Sophie Toscan du Plantier's cottage

This is the cottage where Sophie Toscan du Plantier was murdered.

It is located at Dreenane in Toormore, which is in Dunmanus West, Cork. The Eircode is P81 Y364.

Toscan du Plantier was a French TV producer from Paris. She purchased this rural cottage as a holiday home in 1993 and was a regular visitor to the area.

On December 20th, 1996, she arrived in Ireland alone for a short trip, with plans to return home for Christmas.

At around 10 a.m. on December 23rd, 1996, a neighbor discovered her body at the end of the long driveway leading to her home. She was clad in nightwear and wearing laced-up walking boots.

An autopsy found that she had died from multiple blunt force injuries to the head, which had been inflicted with a concrete block and a rock. Her facial injuries were so severe that she was almost unrecognizable.

There were no signs of forced entry or a disturbance at the cottage.

Consequently, the Gardaí (Irish police) concluded that the attack occurred after Toscan du Plantier left her residence for reasons that remain unknown.

The investigation quickly narrowed in on an English journalist named Ian Bailey, who lived at a nearby cottage with his partner.

Crucially, he was the first reporter to arrive at the scene.

At 1.40 p.m., the editor of the Cork Examiner newspaper, Eddie Cassidy, called Bailey to inform him that a foreign national had been murdered in the area.

The Mizen Peninsula was known as a haven for many foreign residents and visitors.

Despite having no information about the victim's name or nationality, Bailey immediately drove straight to Toscan du Plantier's home.

Although he claimed that Cassidy had mentioned her nationality, it later emerged that he knew about specific details long before he received the phone call.

In the days following the murder, Bailey had multiple scratches on his forearms and an injury to his forehead. He and his partner gave conflicting accounts of his whereabouts on the night of the killing.

Several witnesses also contradicted Bailey's claim that he did not know the victim. Furthermore, a 14-year-old boy told his mother that Bailey had confessed to him that he "smashed her brains in with a rock."

Bailey was arrested on two separate occasions. However, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ruled that there was insufficient evidence to charge him with the murder.

The problem, from the DPP's perspective, was that most of the evidence was circumstantial. There was no DNA, fingerprints, or fibers linking him to the crime.

A local woman named Marie Farrell initially said that she saw Bailey on Kealfadda Bridge on the night of the murder.

However, she later recanted her statement and claimed that the Gardaí had coaxed her into falsely identifying the journalist.

Although Bailey was never prosecuted in Ireland, the French authorities launched their own investigation, as French law allows for jurisdiction over the murder of a French citizen anywhere in the world.

In May 2019, he was tried in absentia in Paris, convicted of voluntary homicide, and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Despite this, Ireland's High Court ruled in 2020 that he could not be extradited to France.

In June 2022, the Gardaí announced that they were conducting a full review of Toscan du Plantier's case. As part of the review, an advanced DNA collection system was used on evidence taken from the crime scene.

The results of these tests have never been released.

Bailey always maintained his innocence.

On January 21st, 2024, he died of a suspected cardiac arrest at the age of 66.

Five days after his death, investigators seized files, electronic devices, and other items from his apartment in Bantry, County Cork. One of the key objectives of the search was to obtain personal belongings containing his DNA.

At the time of Toscan du Plantier's murder, Irish law did not allow the Gardaí to take blood or conduct swabs without the suspect's written permission.

In October 2025, The Irish Independent reported that detectives intended to interview a Schull resident who could potentially solve the case. It is believed that the person in question will be interviewed under caution.

The article also said that investigators are hoping that newly extracted skin and blood cells will help confirm the identity of the killer.