EXCLUSIVE | 

The Bailey diaries: Murder suspect’s private papers visible in car for days after death

Murder suspect’s private papers lay inside parked car in public view for days after his death

Patrick O’Connell

Today at 15:40

A cache of Ian Bailey’s personal journals, notes and records lay in plain sight on the front seat of his car for five days after his death, prompting fears among locals someone would steal and try to sell them on eBay.

Our pictures show the diaries and documents lying undisturbed on the front passenger seat of his 07-registered Nissan Note in Bantry on Wednesday afternoon – four days after the 66-year-old passed away.

His brown leather satchel was also visible amongst a litter of poetry material, including a large poster for his book ‘A John Wayne State of Mind’ – that he stored in the rear of the vehicle.

The removal of the documents and journals didn’t occur until Friday around the same time gardaí raided Bailey’s ground-floor apartment in a building at the top of Barrack Street.

A local business owner told the Sunday World yesterday: “It was a filing cabinet for him as much as a car and he always parked it there in the same spot.

“People were wondering what would happen to it and all the stuff that he kept inside.

“The things in the back were in an awful mess.

“I didn’t realise the Guards were in searching his flat because the entrance is round the corner.

“But when I got in yesterday (Friday) morning the car was gone and I thought to myself, good, it’s been taken away.

“But it was parked back there again yesterday evening.”

The business person said when they looked in the car following its return it appeared that Bailey’s books and journals had been removed while the rest of his materials had been placed in black bags in the rear of the car.

“It was a mess before and now everything is neatly arranged,” he said. “To me, it looks like it was methodically searched.”

Last Thursday, prior to the Garda searches, the Sunday World spoke with a restaurant worker on Barrack Street, where the car was parked.

Pointing out Bailey’s car, he said he was concerned that someone would break into it and remove the possessions.

“There’s still a lot of interest in what happened,” he said. “You’d be afraid someone would put a rock through the window to get his stuff and it’d end up on eBay. People pay money for that kind of thing.’

Speaking yesterday, Bailey’s solicitor, Frank Buttimer, described An Garda Siíochána’s search of Bailey’s property and the pursuit of his client as a suspect beyond the grave as one of the ‘most extraordinary things’ he has come across in his criminal practice.

“Have we entered the Twilight Zone of criminal justice?” he asked.

“That there should be a pursuit by police of someone who has died in the past number of days and that pursuit now follows him into the grave.

“It‘s obvious to me that Ian has remained in the eyes of the police the target of their investigation in the murder of Madame du Plantier.

“But nothing has changed in my mind in relation to his status as an innocent person.”

According to sources, when gardaí entered Bailey’s flat on Friday, they removed everything the former journalist had written, everything that had the capacity for containing recordings and any computer equipment that he had in the house.

Sources say gardaí will examine the documents and recordings with a view to establishing whether Bailey may have said or written something that could directly link him to the murder.

In a statement, Gardaí said: “As part of the ongoing investigation into the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in 1996, Gardaí conducted a search under warrant of a residential property in Bantry, Co. Cork.

“As this is an ongoing investigation An Garda Síochána will not be commenting further at this time.

The Garda cold-case investigation into Ms Du Plantier’s murder was established in June 2022 and is being conducted by the Serious Crime Review Team.

The death of Ian Bailey last Sunday removes the possibility of him ever facing charges in connection with murder of the French national in Schull, west Cork, in December 1996.

However, once a file is completed, it’s understood the DPP will be asked to review it and decide whether there would have been enough evidence to bring charges against Ian Bailey were he still alive.

The DPP has to date declined to press charges against Mr Bailey, with former DPP Eamonn Barnes previously saying the Garda investigation was “thoroughly flawed and prejudiced” against the English journalist.

Mr Bailey was arrested twice for questioning about the murder.

He was never charged after the DPP reviewed the Garda file and concluded there was insufficient evidence to prosecute.

He was convicted in absentia in France in 2019 of the voluntary homicide of Ms Toscan du Plantier and sentenced to 25 years in jail.

However, the Irish courts refused on three occasions to sanction his extradition to France.

Most recently, in 2020, the High Court prohibited his surrender on the basis the murder was committed outside French territory.