‘He took no notice of me’ — Jules Thomas on letter she wrote to Ian Bailey to get him to finally leave

Story by Extra Reporter • Sunday

Jules Thomas, who stood by Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder suspect Ian Bailey through decades of accusations, court cases and stress, has revealed how a letter written with a psychologist’s help finally got him out of her life for good.

‘I asked him nicely to leave lots of times, but he took no notice of me,’ said the 73-year-old artist, who was assaulted by her former long-term partner in the past.

Ms Thomas was speaking to the Irish Mail on Sunday at her picturesque cottage, The Prairie, surrounded by gardens, spring flowers blooming and lawns where exotic fowl wander behind a narrow lane near the West Cork village of Schull.

Jules Thomas, who stood by Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder suspect Ian Bailey through decades of accusations, court cases and stress, has revealed how a letter written with a psychologist’s help finally got him out of her life for good. Pic: Collins Courts© Provided by Extra.ie

‘It was a letter we wrote that made him go in the end,’ she says pointing towards her kitchen. ‘He read it there, sitting at the end of the kitchen with a glazed expression on his face; he was devastated. Ian was speechless, he couldn’t say a word.’

Recalling the morning almost two years ago as she was at her wits’ end, after she ended their relationship in early March and put Mr Bailey on notice to leave, Ms Thomas said: ‘My eldest daughter put the letter together with the help of a psychologist friend. It held a mirror up to him, he couldn’t say anything; he was struck dumb.’

Once Mr Bailey, 65, left, her three daughters – who had stopped visiting in protest at his ill-treatment of their mother – began coming to see her again, and she could finally see her three grandchildren at her home.

‘They come down to see me when they can and it’s great; my eldest grandchild took up riding and she’s a natural, jumping now with wonderful natural posture,’ she said.

Two years on, Ms Thomas, an accomplished Welsh artist who came to West Cork from the UK in the early Eighties, meeting Mr Bailey 10 years later, says she has moved on with her life, and is happily working on her new collection.

Once Mr Bailey, 65, left, her three daughters – who had stopped visiting in protest at his ill-treatment of their mother – began coming to see her again, and she could finally see her three grandchildren at her home. Pic Tom Honan.© Provided by Extra.ie

She spent the winter months building up a large body of small and large watercolours and oils, depicting the wild coast and moody mountains of her beloved West Cork home; scenes from spectacular Bere Island, Sheep’s Head and other local beauty spots.

Thomas said she will take some of her paintings to Schull when the popular farmers’ market reopens again after the winter on Easter Sunday.

It was previously revealed how the couple’s break-up first came to light after Ms Thomas arrived to set up her stall at Schull Farmers’ Market on Easter Sunday 2021.

The couple arrived in separate vehicles and set up separate stalls. For many years, Ian Bailey sold pizzas and chutneys, sharing the stall with Ms Thomas, who displayed her artwork at the popular seasonal market.

But since then, he has been a peripheral figure, standing alone on the fringes of the market without his own stall. Ms Thomas said her life is good now and she has been able to work well ‘because I am not so interfered with mentally any more’.

Two years on, Ms Thomas, an accomplished Welsh artist who came to West Cork from the UK in the early Eighties, meeting Mr Bailey 10 years later, says she has moved on with her life, and is happily working on her new collection. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire© Provided by Extra.ie

She places luminous studies of light and shade, some with just crashing waves, others with livestock dotted on hillsides, into ready-made frames while finishing off several commissions, including a large painting of a local hotel.

The artist said: ‘My eldest daughter has told me; “Mum, your paintings are getting much brighter; you painted very darkly when you were depressed.” I’ve never noticed that myself.’

She said the avalanche of publicity she endured after the airing of two documentaries – one by Netflix and the other by Oscar-nominated director Jim Sheridan – damaged the sales of her work.

Ms Thomas had launched a lawsuit against Netflix, accusing the documentary makers of portraying her as an accomplice in the unsolved murder of French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier in 1996.

‘I was outraged and disgusted,’ she said, but declined to talk any further about the case, only to add: ‘I don’t know what will happen; you can’t predict with the law.’

Ian Bailey has moved accommodation in different parts of West Cork since he finally moved out of his former partner’s home almost two years ago.

It is understood he currently lives in rented rooms in the nearby town of Bantry. Mr Bailey is facing a 12-month road ban for allegedly driving under the influence of drugs.

He has appealed the case and has claimed the evidence was flawed because he wasn’t properly tested for traces of cannabis.

Ms Thomas said Mr Bailey has not returned since he finally packed his bags and left the home he shared with her for decades. ‘When leaving, he said he wouldn’t ever come back here,’ she added.

However, she did have a close encounter with her former partner recently while shopping at the weekly market in Skibbereen.

‘I think he tried to catch my eye, [but] I completely cut him dead; I have nothing to say to him. If I had done so he would have started and gone on and on… he doesn’t know when to stop; he can’t shut up.’

While Ms Thomas enjoys looking after her extensive gardens, growing and selling her vegetables, raising chickens, selling the eggs from an honesty box at the entrance to her property and preparing her art for sale, Ian Bailey is working on a podcast series that details his life before and after the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier.

In the series, he tells of his earlier life in England, before his move to West Cork and becoming a suspect in the brutal murder of the French mother-of-one.

He has launched ‘shout out’ individualised 15-second video clips on Tik Tok and sold T-shirts with an image of himself on them, in addition to his books of poetry.

‘I won’t be listening to any of his podcasts, and I don’t do social media at all. I’ve no interest whatsoever in what he has to say or any of that,’ Ms Thomas says.

‘Of course, I watched the awful Netflix one and Jim Sheridan’s documentary; he’s a decent, fair person, down to earth, a friend now [that] I respect a lot.’

Ms Thomas doesn’t want to talk about the past; only the future and looking ahead to better days. Whenever asked, she repeats her conviction that her former partner could not have killed Ms Toscan du Plantier.

She was arrested twice for questioning by gardaí investigating the murder and was released without charge on both occasions.

An avid gardener, Ms Thomas – a boyish figure dressed in trousers, wellingtons and a tight-knotted wool maroon jumper, her usual gardening uniform – had just collected her lawn mower from the repair guy in Skibbereen.

‘I look after everything here myself; since Ian left nothing much has changed. I think he only mowed the lawn once and he never did the edges. I never let him do the hedges either; he wouldn’t know what to cut, he’d have cut down something I wanted kept,’ she says as she points to the lean-to that backs on to her former partner’s ‘den’.

‘He would sit out there drinking coffee all day and wine at night; he didn’t do much else really around here,’ she said.

She adds with a smile: ‘I’m going to paint rounded Italian arches there so it looks like there’s something beyond it.’