Ian Bailey Dies

The notorious suspect in the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier has died.

News broke early on Monday, 22nd January of the death of Ian Bailey. If you have heard of him, and are not a resident of West Cork, then to you he will only be known as the ‘chief suspect’ in the 1996 murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier. There was no news of any deathbed confession, as many would have hoped for. I resisted writing about it until now, but this is surely a development large enough to justify a short retrospective.

Ian Bailey emerges from this story as an incurable narcissist. There is no doubt in my mind that he revelled in the exposure he received when he became linked to the murder of Sophie. But there was never any evidence of his involvement in her death. No forensic evidence at all, even though it seems the killer went back to the cottage and touched the outside door, accidentally smearing Sophie’s blood on it, perhaps closing it. Nobody ever claimed to see Ian Bailey and Sophie together. He claimed never to have even met her, although perhaps once seeing her through a window on a visit to her neighbour, Alfie Lyons.

There was a part of Ian Bailey that enjoyed the attention and liked his status as ‘chief suspect’, whatever that means. I am sure at some point he became tired of the never-ending speculation, but there was a time back there that he loved it. He had fled to Ireland in the early 1990s for some peace and quiet, but his narcissism would return. By 1996 he must have been missing…