Sophie By Senan Molony

It was 26 December 1996 when we arrived in West Cork to cover the recent murder of Frenchwoman Sophie Toscan du Plantier. Our man on the ground was Eoin [Ian] Bailey. His level of detail on the case showed extraordinary insight. I was completely taken in. When the scales fell from my eyes some weeks later, it was the shock of my journalistic career. In a moment, everything that had been eluding me about the strange workings of this dreadful case made perfect sense. I knew with blazing clarity that I had held the gaze of a pitiless destroyer in the aftermath of murder. Ian Bailey, prime suspect for the brutal murder in West Cork of Frenchwoman Sophie Toscan du Plantier, died outdoors in January 2024, having never faced trial in Ireland. His demise reopens a crime that shocked the nation in 1996 – along with divisions that have split society in the decades since over his guilt or innocence.