Bailey: I asked DPP to consider charging me
He first lodged the unprecedented request with DPP Claire Loftus in August after French authorities decided to charge him in absentia with involuntary manslaughter.
The French authorities are also seeking his extradition, on foot of a second European arrest warrant, to stand trial in Paris.
Ms Toscan du Plantier, a French socialite and documentary filmmaker, was found battered to death outside her West Cork holiday home on December 23, 1996.
Mr Bailey said that, in a bid to clear his name, he took the decision to write to the DPP. He is asking her to examine the evidence underpinning the French decision to bring a prosecution and, furthermore, asking her to reconsider the DPP’s decision not to charge him.
While he received an acknowledgement of the initial letter, he has written to the DPP twice more — including as recently as two weeks ago — seeking an update.
The most recent letters have also been acknowledged, but Mr Bailey said that has been the extent of the correspondence.
“I don’t know what is in the French file,” he told the .
“It seems rational and logical that, if there is something in the French file that supports their furtherance of a prosecution, it may do the same in Ireland.
“I’ve asked the DPP to consider that evidence and to reconsider their decision not to charge me.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this could be cleared up?” he said.
Mr Bailey has repeatedly protested his innocence. He was involved in a circuit court libel trial to clear his name in 2003 and also took a High Court civil action against the gardaí and the State in relation to conspiracy and wrongful arrest. He was only partly successful in the libel hearing, losing five of the seven actions, and fully failed in a 65-day High Court case.
He insisted he had nothing to do with the death.
“Although I know the French chose to believe I had something to do with it, I am still sympathetic to Sophie’s family’s situation; it’s an awful situation for them to be in, but this still hangs over me, over Jules [his partner, Jules Thomas], and the family and this community,” said Mr Bailey.
He said there has been no communication whatsoever from the French authorities to him or his solicitor, Frank Buttimer, in relation to the latest legal moves, and his solicitor in France has not been given access to the French file on the case.
He also confirmed his appeal of the 64-day civil case is due to be heard in the Court of Appeals next March.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet agreed yesterday at its final ministerial meeting before Christmas to extend until March 31 the work by the Fennelly Commission investigating the recording of phonecalls, other than 999 calls, in Garda stations in relation to the Sophie Toscan du Plantier inquiry. The extension had been sought by Mr Justice Nial Fennelly.
More than 45,000 recorded calls to and from Bandon Garda Station were examined by gardaí, but less than 1% were considered relevant to the murder investigation.
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