Sophie’s mother: I have betrayed her for 16 years

The mother of murder victim Sophie Toscan du Plantier has helped write a book about her 16-year fight to bring her daughter’s killer to justice.

Marguerite Bouniol’s book, L’affaire Sophie Toscan du Plantier, Un Déni de Justice (a denial of justice) — went on sale in France yesterday and details how she constantly tried to highlight the case, and in doing so betrayed her daughter’s lifetime wish for privacy.

“At each new development… I was obliged to betray my daughter. Married to a public man [film producer Daniel Toscan du Plantier], Sophie avoided journalists. For 16 years I have broken this rule which she imposed. I said and cried her name so that no one would forget her, but always the silence descends again.