Ireland won’t appeal failed extradition in 1996 murder case: lawyer

Dublin will accept an Irish High Court ruling not to extradite a British man to France following a murder conviction there in a notorious case dating back decades, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Last year, Ian Bailey was convicted in his absence by a court in Paris of murdering Sophie Toscan du Plantier, the 39-year-old wife of film producer Daniel Toscan du Plantier.

Her body was found outside her holiday home in southern Ireland in 1996, beaten on the head with a concrete block and dressed in night clothes.

Bailey has consistently denied any involvement. Although arrested and questioned, he has never been charged in Ireland in connection with the case.

On October 12, Ireland’s High Court turned down a third extradition request by the French authorities.

A judge said it could not be allowed because while France claims jurisdiction over a murder of a French citizen in a foreign country by a foreign national, Ireland does not do the same.

And on Tuesday, Frank Buttimer, Bailey’s lawyer, told AFP that the Irish justice minister had decided that “there would not be a request for a certificate from the high court to get permission to appeal”.

“In the absence of some extraordinary event… that’s the end of the extradition nightmare,” Buttimer said, adding that his client had expressed “enormous relief”.

A spokesman for Plantier’s family said they were surprised by the latest twist in the long-running saga.

Irish prosecutors have said the original Irish police investigation was “thoroughly flawed” because of long delays in reaching the crime scene.

In 2014, Plantier’s family described the Irish investigation as a “judicial fiasco” and a “denial of justice”.