DUBLIN (Reuters) – An Irish court on Monday rejected the extradition of British journalist Ian Bailey for a third time in connection with his conviction in France for murdering a French film producer in Ireland 24 years ago.
Bailey was sentenced in absentia to 25 years in jail by a French court last year for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, whose battered body was found while she was on holiday in the small Irish coastal village of Schull in December 1996.
He has always denied the crime and Irish authorities have never prosecuted him for it. Irish courts had on two previous occasions blocked his extradition to France, where the law allows suspects to be tried for murdering French citizens abroad.
In a written judgement on Monday, Judge Paul Burns found that Bailey had an “accrued right” not to be surrendered on the basis of the previous Irish court decisions.
Bailey became a suspect after speaking to others about the killing after it took place.
Toscan du Plantier’s husband Daniel Toscan du Plantier was a leading producer and worked with renowned film-makers including Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin, editing by Ed Osmond)
