,
that the Gardaí were corrupt.

[camera shutters clicking]

Bailey has always said
that the treatment that he has received

at the hands of the Irish police
has been corrupt.

[camera clicks]

[camera clicks]

[Barry] Was the investigation corrupt

with the intent of framing somebody
they knew to be innocent?

I would contend
that was more to incompetence

rather than
anything deliberate or malicious.

[Paul] Unfortunately,
I think the whole debacle

hinges on the way
the guards handled this from day one.

[Pierre-Louis in French]
Big mistakes from the beginning,

from the crime scene
that wasn't preserved.

People could walk over it.

[in English] Exhibits have gone missing.
Let's be frank about that. There's a gate.

[Paul] A big,
bloodstained gate from a farmyard

in this investigation went missing.

How in the name of God
can something like that go missing?

[Barry] Why didn't they have
an identity parade

after Marie Farrell identified him
as the man she'd seen at Kealfadda Bridge?

That was just one aspect, I think,

that the Gardaí would concede privately
that they fell down on.

[Dwyer] We're like any police force.
We're not perfect.

I'm not saying we didn't make mistakes,
but there was no…

I'd say that anyplace.
There was no corruption.

There was no setting people up.

It was done on the level.

[Barry] I don't think anybody
would hold up the investigation

as a model of how it should be done.

But because there are failings
in the Garda investigation,

does that automatically mean
that he's innocent?

[seagulls calling]

[Irune] Six months went by, a year,
then two, three, four years,

and you're thinking, "Why on earth
isn't something being done?"

I just don't understand
why the DPP didn't prosecute.

[reporter 22] Newly uncovered
official files have begun to emerge.

Ten years ago, the DPP's office said
a prosecution of Bailey was not warranted.

[Barry] In 2011,
we learned why the DPP concluded

that the evidence didn't merit
a charge against Ian Bailey.

[reporter 23] The documents included
the opinion of Eamonn Barnes,

who was
the director of public prosecutions

who made the decision
not to prosecute Mr. Bailey.

He said in his opinion,
the evidence in the case

came nowhere near
warranting a charge against Mr. Bailey.

Mr. Barnes said the Garda investigation
was thoroughly flawed and prejudiced

in relation to Mr. Bailey.

The DPP decided that there were
some very questionable practices

being, eh, used by Gardaí
in the course of the investigation.

[Dwyer] I was very disappointed
with a whole lot of things.

I'm a cop.

My job as a cop is to collect
what evidence we have

and submit it to the DPP's office.

And 'tis they make the decisions.

We're not in a position
to dispute anything with them,

despite the fact
that you see things there,

and they say, "How can he ignore that?
How can he ignore this?"

[Barry] In almost every single case

where a witness gives a statement
and Ian gives a different version,

the DPP tends to side
with Ian's interpretation.

[Michael] He argued
with every single witness

in terms of their credibility.

[Barry] People like the Shelleys,
Malachi Reed,

he questions on the basis that
they didn't make the statement immediately

and therefore they can't be reliable.

For example, Malachi Reed, at 14,

didn't say to his mother
that evening when he came home.

He waited till the following day,
so the DPP dismissed that statement.

Ordinary witnesses

who had no reason whatsoever, uh, to lie.

[Barry] His interpretation
of Ian Bailey's previous behaviour,

I'm not sure how
you can interpret something

as being sarcastic from a written script.

[Lara] One of the most shocking things
about the report

is it says, "Well, yes, Bailey had been
very violent towards women,

but then, unfortunately,
this happens all the time," you know.

Sort of excusing it

and saying that the fact he had
a history of violence against women

was not relevant to the case
that this woman was beaten to a pulp.

Indeed, the conclusion
at the end of the report is,

"We believe there are not
sufficient grounds to send him to trial."

[reporter 23] James Hamilton said
there was insufficient evidence

to charge Ian Bailey with the m*rder
of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

He said
investigators can act on suspicion,

but the DPP must act on evidence.

[reporter 24]
Sophie Toscan du Plantier's family

have established an association
to maintain pressure on authorities

in Ireland and France.

