1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:04,200 'The following programme contains distressing scenes.' 2 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:31,840 My name is Jim Sheridan. 3 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:36,120 I'm a storyteller. 4 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:40,080 20 years ago, 5 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:42,280 this story caught hold of me 6 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:44,640 and it won't let me go. 7 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,120 I'm looking for a grave. 8 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:52,840 Sophie's grave. 9 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:56,560 She was born Sophie Bouniol. 10 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:01,800 She died Sophie Toscan du Plantier. 11 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:06,240 This is not the first grave she was buried in. 12 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:13,520 She is buried here... 13 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:18,720 ..but her spirit lives on in Ireland. 14 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,960 Statement of Shirley Foster at Toormore. 15 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,080 "I hereby declare that this statement is true 16 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:38,520 to the best of my knowledge and belief 17 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:42,280 and that I make it knowing that if it is tendered in evidence 18 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:45,240 I will be liable to prosecution if I state in it 19 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:50,040 anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true." 20 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:56,320 ♪ Jingle Bell Rock 21 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:00,960 "On Monday morning, I got up about 8:20am. 22 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,600 I put on the fires and put on the breakfast. 23 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:18,840 At 10:00am, I decided to do shopping and take the rubbish to the dump. 24 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:23,760 I passed down by the back of Sophie's house 25 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:25,440 and down towards the gate. 26 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,440 Her car was parked beside the house. 27 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:35,320 The gate was open, which I thought was very unusual. 28 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:44,120 At first, I saw something on the left-hand side of the roadway 29 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:46,960 with something like a piece of white material 30 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,360 caught on the wire of the gate. 31 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,280 As I drove by, I could see it was a body." 32 00:03:56,080 --> 00:04:00,120 "I was leaning on the horn to try and draw out Alfie's attention 33 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:02,000 and I was screaming." 34 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:08,040 "I then came into the side gate and back up home. 35 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:11,760 I told Alfie and he rang the guards." 36 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:32,720 Here in these briars, a young mother died. 37 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:37,760 In mid-winter, over that hill, 38 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:42,560 the sun rose at 8:35 to reveal her lifeless body. 39 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:51,360 A century ago, not far from here, another event occurred. 40 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:57,760 Michael Collins, some would say the violent creator of the State, 41 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:02,920 was murdered or assassinated in the Mouth of Flower, 42 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:05,480 Beal na Blath. 43 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:08,000 But West Cork is now associated 44 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:11,760 with one murder, that of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, 45 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:15,400 a guest of the nation, 46 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:17,920 who was brought back home in a coffin. 47 00:05:20,840 --> 00:05:23,400 It is a murder that carries implications 48 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:27,120 for the meaning of justice in Ireland and in France. 49 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,520 It's a story that pits one legal system against another. 50 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:37,680 It is a story that shines a light on domestic violence. 51 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:42,680 It is a story about primal fear, about a devil in the hills, 52 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:45,600 about the existence of evil among us. 53 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:50,760 She died here 54 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,280 in the brambles, in the briars, 55 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:57,120 and now those hills call out for justice. 56 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:37,080 This place is very dear to us. 57 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:39,960 Everybody thinks they kind of know everybody 58 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,840 and you know, you're on a peninsula. It's like being on an island. 59 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:49,320 This is a place you'd go because you loved quiet and peace. 60 00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:52,880 I came to West Cork in the early '70s. 61 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:54,680 When I came, it was the first time 62 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:57,520 people had started coming back into Ireland. 63 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:01,320 You know, everyone was emigrating and stuff 64 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:05,000 and when we came here, it was like, you know, "God!" 65 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:09,240 Old cottages, ruins and stuff. Nobody had ever wanted them before. 66 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:14,240 Suddenly, somebody saw a value in this, 67 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:16,840 you know, wanted to live in these places. 68 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,240 This is West Cork. 69 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:25,320 This is where the sun sets in the Atlantic Ocean, 70 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:27,640 on the southwest tip of Ireland, 71 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:31,800 350 kilometres from the capital city of Dublin. 72 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:37,800 The road from Cork City goes through Bandon, 73 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:42,040 then on out to Ballydehob, Schull, 74 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:47,760 and then it meanders past Toormore and ends in Crookhaven. 75 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:55,000 West Cork is home to bohemians, 76 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:59,360 to artists, to musicians... 