logo
Man (75) accused of providing false ID card to young woman he met online to assist her to enter the country

Man (75) accused of providing false ID card to young woman he met online to assist her to enter the country

A 75-year old Co Clare man accused of providing a fraudulent French ID card to a 22-year old woman he met online in order to assist her to gain illegal entry into Ireland last year has been returned for trial.
At Ennis District Court today, Judge Alec Gabbett returned Roger Bishop of Little Thatch, Crown, Lissycasey, Co Clare for trial to the next sittings of Ennis Circuit Court in connection with two smuggling related offences connected to the alleged illegal entry of the woman, who was living in Turkey at the time, into the State in March 2024.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

French ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy stripped of Legion of Honour medal
French ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy stripped of Legion of Honour medal

Irish Examiner

time6 hours ago

  • Irish Examiner

French ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy stripped of Legion of Honour medal

France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy has been stripped of his Legion of Honour medal after being convicted last year of corruption and influence peddling while he was the country's head of state. The decision was made via a decree released in the Journal Officiel that publishes the government's major legal information. It comes in line with the rules of the Legion of Honour. Nicolas Sarkozy was president of France from 2007 to 2012 (Dan Kitwood/PA) The conservative politician, who was president from 2007 to 2012, has been at the heart of a series of legal cases since leaving office. He was found guilty of corruption and influence peddling by both a Paris court in 2021 and an appeals court in 2023 for trying to bribe a magistrate in exchange for information about a legal case in which he was implicated. He was sentenced to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet for one year, a verdict upheld by France's highest court, the Court of Cassation, in December. Earlier this year, Sarkozy stood trial over allegations he received millions of dollars from Libya for his successful presidential campaign in 2007. He denies the claims. Prosecutors requested a seven-year prison sentence. The verdict is expected in September. Sarkozy becomes the second former head of state to be stripped of the Legion of Honour – France's highest distinction – after Nazi collaborator Philippe Petain, who was convicted in 1945 for treason and conspiring with the enemy for his actions as leader of Vichy France from 1940-1944. Former cyclist Lance Armstrong also had his French Legion of Honour award revoked (Julien Behal/PA) Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was stripped of his Legion of Honour award in the wake of widespread sexual misconduct allegations against him in 2017. Disgraced cyclist and former Tour de France star Lance Armstrong also had his French Legion of Honour award revoked. Sarkozy retired from public life in 2017 though still plays an influential role in French conservative politics.

Ian Bailey's ex-partner shares she is battling 'incurable illness'
Ian Bailey's ex-partner shares she is battling 'incurable illness'

Irish Daily Mirror

time16 hours ago

  • Irish Daily Mirror

Ian Bailey's ex-partner shares she is battling 'incurable illness'

