Latest news with #Sophie:TheFinalVerdict
Irish Post
18-07-2025
- Irish Post
Lawyer's bid to prosecute journalist over Sophie Toscan du Plantier case dismissed
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.
Irish Examiner
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Former DPP denied permission to prosecute Taoiseach and journalist over comments on Ian Bailey case
A lawyer who was central to the Ian Bailey case has failed in an attempt to take a private prosecution against the Taoiseach and a journalist. Robert Sheehan, while working in the Director of Public Prosecution's (DPP) office in 2001, wrote a scathing analysis of the investigation of Bailey for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier. A succession of DPPs, along with various senior counsel, repeatedly concluded that Bailey did not have a case to answer for the 1996 murder. Last Monday, Mr Sheehan applied to Dun Laoghaire District Court for permission to take the prosecution. He alleges Micheál Martin and journalist Senan Molony, who published a book on the case last year, vilified him professionally through comments and passages in the book. Last September at an event to launch Sophie: The Final Verdict, the Taoiseach asked why Bailey had not been put on trial for the murder. He said he found it 'hard to understand why the system was so convinced by its interpretations of legal principles that it effectively threw its hands in the air and gave up'. On Monday, Judge Ann Watkin refused to issue the summons against the Taoiseach saying his criticism had been of the 'system', not Mr Sheehan personally. In relation to Mr Molony, she said she would not issue a summons as the DPP had indicated that the information provided by Mr Sheehan did not disclose a criminal offence that may be put to a jury. Mr Sheehan claims passages in the book relating to him and comments by Mr Molony in public interviews amounted to harassment in its legal definition. Senan Molony has never initiated any contact with Mr Sheehan nor ever met nor spoke with him in any capacity. Mr Molony refused to comment when contacted. A spokesperson for Micheál Martin said he had no comment to make. Mr Sheehan has said he will now consider whether to appeal to the circuit court or take his case to the European Court of Human Rights. Asked why if he believed he was defamed he had not sued for damages, Mr Sheehan quoted a former chief justice who had pointed out that ordinary people cannot have access to the courts to vindicate their rights because of the cost.
