Ian Bailey, the prime suspect for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, has died.
According to the Irish Times, the 66-year-old passed away on Sunday after suffering a suspected heart attack.
It’s understood he collapsed on Sunday afternoon on Barrack Street in Bantry, Co. Cork, where he was staying in rented accommodation.
Paramedics performed CPR on the former journalist for over 20 minutes, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Bailey had a history of cardiac issues, and suffered two heart attacks last year.
His body has been removed to the morgue at Bantry General Hospital.
Back in 2019, Mr Bailey was convicted in absentia by a court in Paris of the murder of French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier in 1996.
The Englishman was arrested twice and questioned by Gardaí about her murder, but he always denied any involvement in her killing.
Known as one of Ireland’s most famous murders, Sophie was found dead outside her holiday home near Toormore in west Cork on December 23rd, 1996.
In 2021, her murder was re-examined in a three-part Netflix series, Sophie: A Murder in West Cork.
From Oscar-winning producer Simon Chinn, the series featured contributions from residents of Schull as well as Sophie’s family – including her son Pierre-Louis Baudey.
The official synopsis for the true-crime series reads: “Sophie’s brutal murder in one of the most beautiful and remote regions of Ireland shocked the country and triggered one of the biggest investigations it had ever seen – and over the next two and a half decades became a national obsession in both Ireland and France.”
“With access both to the victim’s family and those involved in the story, the series unravels this extraordinary story from its beginnings and offers a unique window into the ongoing battle to find justice for Sophie.”
