The family of Sophie Toscan du Plantier try to shield her elderly parents from any negative news on her case as it remains "very difficult for them".
The murder victim's uncle Jean Pierre Gazeau has also hit out at Ian Bailey saying "almost everyday" he has a new suspect - but pointed to the Englishman's conviction for the killing in a French court.
Sophie, who was a 39-year-old mother-of-one, was battered to death outside her holiday home in Toormore, near Schull in Co Cork on December 23, 1996.
READ MORE: House next to where Sophie Toscan Du Plantier was murdered for sale for second time in two years
Nearly 27 years on, her aging parents Georges Buoniol and his wife Marguerite have never seen any justice for their daughter's gruesome death.
Mr Gazeau said: "My brother-in-law is 97 and my sister will be 92 this year.
"They are doing well but with difficulty more and more as time goes on.
"It's difficult for us and it's certainly very difficult for them.
"So we try not to tell them too much negative information."
Mr Gazeau spoke to the Irish Mirror/The Star nearly a year on from the gardai's Serious Crime Review Team launching a reexamination of the case.
A separate local investigation team based at Bantry Garda Station continues to probe the killing.
Mr Gazeau says that the teams are "working hard", with the local investigators identifying and interviewing fresh witnesses, but the family have yet to be updated on any fresh leads.
Self-confessed chief suspect Bailey - who was arrested over the killing twice and never charged - has not been contacted as part of the fresh probe.
The Manchester-born poet, who has always protested his innocence, was convicted in absentia of the murder in Paris in 2019 but the High Court here refused to extradite him.
On his new podcast, 66-year-old Bailey now insists that the case hinges on a man Sophie was seen with in the days prior to her death.
He says that a pump attendant at a filling station gave "a very exact statement" that Sophie had a male passenger with her after she stopped for fuel and there were more "unconfirmed sightings of an unidentified male."
But Mr Gazeau told us: "It's always the same game with Bailey since the beginning.
"Almost everyday there is a new suspect. All of that is extremely ridiculous.
"We are not interested in Bailey's podcast. After 27 years, a lot of documentaries and a lot of interviews of Bailey, there's nothing new.
"It's always the same arguments and complaints."
He added: "The man suspected of murder in Ireland has already been condemned in France.
"As of 2019, he is considered a guilty person, a murderer.
"He has been condemned to 25 years in jail. So for us Bailey is the murderer.
"But we understand in Ireland that is not the case. So they continue their investigations. We hope the investigations will end with a trial in Ireland."
Director Jim Sheridan is also making a new documentary on the death of Sophie, following his five-part series for Sky "Murder at the Cottage: The Search for Justice for Sophie" in 2021.
Sheridan previously claimed that the answer to the murder will be found in France. But Mr Gazeau rejects those claims.
He said: "One day it's one person, the next it's another person.
"Since the beginning, I remember, the garda had a lot of investigations and it reduced the number of suspects. It may have been 50 or 60 persons were under consideration but it was reduced, reduced and reduced with most ruled out. They eventually arrested Bailey.
"After a while you could also reconsider suspects but I don't believe that in this case.
"Bailey has been judged in France on the basis of real evidence, not only circumstantial evidence."
"It's another point of view. But his approach should always be without any bias. But now he's introduced a bias in his approach, we cannot accept that," he said.
Mr Gazeau remains hopeful that they will see justice served one day.
He said: "I think the investigation teams are making progress. They want to make progress. They want to reach a certain point where they want to present something to the DPP.
"Let's hope they can present something that is sound to the DPP."
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