Gardai will fly to France to track down and speak to a new suspect in the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder, we can reveal.
The new cold case review team is taking seriously the statement from former Schull shopkeeper Marie Farrell that Sophie was followed around the West Cork village the day before she was brutally killed.
A Garda source said: “We are taking this new evidence very seriously.
Read More: Ian Bailey confronted and abused by two angry women who shouted 'murderer'
“It is the first time we have another suspect in the case other than Ian Bailey and we want to find this person, interview them and get their DNA.
“For all we know he could be the killer, we have to check it all out.”
It is understood the man was identified after Ms Farrell assisted with a photofit.
The film director Jim Sheridan, who made the smash hit Sky documentary Murder At The Cottage, subsequently used his contacts in France to get the suspect identified.
It turns out he is a known associate of Sophie’s late husband Daniel.
Both Sophie and Daniel had been having separate affairs around the time she was battered to death outside her home on Christmas Eve 1996.
Sophie had split up with her lover French artist Bruno Carbonnet several weeks earlier, while Daniel then went on to marry the model he had been seeing behind his wife’s back. Bruno had an alibi and was in France at the time of the murder.
Film producer Daniel died on February 11, 2003 at the age of 61 from a heart attack. He married his lover after Sophie died.
He was never interviewed face to face by gardai after she was killed and never came back to Ireland to bring her body home.
Instead he made a statement to the Garda via the French police.
The new suspect is still living in the Paris area. Gardai know his name and have been given the address where he lives. The French police have promised to give full cooperation.
Bailey’s lawyer Frank Buttimer has always maintained her late husband had some act or part in her death. He believed Mr du Plantier’s behaviour was “very strange” around the time of the murder and points to the fact that he never came to West Cork to reclaim her body.
The man who ordered the cold case review, retired Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll, yesterday said the emergence of a new suspect was one of the reasons they sanctioned the new review to go ahead.
Meanwhile, Bailey has welcomed the latest developments and he yet again proclaimed his innocence.
He has long maintained Sophie was murdered by a hitman hired by her husband.
He said: “I genuinely believe the blood on the concrete block and rock used to take her life will in the end help catch the killer.
“I am hoping that the latest most up-to-date forensic technology will help get a DNA blood sample match and we will solve this riddle once and for all.”
Tragic Sophie was bludgeoned to death with the rock and concrete block 100 yards from her home.
Bailey, 64, was found guilty of her murder in absentia in 2019 after a trial in France based largely on hearsay evidence. He was sentenced to 25 years prison but the Irish courts have refused to extradite him.
Both Bailey and his ex-partner Jules Thomas will be interviewed separately by cold case detectives.
Mr Bailey added: "They have contacted me and I will cooperate so long as my lawyer is present. No date is fixed but I hope to be interviewed sooner rather than later.”
Tragic Sophie was bludgeoned to death with the rock and concrete block 100 yards from her home.
Bailey, 64, was found guilty of her murder in abstenia in 2019 after a trial in France based largely on hearsay evidence. He was sentenced to 25 years' prison but the Irish courts have refused to extradite him.
Jim Sheridan also made a full statement to gardai on the issue.
Marie Farrell no longer lives in Schull and has built a new life for herself in the midlands. She was recently interviewed at length by gardai.
He believed Mr Du Plantier’s behaviour was “ very strange” around the time of the murder.
Ms Farrell is adamant a man was following Sophie on the last day the 38-year-old French beauty was seen in Schull alive.
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