That pressure led to the decision
by the Garda commissioner

and the minister for justice
to hand over the Garda file

on Madame Toscan du Plantier's m*rder
last month

to a magistrate in Paris,

who's conducting
his own investigation under French law.

[Jean-Pierre in French]
When a French citizen is m*rder*d abroad,

France has the right
to carry out its own inquiry

and after that to prosecute

the suspect.

[in English] I think, and I hope,
there will be a prosecution in this case.

We are working for this.

[Paul] It was the French family

that kept knocking on the door
of the French government.

"Get the Irish justice system
to sort this out."

"Get somebody on trial."

[Ian] I've got a stick which now contains
all of the major documents.

The French file.

I'm fully sympathetic to the family,

but I cannot understand why it is

that they are so convinced by the evidence
that we have shown in this country.

It's dodgy, to say the least.

There had been a conspiracy
to pervert the course of justice

by getting Marie Farrell
to make false statements.

So I was battling and trying to take
legal actions to… to clear my name.

[tense music plays]

[reporter 9] Here in the place
they call Ireland's Riviera,

they are bracing themselves
for more revelations.

[reporter 25]
Ian Bailey is suing the state

amid claims that he was wrongly targeted
as a suspect in the m*rder.

[Dwyer] Bailey was taking us to court.

The truth always comes out at the end.

It might be a long time,
but 'twill happen.

[reporter 26] The jury was told

some Gardaí conspired
to implicate Ian Bailey

in the m*rder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier

and set out to blame him
for a crime he didn't commit.

Certainly the way it was shaping up,

it looked as though
Ian Bailey was going to win.

[reporter 26] Farrell said she'd come
to court without any threat or inducement

and was under oath to tell the truth.

Of course, Marie Farrell,
when she came up on the stand,

she was considered the star witness.

[reporter 26] Marie Farrell's time
in the witness box was dramatic.

[Michael] But the defence counsel said

that her evidence was not credible
in many matters.

And then it came to the issue
of the man she was with

on the night
she saw Bailey at Kealfadda Bridge.

[reporter 26]
Farrell has never revealed the identity

of a man she was with
on 23rd December 1996.

In the witness box today,

she still refused to name
the man she was with that night.

"I will not do that," she said.

[Michael] He pressed her further,
and then she says,

"I'm sick to death of this.
It's all about my personal relationship."

"I'm not putting up with any more."

She took her handbag and her coat,
and she left the witness stand

and departed the court,

to the horror of Bailey and his team.

And, I mean, Marie Farrell's walkout was,
you know, box office.

The cameraman from RTÉ was really sharp.

He raced around from the front,

around the back,
and got her walking out the back.

Frank Buttimer
had to persuade her to come back.

[Michael] The judge warned her.
He says, "This will be your last walkout."

He then said,

"You will have to give
the name of this man."

"There's going to be
no secrets in this trial. Name him."

She named a man.

It was another lie.

She had just actually lied
to the court under oath.

[reporter 26]
Lawyers for the Gardaí and the state

said Marie Farrell's story
had varied so often over the years

that she couldn't be believed.

[Dwyer] Poor woman,
she was telling lies nonstop.

Eventually, she didn't know what
she was saying. She was talking rubbish.

The critical witness for Ian
is Marie Farrell.

It really is
the most important thing to his case,

and her credibility was completely shot,

and he was struggling after that
and lost the High Court action.

Can't say anything at present.

[reporter 26] Bailey left the High Court
having lost a marathon legal battle

to face
a multi-million euro bill for costs.

[Ian]
Can't say anything at the moment. Sorry.

The bottom line, as far as I'm concerned,

'twas she came forward to us.

We didn't go looking for her,
and that's a very important issue.

[Denis] I remember her well.

I actually remember
Sophie sitting here in the bar.

Always very low-key,

sat there quietly.

No bother to anybody.

You've certainly brought it all back.

Do you know, 24 years is a long time.

And, uh, you know, the memory goes thin,

and it's hard to remember
everything in detail.

