A FORMER State solicitor who was involved in the case against Ian Bailey has failed in a legal bid to privately prosecute a journalist who wrote a book about the 1996 murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
Robert Sheehan, who worked with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in 2001, sought to bring a case against journalist and author Senan Molony, alleging professional vilification through comments made in Sophie: The Final Verdict, a book published in 2024.
Mr Sheehan also alleged that comments made by Taoiseach Micheál Martin at the book’s launch had damaged his reputation. During the event, Mr Martin reportedly questioned aspects of the Irish justice system’s handling of the Bailey case.
This week, Judge Ann Watkin of the Dún Laoghaire District Court declined to issue a summons against Mr Molony. The judge found that the journalist’s criticisms were directed at the legal process more broadly and did not provide grounds for a criminal prosecution.
The DPP had previously determined that the material submitted by Mr Sheehan did not disclose any offence that could be prosecuted in the courts.
Mr Sheehan has indicated that he may appeal the decision to the Circuit Court or to the European Court of Human Rights.
His complaint centred on remarks in the book and at the launch event that he believes called into question his actions and conclusions while working on the Bailey case.
Speaking at the launch in September 2023, Mr Martin is understood to have expressed concern at how the case was handled, saying it was difficult to understand why authorities had not pursued a prosecution.
Sophie Toscan du Plantier, a French film producer who was found dead outside her holiday home in West Cork in December 1996.
Ian Bailey, a journalist who was long considered the main suspect by gardaí, was never charged in Ireland despite being arrested and questioned twice. In 2019, a French court convicted him in absentia and sentenced him to 25 years in prison. The Irish State declined to extradite him.
Mr Bailey died in January 2024 in Co. Cork, at the age of 66. He always totally denied any involvement in the case.
More recently, director Jim Sheridan premiered a dramatised film based on the case—Re-Creation—at the Tribeca Film Festival. Mr Sheridan has publicly expressed supreme doubt over Mr Bailey’s guilt, describing the situation as a “double injustice” in which both families had suffered. While acknowledging Mr Bailey’s history of domestic violence, Mr Sheridan maintained that this should not be conflated with responsibility for the murder.
The murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, a French film producer found bludgeoned outside her holiday home in West Cork in December 1996, remains one of Ireland’s most infamous unsolved crimes.