Ian Bailey’s “deepest wish” before he died was to clear his name of any involvement in the murder of French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier, a small gathering of family, friends and supporters heard as his ashes were scattered into the sea in west Cork.
Speaking at the private memorial service, Mr Bailey’s sister Kay Reynolds said: “It is a source of deep regret, held I’m sure by all of you today, that Ian’s name wasn’t cleared in his lifetime.”
Ms Reynolds was joined by her daughter Jenni and other family members and about 30 friends and supporters for a memorial event at Skeaghanore pier near Ballydehob, overlooking Roaringwater Bay.
Ms Reynolds said her brother “once told me that the international arrest warrant, which meant he couldn’t leave the country, didn’t bother him as much as it could because there was no place else in the world [than Ireland] he wanted to be”.
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill in the spotlight as health controversies intensify
Former TD Violet Anne Wynne tells court she has no income to pay ex-employee
How the death of an ‘old boy from Ireland’ in London-Irish suburb sparked a misguided viral appeal
Irish embassy in Tehran closed due to ‘deteriorating situation’
She said the one occasion that the European arrest warrant caused her brother upset was when he was unable to visit their failing mother Brenda in England and attend her subsequent funeral. “He felt the cruelty of this very, very deeply,” she said.
Mr Bailey, who had been suffering from a heart condition, collapsed on the street in Bantry and died on January 21st, 2024, just a week short of his 67th birthday.
The English-born former journalist moved to Ireland in 1991 and came to prominence after the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier (39), the French film producer killed at her isolated holiday home at Toormore in December 1996. Mr Bailey was arrested twice and questioned but was never charged with the killing and he repeatedly denied any involvement in the crime and maintained his innocence up to his death 18 months ago.
His remains were cremated at a private ceremony. Among those attending the scattering of his ashes were Mr Bailey’s solicitors Frank Buttimer and Michael Quinlan and his barristers Tom Creed and Jim Duggan, who represented him in civil legal actions he took against several newspapers and against the State.
Also present at the ceremony was film director Jim Sheridan, who championed Mr Bailey whom he maintained was innocent in his documentary series Murder at the Cottage and more recently in his docudrama Re-Creation which premiered earlier this month at the Tribeca film festival.
Mr Bailey despite his protests of innocence was convicted in absentia of the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier by a French court in 2019. Ms Reynolds, who previously told The Irish Times that she did not believe her brother killed Ms Toscan du Plantier, began her eulogy to her brother with a reference to the murdered woman.
“I would just ask you to think of Sophie de Toscan du Plantier and her family for a moment. I really genuinely hope that they get justice and some sort of peace for themselves because obviously they have suffered so much through all of this.”
