Ian Bailey to be tried in absentia for du Plantier murder

Lawyers for Ms Toscan du Plantier’s family say that the trial will go ahead despite the Irish courts ruling last month that Mr Bailey should not be extradited from Ireland to France, The Irish Times reports.

French authorities have previously prosecuted people for crimes committed against French citizens outside of France.

Mr Bailey, 60, denies involvement in the death of Ms du Plantier, who was found dead outside her holiday home in Schull in December 1996.

French authorities sought the surrender of Mr Bailey in 2010 but the application was refused by the Supreme Court in 2012.

A second extradition request transmitted to Ireland, seeking the surrender of Mr Bailey for alleged voluntary homicide, was refused.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt found that the Supreme Court’s decision in 2012 had identified an “absolute jurisdictional bar” to Mr Bailey’s extradition to France in relation to the alleged offence.

Section 44 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003, which implemented the European Framework Decision on extradition between member states, continued to prevent Mr Bailey’s surrender.