Ian Bailey’s ashes scattered in bay as family say ‘last goodbye’ to Sophie chief suspect.
BY OLIVIA KELLEHER
The family of Ian Bailey held a memorial service in West Cork last week with the ashes of the journalist and poet being spread in Roaringwater Bay.
Mr Bailey was the chief suspect in the 1996 murder of French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier. He was cremated at the Island Crematorium in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork in the days following his death at the age of 66 in January 2024.
His former partner Jules Thomas joined his only sister Kay Reynolds in a private scattering of the remainder of his ashes. Ms Reynolds said her brother ‘loved West Cork with a passion’.
In an interview on Cork’s 96FM radio station she added: ‘It was very appropriate that this is where we spread his ashes. It is something he wanted.’
She said the warrant for Ian Bailey’s arrest after his murder conviction in absentia in France meant he could not leave the country ‘but he said he would not want to be anywhere else’.
Ms Reynolds said that her brother was ‘quite fit’ until the last few years of his life. ‘It (the stress) finally got to him,’ she said.
‘He was not taking care of himself but it was all to do with the pressure. It had been relentless for almost 40 years. It took its toll on him.’
She continued: ‘There were times he did not help himself. I think if he had kept quiet it would have been better but that was not Ian’s style. He had nothing to hide and he would not hide. He confronted his challengers face on.’
Mr Bailey was on two occasions detained by Gardaí for questioning in relation to the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier.
The battered body of the 39-year-old French film producer was found near her holiday home in Toormore on the outskirts of Schull in West Cork on December 23rd, 1996.
Ms Reynolds said that she never for a second considered the possibility than her brother might have carried out the heinous crime.
‘As family we never thought that he had done this. From the moment he told us - he phoned us to let us know we would start to see things in the paper about him - we never doubted him that he had been involved in this.’
She added that her thoughts were with the family of Ms Toscan du Plantier.
‘This is not to forget that a very young mother was brutally murdered. I feel so sorry for the family because of the misguided belief that Ian committed the murder they have just had so many years of torture.’
Mr Bailey was convicted in absentia after a trial in France in 2015. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. However, officials in France were unable to extradite Mr Bailey to Paris to serve the sentence handed down by the courts.
A cold case review in to the death of Ms Toscan Du Plantier is ongoing.