There's been court cases for libel,

court cases for other things,

and it's been known as
the Bailey case ever since,

and I think the focus
has to go back to Sophie,

the innocent victim of some terrible deed.

At the time,
there were all these questions

that were not being properly answered.

We were all looking for the clue.

If only we could find the answer
to make everything okay again.

There was a lot of local networking where…

It's like putting together a jigsaw.

We were all trying to make sense
of all the little tiny bits of information

that everybody was
trying to thread together

in some kind of narrative,

which all kept falling apart.

[tense music plays]

[Barry] There were good reasons,
in some cases,

why Gardaí didn't get statements
until weeks, months, or years later.

They didn't realise the significance
of what the person had to say.

[Arianna] I remember the frustration
of being interviewed by the Garda

years after the fact.

I was the person in the suspect's house

the day after it happened.

And that was something
that I could never, uh,

remove from my memory.

When I was 20, I left Italy

and moved to Ireland,
where I met Ginny Thomas.

I remember she was pretty open
about her family, you know,

her, um, mum, uh, Jules,

and, uh, her notorious…

boyfriend, Ian.

I ended up actually
going to stay with them at Christmas.

I remember on the bus ride
from Cork to West Cork,

hearing about the m*rder.

Once I got there, you know,

I remember things being weird in a way.

I remember Ian covering the case
as he was a journalist.

[suspenseful music plays]

He was a big guy with a big personality,

and, uh, I remember seeing
the scratches on his arms.

The scratches were visible,

and, um…

I don't, uh, think
they were caused by a Christmas tree

or from k*lling a turkey.

It's not like I was, uh, scrutinising him,

but, uh, you know, I can comfortably say

that maybe
some thorns caused the scratches.

I remember, uh, you know, taking a shower.

There was a large bucket in the shower.

A dark coat soaked in there.

Heavy material.

I believe it was Ian's coat.

I would say that's unusual, you know,

you're washing such a large item
that is not easy to dry,

you know,
in the middle of winter, but, uh…

It's significant, and I remember clearly

that it was unusual.

[Barry] I still think there are
a huge number of questions about the case

that he's never answered satisfactorily.

There are just so many contradictions
between his version of it

with the witnesses
who'd given statements to the Gardaí.

Take for example, did he know Sophie?

[interviewer on radio] Had you
previous knowledge of this woman?

Had you met her?
Were you acquainted with her?

Had you seen her before?

[Ian on radio] Um, I'd never met her,
never been introduced to her.

I'd never spoken to her.

[reporter] Did you know
Sophie Toscan du Plantier?

I didn't know her
inasmuch that I had never met her,

but I had seen her once,
and she was pointed out to me.

[interviewer] Did you know
Sophie Toscan du Plantier?

I had never met her,
never spoken with her.

I had seen her on one occasion
when it was pointed out by a neighbour.

[Agnes in French]
When Sophie died, it was such a shock.

As a result, I closed all the doors.

I didn't read, listen, or watch anything.

I didn't want to know anything.

The memory only came back
because we created the association,

so it was a very long time afterwards.

It's one of those curiosities
of the memory.

"A man who wrote poems"
flooded back into my mind.

It may have been
the first night she was in Ireland.

A few days before my birthday,
she called me,

and we talked about everything,

about her life, her husband,
her work, what she'd done that day.

At a point in the conversation
where she was talking about her work,

she told me about this man.

This man wanted to meet her
to tell her about a project

about poetry,

and she found him strange.

She found him
a bit worrying as a character.

I said, "Don't see him alone.
See him in a public place."

[Barry in English] He said
he never met her. You've all these people,

at least eight other people,

giving statements that contradict Ian
where he says he doesn't know her.

[church bells ring]

Perhaps the most significant of all
is Guy Girard,

a film producer who worked with Sophie

and spoke to her
before she left for Ireland,

and she again mentioned

that she was going to meet this man
living in Schull who was a writer.

[Guy in French]
This story extremely affected me deeply.

It profoundly affected me.

It was the evening before her departure.

I thought
she was talking about a Breton director

who had a similar-sounding name.