The ex-partner of Ian Bailey has revealed she is battling an 'incurable illness' and says she would like to go to scatter his ashes with his sisters 'to say goodbye'. Jules Thomas was in a relationship with Mr Bailey – who was accused of killing French filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier on December 23, 1996 – for more than 30 years before splitting with him in 2021. She revealed she has been battling an 'incurable illness' since 2021, which she said she was diagnosed with soon after Netflix released its 'biased' and 'disgusting' documentary, Sophie: A Murder in West Cork. The Welsh-born artist told us the stress of the unsolved murder case had taken a serious toll on her body. Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, she revealed: 'My consultant asked, 'were you under much stress?' I said, 'unbelievable stress.' 'It's not public knowledge but my daughters know. It was an unbelievable amount of stress. I began to feel unwell around the time the Netflix documentary came out. My immune system became very low. I was picking up every cold and flu.' She credits daily floor exercises she learned during her modern dance classes in boarding school to keep her body flexible and also gardening daily. Ms Thomas admitted: 'I'm feeling fine. I tire easily. I've a big garden. I do it on my own. I've an acre of grass to cut, I've about 10,000 plants in pots. I've a big front garden full of veg. There are ponds to clean.' In 1996, the bludgeoned body of Ms Toscan du Plantier was found outside her home in a remote part of West Cork. Mr Bailey was accused of her murder but was never charged with her killing. Ms Thomas believes she should never have been subjected to such stress over the murder, which she adamantly denies having any involvement in or knowledge of. She also backed Oscar-nominated director Jim Sheridan's claim in his new movie, Re-Creation, that Gardaí never had a 'shred of evidence' on Mr Bailey, saying authorities wrongfully arrested the pair. Starring Colm Meaney, Aidan Gilles and Vicky Krieps, Re-Creation – which premiered last week at the Tribeca Film Festival – imagines what could have unfolded if the unresolved murder had gone before a jury in Ireland. Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast on Tuesday, Mr Sheridan said: 'A man who probably was 100% innocent has been castigated through life; he lived a horrible life and died a horrible death and has a horrible name. 'I don't think he killed her, and there's not a shred of evidence to say he did.' He was on two occasions detained by Gardaí for questioning in relation to the murder but was never charged. Mr Bailey – who always denied any involvement in her murder – was convicted in absentia after a trial in France in 2015. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Ms Thomas said of the case: 'I should never have been subjected to that level of stress, when there was never a shred of evidence. There were two wrongful arrests. 'They had not a shred of evidence that we had anything to do with that woman. I never saw her, I never knew her. I knew of her from the people in the area. 'We knew of her but that was only because Ian worked up with [one of]the neighbours. It's a very remote track. You wouldn't know anyone unless you lived up there.' The unsolved murder was subject to many documentaries, including Netflix's Sophie: A Murder in West Cork, which aired in 2021. Earlier this year, Ms Thomas revealed she was suing Netflix and production company Lightbox Media over their 2021 documentary. She alleges filming for the production took place at her home without her permission, while also alleging that it contains falsehoods and made her a social pariah in the community she lives in West Cork. Both parties, represented by Matheson, are fully defending the claims in the case. Speaking about the Netflix documentary, Ms Thomas fumed to the Sunday Mirror: 'That shocking documentary they did was so biased. I thought it was disgusting.' Earlier this year, it was revealed Mr Bailey's sister, Kay Reynolds, would scatter her dead brother's ashes in a place he loved in West Cork. Ms Thomas also said she would've gone along with his sister to help scatter his ashes to say goodbye to the late UK journalist. And while Ms Reynolds hasn't contacted her, she said: 'She wants to keep it low key as possible.. but I would go and say goodbye.' Ms Thomas said Mr Bailey drank and took drugs to 'block out the hell he was living' after being accused of the murder. In January 2024, Mr Bailey collapsed and died from a suspected heart attack aged 66. She added: 'He had a big group of friends in Bantry. He apparently resorted to cocaine in the end because the drink wasn't doing anything. 'He needed to block out the hell he was living with so that is what he resorted to apparently.' Speaking about her own relationship with him, the 75-year-old said she couldn't live with him anymore after he would incessantly talk about the case all day. She said: 'It was ghastly what he went through but I couldn't live with him anymore. 'He never shut up about it, he went on and on and on, morning, noon and night. I couldn't sleep then. 'Before going to bed, he'd be on about, 'Oh the French are coming to get me in the middle of the night'. It went on and on and on. It was a nightmare.' It emerged Mr Bailey had been 'seriously violent' towards his Welsh-born artist girlfriend three times, which saw her also take out a protection order against him. Ms Thomas said she would regularly be stared at by people in the Schull Market on Sundays where she would sell her paintings. She said the case hindered her from earning a decent living as people were afraid to approach her. She added: 'I think it put an awful lot of people near me because they believed what the guards were saying. 'I got horrible stares at the market for years from people from Dublin or wherever in the country. The locals were lovely.'

Tactic people smugglers use to get young male migrants past French cops onto dinghies to UK revealed
Tactic people smugglers use to get young male migrants past French cops onto dinghies to UK revealed

The Irish Sun

time21 hours ago

  • The Irish Sun

Tactic people smugglers use to get young male migrants past French cops onto dinghies to UK revealed

PEOPLE smugglers are using women and children as human shields in a diversion tactic to get past French police - before mostly men make it onto a dinghy. Families with young babies and kids were put at the front of the queue of migrants entering the vast beach from the sand dunes in Gravelines, near Calais, yesterday with young men trailing behind. 1 People-smugglers are using women and children as a diversion tactic to get young male migrants past French police Credit: Getty The diversionary tactics meant the 40 police officers, armed and waiting with pepper spray and tear gas, remained calm and did not use force against the group straight away to avoid injuring the children. Instead, officers kettled the group and successfully marched them off back into the sand dunes. But, when the time was right and the police thought they had taken the group off the beach, a group of mostly men suddenly sprinted off into the sand dunes before making a break for it back onto the beach. Most of the migrants with children did not return to the beach. Read More on UK News It comes after senior Labour minister Darren Jones was slammed after suggesting on BBC's Question Time that the majority of migrants entering by small boats that he had seen were women and children. A dramatic cat and mouse game followed yesterday with tear gas being fired over Gravelines beach in an attempt to keep migrants away from the sea. But they failed to stop a nearby dinghy from picking up the migrants and it left for British shores with mostly men on board. It comes after official figures showed that more than 919 people crossed the Channel in small boats on Friday on 14 dinghies - averaging around 66 people per boat. Most read in The Sun It has taken the provisional annual total to 16,183, which is 42 per cent higher than the same point last year and 79 per cent up on the same date in 2023. The highest daily number so far this year was 1,195 on May 31.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store