Posted by Speaking from the remote farmhouse near Schull in West Cork which she shared with Bailey, a few miles away from the murder scene, she said: ‘I think it was a very unconstitutional thing for a senior statesman to say and also that he said that he found it hard to understand why it was not put before an Irish jury.’
The Tánaiste’s comments at the launch of Mr Molony’s book, Sophie: The Final Verdict led the family of the French filmmaker to immediately call for a public inquiry into her death at her holiday home near Schull, West Cork in 1996.
Jules Thomas, the ex-partner of deceased murder suspect Ian Bailey, says she would strongly welcome a public inquiry into the unsolved murder of French film-maker Sophie Toscan du Plantier, the Irish Mail on Sunday can exclusively reveal.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin has been criticised for remarks made this week at the launch of a book by journalist Senan Molony – an extract of which is published in today’s MoS – in which he called into question the Supreme Court’s decision to deny a French extradition warrant for Bailey.But Welsh-born landscape artist Ms Thomas told the MoS that a public inquiry could tease out vital evidence she believes was suppressed during the long-running garda investigations, including how some witnesses were ‘pressurised’ and the identification of alien blood, which was not Bailey’s, which was found on Ms du Plantier’s body.
She also says that the identification of a mystery car spotted near the scene of the horrific killing could also be examined further in an inquiry.
Ms Thomas says an inquiry could also examine the question of Ms du Plantier’s time of death after pathology reports showed the victim may have eaten an early breakfast of fruit and possibly nuts, suggesting that she wasn’t killed the previous evening as is widely accepted.But it’s ridiculous to say the judicial system in Ireland failed. The investigation to my mind had figured out who they thought did it. But they were unable to back that up with any forensic firm evidence. If I thought Ian did it or found any evidence showing he was the murderer, I would have gone straight to the guards. I had three beautiful daughters to protect. He didn’t do it.’
‘Had he killed her, there would have been blood and other evidence.’
Who Watches the Watchers? 