So I said to her, "Oh yes, I know him.
I've seen this film, that film."

She said, "No, you can't know him."

"Eoin Bailey lives
next door to me in Cork."

She told me
that he earned a living as a writer,

that is to say
he's a journalist or a poet,

and that he was interested
in stories about domestic violence.

[Jean-Pierre] Sophie knew Bailey.
Bailey knew Sophie.

The second point is Bailey's confessions.

Bailey's confession to Malachi Reed,
to different people,

"I did it. I did it"

The third point is Bailey's timetable
during the night of the m*rder.

He himself confessed that he went out
on the night of the m*rder.

So no alibi for Bailey.

The other point is, of course,

the scratches
and the mark on the forehead.

[Lara in English] I mean, all of that
is part of that faisceau de preuves.

The French say
it's part of that bouquet of indications.

When you put it all together,
it… it's pretty damning.

[Barry] We came to a situation then

that the French decided to proceed
with the trial of Ian Bailey in absentia.

[in French] We had a trial
that we'd waited for 22, 23 years for.

[suspenseful music plays]

[in English] Tomorrow in Paris,
over 1,000 kilometres away,

Ian Bailey will be tried for the m*rder
in his absence under French law.

Legally, it's unprecedented
in Franco-Irish relations.

[Pierre-Louis in French]
Just before the trial in France,

I wanted to go to Ireland
with my uncle, Bertrand,

to explain what was happening

to the local community.

And why it was important for them

that I was fighting

for justice for my mother,

to clear their land's name.

This is a speech
that I read out in the church.

[in English] "Dear friends, dear families,

dear Irish people,

in a few days' time,

the trial of the man
accused of k*lling my mother

will begin at last."

"This is a trial of a crime

that does not fit

with what Ireland is like."

"This is a trial of a crime

that you and I didn't deserve."

[suspenseful music plays]

[in French]
I have fought like a dog for years.

I've suffered for years.

My conviction for the past 15 years

is that everything points to Bailey.

Everything, everything,
everything shows that it's Bailey.

There's no question.

[reporter 27 in English]
Pierre-Louis Baudey-Vignaud

arriving at the criminal court of Paris

where the man
accused of murdering his mother

has gone on trial in absentia.

There's no jury.

The case will instead
be decided by three magistrates.

I think it's bizarre.

I mean, I interviewed Frank Buttimer
prior to that,

and I said,
"Are you going to send anybody over?"

He said, "Why should I?
He's going to be found guilty."

[reporter 28] The lawyer
who has represented Ian Bailey

for most of the past 23 years
since the m*rder

has dismissed the proceedings as invalid.

No, he doesn't… he doesn't recognise

that the proceedings are,
in fact, valid or just.

He will not be attending.
He will not be represented.

[Pierre-Louis in French]
I won't let it go.

I won't leave him alone.

[in English] More than 30 witnesses
have been called to give evidence.

[in French] I went to the trial,
and I was questioned as a witness.

It was very difficult to go through,
very intimidating.

I had to say that Sophie had spoken to me
about this man.

That's what was important.

[in English] It was all very intimidating,
but, um, it was the right thing to do.

I can only do my little bit,

and hopefully
if all those bits come together,

then it will make a difference.

My deposition was an important factor.

Which, you know, made me,

uh,

made me feel
that I was doing the right thing,

talking about it, finally,
being open about it.

[in French] I think
that my witness statement

and all the other witness statements
were useful for the outcome of the trial.

[in English] It was quite nerve-wracking,
but I wanted to say

what I've been holding
for the last 23 years.

I want closure. This is all I want.

That's all everybody wants
at the end of the day.

They did consider that
Marie Farrell's testimony was legitimate,

even though she had retracted it.

I think the assumption in France
was that the initial testimony

was probably the true testimony.

[Bertrand in French] For the first time,

it was people on the outside
of the subject who were judging.

Everything we imagined,
all of our hypotheses

laid out by the judges,
who are objective and professional.

The last day, the verdict, of course,
was the most dramatic moment.

