Sophie’s family contact Ahern

FAMILY members of Sophie Toscan du Plantier yesterday said they recently received a “prudent” response from Justice Minister Dermot Ahern regarding their request to see the Garda investigation file into her murder.

Jean-Pierre Gazeau, uncle of Ms du Plantier and president of the Association for the Truth about the Murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier (Assoph), said Mr Ahern’s private secretary responded to his letter last week.

The letter from the minister’s private secretary mentioned that the Central Authority for Mutual Assistance, which is attached to the Department of Justice, was in contact with French authorities.

According to Mr Gazeau, the letter said: “Recently the Garda Síochána has been in contact with the Central Authority for Mutual Assistance raising certain issues relevant to the mutual assistance request.

“Consultations are ongoing between the relevant national authorities in relation to these issues. When the consultation has been completed the Central Authority for Mutual Assistance will be in contact with the French authority.”

Mr Gazeau described the letter as “not negative, but very prudent”. He said if “clear evidence of DNA” of someone other than his niece was found in the postmortem tests that a “stronger signal” could be delivered to the gardaí to pursue the case. He said the exhumation — ordered by Paris judge Patrick Gachon — was “very painful” for the family, particularly his niece’s parents, Georges and Marguerite Bouniol.

“They accept this kind of examination, they accept the search for truth and justice is absolutely necessary, but it’s very hard for them after 12 years.”

He said the DNA and other tests could take a long time. “We don’t know the condition of the body, we don’t know the condition in which it was prepared after the first postmortem in Cork, ” he said.