Bailey driving charge withdrawn

A CHARGE of careless driving against Ian Bailey – which arose in Bantry District Court last Thursday – was withdrawn by the State following the death of the 66-year-old.

Flor Murphy, solicitor, said his client Ian Bailey, who lived at Apt 2 above the Carry Out off-licence in Bantry, had planned to attend the court to answer a charge of careless driving at Dunbittern East in Bantry on April 2nd 2023.

Court presenter Sgt Sgt- Trish O’Sullivan informed Judge James McNulty that the accused died on Sunday January 21st and the State was withdrawing the charge.

In Cork on Tuesday, the Circuit Appeals Court agreed to allow an appeal by Bailey regarding a drug-driving conviction relating to August 2019.

The appeal was allowed by Judge Helen Boyle on account of the defendant’s death.

Meanwhile, a source close to the review of the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder case has said that last week’s raid by gardaí on Bailey’s home in Bantry could prove to be the most significant development in recent years.

Gardaí are reviewing the investigation into the 1996 murder of the Frenchwoman at her holiday home near Schull. Bailey had, at one point, described himself as the ‘prime suspect’ in the case.

He was convicted, in 2019, of the murder in a French court, but he was never tried in Ireland. Gardaí took items from Bailey’s home in Bantry just days after his remains were cremated at the Island Crematorium in Ringaskiddy.

‘If they can attain DNA from his items, like a comb or toothbrush, it may hold the key to the case,’ the source said. And they added that the concrete block, believed to be the murder weapon, may also be a crucial link if the DNA probe proves successful.

Last December, the Association for Truth and Justice for Sophie told The Southern Star that they hoped the purchase of a high-tech machine called the M-Vac could lead to a breakthrough in the case.

The M-Vac has been described as ‘the world’s greatest vacuum’ because it can glean 40% more DNA from a saliva stain than a cotton swab and 88% more from a blood stain.

A group spokesman described the machine as a DNA extraction tool that can pick up ‘touch DNA’ from grooves in a rock once held by the perpetrator.