77 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:02,080 to people who want to escape city life... 78 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:05,120 ..the rat race... 79 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,760 ..escape themselves, look for another life. 80 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:16,680 In the summer, the rich people arrive - 81 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:19,640 from Dublin and from Cork. 82 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:24,520 And when winter comes, the people who are left behind 83 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,080 are known as the blow-ins. 84 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:37,040 Because you've got the bad knee. 85 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:43,160 Billy, was this always a village here? 86 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:52,760 Are these holiday homes? 87 00:09:00,680 --> 00:09:03,080 How many of these people would be blow-ins? 88 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:23,920 If you didn't reside in West Cork before the famine of 1848, 89 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:27,840 the locals lovingly refer to you as a blow-in, 90 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:29,600 like Sophie. 91 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:34,400 She used to come in the winter-time every year for a good few years, 92 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:36,400 usually around Christmas. 93 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:39,120 Then I got to know her each time she came. 94 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:43,320 What was Sophie like? She was a lovely girl. Quietly spoken. 95 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:45,920 Would you have spoke a few words in French to her? 96 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:48,440 I would but I was trying to learn a bit of French 97 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:50,400 and she preferred to speak English. 98 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:54,320 But she never spoke to anyone else, I don't think. 99 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:58,480 And did she always come on her own? Yeah, she came with a son, 100 00:09:58,520 --> 00:09:59,760 I think. 101 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:02,240 The husband never came, I don't think. 102 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:06,640 And she was there. 103 00:10:06,680 --> 00:10:08,320 And she was sitting - 104 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:10,440 Sitting there where the camera is now. 105 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:12,760 Every time, the same spot. Yeah. 106 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:20,120 She stopped there with her scone and tea and... 107 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:27,000 Yeah. Yeah. 108 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:31,520 Lovely lady. 109 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:40,920 Statement of William J Byrne, An Garda Siochana, 110 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,120 Ballydehob, County Cork. 111 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:48,640 "On Monday morning, 23rd of December, 1996, 112 00:10:48,680 --> 00:10:52,040 I was on duty in an official car E63. 113 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:56,480 At approximately 10:15am, we received a radio message 114 00:10:56,520 --> 00:11:00,840 stating that a body had been found at Dunmanus West, Goleen. 115 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:05,680 We went to the scene immediately, arriving there at 10:38am. 116 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:08,840 I saw the body of a female lying in the side of the laneway 117 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:12,520 inside the gateway which leads to three houses. 118 00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:15,760 The body was badly mutilated around the head area." 119 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:39,320 I had never met Sophie before. 120 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:43,360 Being a priest, the guards informed me... 121 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:49,800 ..and asked for me to go to the scene and to say the prayers. 122 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:02,080 Yeah. 123 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:03,360 So... 124 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:12,000 And I had attended a couple of murder scenes in London 125 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:16,040 but I just never saw anything as brutal... 126 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:21,320 ..and as shocking...and as... 127 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:23,360 horrific. 128 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:27,080 I was shocked. 129 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:31,120 There was a brick, a concrete block, at her head 130 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:34,760 and obviously it had crushed her skull... 131 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:45,240 ..and her beautiful face, to me, still was very, very clear. 132 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:58,800 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 133 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:02,440 So, I simply prayed. 134 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:04,920 Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed by Thy name. 135 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:09,480 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven... 136 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:14,040 The guards joined in on the prayers as they were being said. 137 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:21,160 It was only the three of us and there was nobody else around... 138 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:23,040 at that time. 139 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:35,040 Soon, there were a lot of large policemen 140 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:36,960 milling around the place. 141 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:42,920 And not knowing what to do because they were inexperienced 142 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:47,160 with anything of this magnitude, you know? 143 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:56,480 As was not unusual, shortly after one o'clock, 144 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:59,560 Eddie Cassidy of the Cork Examiner 145 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:03,000 telephoned Bandon Garda Station to check in. 146 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:06,200 He was told that Superintendent Twomey 147 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:08,480 had gone west past Schull 148 00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:11,160 to investigate a suspicious death. 149 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,120 Afraid he might not make the late editions, 150 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:20,320 Eddie immediately telephoned 151 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:22,920 the only reporter he knew who lived close by. 152 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:28,760 The phone rang and Ian answered it and it was Eddie Cassidy 153 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,720 and he said, "There's been a body found. 154 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:34,040 It's in this area." 155 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:37,080 And Ian said, "God, this is a story. 156 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:39,440 He wants me to go and investigate it." 157 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,080 So, we wait for the one o'clock - 158 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:46,160 or the two o'clock news, I think it was, it had gone one - 159 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:49,040 to hear if there was anything on it. 160 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:51,600 'Gardai, as you heard in the headlines, 161 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:55,720 in County Cork are treating as suspicious the death of a woman 162 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:59,080 whose body has been found near Schull on the southern coast. 