[camera shutters clicking]

[in French] After 22 years of waiting,





the judges convicted Ian Bailey,

who k*lled my mother over 22 years ago,

to 25 years in prison.

Mr. Bailey was guilty.

[clicks tongue]

It's clear. Uh… He k*lled her.

The judge said it.

[indistinct chatter]

[reporter 29 in English]
Father Georges left the court

a short time after
Ian Bailey was convicted in absentia

and sentenced to 25 years in prison
for his daughter's m*rder.

-[camera shutters clicking]
-[journalists exclaiming]

[sombre music plays]

It was a very emotional moment,
certainly for the family.

[in French] It's a verdict.
It's the first verdict,

and I don't see
how Ireland could refuse to extradite him.

Now justice must be done.

This is the European arrest warrant,
and it's alleging that I am…

guilty of…

wilful homicide
and serious as*ault and battery…

of Madame Toscan du Plantier.

Well, I now find myself in a situation
where I've been charged with m*rder

without having ever been
interviewed by the French.

This isn't the end of the matter.
I will be pursuing this.

Even if they do extradite me

and I finish up
rotting in some French prison,

all they will have achieved
is convicting an innocent man

of a crime he had nothing to do with.

[reporter 30] News that has broken
just a couple of hours ago

and that is that the High Court ruled

that Ian Bailey
cannot be extradited to France

to serve a 25-year prison sentence.

[Pierre-Louis] What happens next?

I don't know. [sighs]

[in French] I don't know.

If Bailey continues
to slip through the net,

I assure you I will make sure
the net comes down on Bailey.

[Marie-Madeleine] He was convicted
in France. Now I don't understand

why this man is walking around in Ireland.

Can you explain to me
why this man is free?

[in English] I'm writing a poem which
I'm trying to get committed to memory.

Um…

If I write it down repeatedly
and I recite it, it…

It… Eventually, it sticks.

[Paul] He's aging.

He's slowing down.

He's got a lot on his mind.

He's carried this with him
for the past 20-odd years.

And he's carried it

whether he's innocent
or whether he's guilty.

If he is innocent,

he's been basically persecuted
for the past 23 years.

[Len] His life, it can't be normal.
He knows people are avoiding him.

He knows
that people aren't talking to him.

It's not right.

I think
he's been convicted on his personality.

[Wassell] Maybe in other parts of Ireland,
neighbours would have harrowed him,

and he would have had to leave,

but the fact
that he's still there, I think,

indicates how, uh, tolerant
his neighbours were even after the m*rder.

But it's tremendous trauma
for the community.

[Irune] Well, I very rarely go to a market

for obvious reasons.

And this is 20 years later.

[Ian] I'm good.
I'm just writing a new poem.

[Irune] For me, it doesn't sit well

that this person… [inhales sharply]

…can cause so much pain

and just…

carries on skipping on by.

So I wrote this last week,
and this is the second draft.

I thought I had a handle on it

I thought I'd seen it all

But something very strange has happened

And the handle's fallen off the door…

[Pierre-Louis in French]
I've seen Bailey at least twice.

He recognised me one time.

He's convinced himself of his story,

but…

I have no empathy. None.

Just the feeling of having seen a void.

Nothingness.

[in English] It's never got out of my mind

because there's something
every day in the paper.

There's courts coming up.
There's appeals coming up.

It becomes part of your life.

But I do feel sorry
for her father and mother.

How did they live since it happened?

She was their pride and joy.

Everything that they were living for.

[in French] What bothers me is
that he hasn't confessed.

You would feel that justice had been done
if he confessed though?

[Georges] Right.

Marguerite is convinced it's him.

But would it bring peace?

You don't get justice
when it's the death of your daughter.

[inhales sharply] No.

[Pierre-Louis] The house in Ireland,
for me, is the only place

I would go with my mother
and where I still go today.

It's like going to see her.

It's like going
to stay with her every time.

[Sophie speaking French]

[Pierre-Louis]
My mother is very present in this house.

[Sophie] Look how white the hail is.

[Pierre-Louis] She is very present.

[Irish folk music plays]