State will not appeal decision to refuse surrender of Ian Bailey to French authorities
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State will not appeal decision to refuse surrender of Ian Bailey to French authorities © PAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images
Former British journalist Ian Bailey leaves from the High Court in Dublin on July 15, 2020 after attending an extradition hearing cover the 1996 murder of filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier. – Bailey, convicted of killing a French woman in Ireland in 1996, appeared in court on Wednesday to fight his extradition to France to serve a 25-year murder sentence. Ian Bailey, now 63, appeared at Dublin’s Criminal Courts of Justice to resist surrender to France, which last year convicted him in absentia of the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier. (Photo by Paul Faith / AFP) (Photo by PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)
The State will not appeal the High Court’s decision refusing to surrender Ian Bailey to the French authorities to serve a 25-year prison sentence imposed by a French court for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier 24 years ago.
At the High Court today Robert Barron SC for the Minister for Justice told Mr Justice Paul Burns that the State was not seeking a certificate to appeal the judge’s decision.
Mr Justice Burns also ordered that Mr Bailey can recover his legal costs from the State.© Provided by Independent.ie Sophie Toscan du Plantier (Family Handout/PA)
Mr Barron further told the judge that Ms Toscan du Plantier’s family wanted a copy of the judge’s ruling, delivered earlier this month, refusing the application for Mr Bailey’s surrender.
The judge said a copy of his judgment should be made available to the family and to the French authorities.
Mr Bailey has always maintained that he had nothing to do with the death of Ms du Plantier.