DNA hopes to solve Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder

Extra.ie​

14 hours ago

Gardaí investigating the Sophie Toscan du Plantier cold-case murder should know 'within weeks' if a new DNA ­analysis method has successfully ­identified her killer, sources have told Extra.ie.
The US-based M-Vac Systems came to Ireland earlier this summer to carry out detailed forensic examinations on several exhibits, which it believes could glean new evidence and ­pinpoint who murdered the French filmmaker in West Cork almost 30 years ago.
Ms Toscan du Plantier, 39, was found badly beaten on the laneway leading to her holiday home in Toormore, near Schull, Co. Cork, on the morning of December 23, 1996. Pic: PA Wire
A postmortem examination revealed she had been bludgeoned to death with a rock and a concrete block, but her killer was never identified.
However, almost 30 years later, ­technological advances may help solve the case once and for all.
The M-Vac method of testing is a ­forensic DNA collection technique that uses a wet vacuum system to recover DNA material from surfaces, especially when traditional swabbing methods fail or yield low results. Sophie Toscan du Plantier. Pic: REX/Shutterstock
It is hoped that the method – which has helped resolve ­decades-old cases in the US – will be able to extract trace DNA from the rock and concrete block which were used to kill her in December 1996. M-Vac Systems CEO Jared Bradley travelled to Ireland in July, when the tests were carried out.
Ahead of his trip, he wrote on social media: 'Praying for a fantastic outcome. If what I believe will happen actually does, it will be MASSIVE for us in a whole host of ways. Please pray for us.'
While Mr Bradley is confident of results, gardaí are keeping an open mind as to whether or not it will solve the near-30-year mystery. Jean-Pierre Gazeau, uncle of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
Security sources with knowledge of the case said: 'M-Vac Systems and that whole way of extracting DNA has helped solve a lot of cold cases over in the US so the hope is that it does the same thing here.
'But there have been plenty of false dawns in this investigation.
'The report is expected soon but, until then, the investigation is still live and officers from the Serious Crime Review Team are still out there doing their jobs.
'M-Vac has been working with Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) on the task and reports are due soon. We can't put an exact timeframe on it but it could be days but most likely a matter of weeks.'
A total of ten suspects were identified during the 29-year investigation, and it is hoped that if a DNA profile can be extracted from the murder weapons, it could identify the killer.
'Gardaí have these DNA profiles stored away so it's a matter of waiting for the report to come back,' the source said.
'There's hope here, absolutely. It has worked before and it can work for us on this case as well.
'Once FSI have the details, it could be a case of confronting one of these suspects, that's if they are still alive.'
The prime suspect in the case has always been Ian Bailey, an English journalist living in West Cork who died last year aged 66.
Although he was convicted of the murder in absentia by a French court in 2019, he never admitted guilt before his death.
He was questioned twice by gardaí about her death but was never put on trial in Ireland.
The Irish courts repeatedly refused requests from the French authorities seeking his extradition for questioning and to appear before the courts in France.
According to Sophie's uncle, Jean-Pierre Gazeau, her parents, Georges and Marguerite, struggled terribly with the way their eldest child died.
Their pain was compounded by the lack of answers as to what exactly happened on that fateful morning. Sophie was a mother of one; her first marriage ended in divorce and she remarried.
Her last-known conversation was a phone call with her film producer husband Daniel Du Plantier. He too has since died.
Mr Gazeau previously told Extra.ie: 'What happened between Sunday, December 22, 1996, and the next day of December 23, is completely black.
'It is a black period and we don't know anything that happened for Sophie… We can have assumptions, but we don't really know. We don't know the truth and this of course is very frustrating because when you don't know in which way Sophie died, the way Sophie was killed, it's ­difficult, it's difficult to deal with the sorrow.'
In April of this year, Detective Inspector Des McTiernan told an official Garda podcast that the investigation into the killing was progressing well and that gardaí were availing of new technologies to help solve the crime.
'From a forensic perspective, we're trying to develop it more, because there are now advancements out there on the worldwide scale,' he said on the podcast available on the Garda website.
'We don't just confine ourselves to Ireland and our ability and capacity here. We have gone abroad, and we've done that before. We have close links to the FBI, and that's working quite well. Forensics is advancing all the time. Phone analysis is advancing all the time.
'Phone extractions going back two, three years could be totally different to what you get now, and you have to be very aware of that. So the technical sides of investigations and cold cases are also an opportunity for us.'
In a statement on the latest developments, gardaí said that they would not comment on the specifics of the focus of the ­investigation.
A spokesman said: 'An Garda Síochána is not ­providing any further information on the ­investigation into the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, at this time.'