163 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:03,200 The woman, believed to have been in her early 30s, had head injuries.' 164 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:06,520 "Tourist", it said, "found dead near Schull." 165 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:08,880 At that stage, we didn't know who it was. 166 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:12,640 Somebody came up to me and said, "Somebody's been killed." 167 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:15,560 A woman's body had been found on the road. 168 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:18,480 I don't think people were saying that it was a murder. 169 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:20,760 People were saying it was a hit and run. 170 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:23,200 But it was certainly suspicious. 171 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:27,960 But we had heard it was a French person 172 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,640 and Ian...the only French person he could think of 173 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:35,240 was actually next door to someone who lived up in a very remote lane. 174 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:38,720 We didn't know if it was right or wrong. 175 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:46,440 -Statement 72 -A with Ian Bailey at The Prairie. 176 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:48,440 "It was a French national, it was a lady, 177 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:51,080 I had knowledge that there was a house there that was owned 178 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:53,960 and sometimes occupied by a French lady. 179 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:58,240 I knew it was near Alf Lyons and I'd seen the French lady there. 180 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:03,800 Jules took photographs at my behest of the scene. 181 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:08,000 I went to get nearer to the scene but I was prohibited by Gardai." 182 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,160 They said no, they couldn't give him any information, 183 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:15,840 that something would be released from their press-office later. 184 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:23,840 The Irish police, known as the Gardai, 185 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:25,880 tried to contact the family... 186 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:30,360 ..but the French press beat them to it. 187 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:38,560 As the first report spread to France, 188 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:42,440 of the death of an unidentified woman in West Cork... 189 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:51,160 ..Sophie's mother, Marguerite Bouniol, 190 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:53,080 in her Paris apartment, 191 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:55,960 got an overwhelming feeling of dread. 192 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:58,000 Sophie was a documentary film-maker 193 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:01,160 and mother to Pierre-Louis. 194 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:03,440 She worked for Unifrance, 195 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:07,000 the company that promoted French cinema to the outside world. 196 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:10,640 It was here she met her second husband, 197 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,120 Daniel Toscan du Plantier. 198 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:17,960 He produced the movies of Bergman, Peter Greenaway, 199 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:22,840 Marcello Mastroianni and Federico Fellini among others. 200 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:33,000 Difficile. 201 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:40,840 'The Gardai investigating her murder 202 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:43,680 have pieced together most of Sophie's movements 203 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:47,160 over the three days she spent in Ireland from Friday the 20th 204 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:49,040 to Monday the 23rd of December.' 205 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:51,400 'The next day, Sunday the 22nd of December, 206 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:54,400 Sophie drove out to Three Castle Head, Barleycove, 207 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:58,240 a local scenic area, arriving there at around one o'clock.' 208 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:04,720 So, we're walking... 209 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:08,320 I'm walking the last path... 210 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:11,160 ..Sophie took. 211 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:15,120 At that time of the year, which is this time of the year now, 212 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:19,120 midwinter, this land was private. 213 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,400 Says "No Entry, Three Castle Head". 214 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:24,080 Agh! 215 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:35,120 I don't think there's a human being within a mile in any direction. 216 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:40,360 I don't ever think I've been in as lonely a place. 217 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,320 God, that's some landscape, isn't it? 218 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:05,800 This is Three Castle Head. 219 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:13,520 A stronghold since Norman times, it's been here 220 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:15,680 for more than a thousand years... 221 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:18,800 ..with a bloody history. 222 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:26,200 Mostly the lake is still... 223 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:29,320 ..silent... 224 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:32,040 ..and bottomless. 225 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:34,720 But on wintery days, 226 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:38,000 the force of the wind coming in off the Atlantic Ocean 227 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:43,240 raises a froth on the lake that can appear like The White Lady, 228 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:46,120 who is said to walk the lake. 229 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:50,840 And it's best not to see her... 230 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:53,760 cos if you do, you won't see another day. 231 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:05,200 Seems just so odd to walk all this distance on your own. 232 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:10,720 I'm here with the camera person but I'd say on your own, 233 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:14,280 it's very isolated. You could feel anything here. Look! 234 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:27,280 On the Sunday, Sophie ran back to the Ungerers, 235 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:29,120 the nearest residents, 236 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:31,440 whom she knew from France, 237 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:35,880 and told them, in distress, she'd seen The White Lady. 238 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:48,240 Statement of Yvonne Ungerer. 239 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:50,400 "While we were chatting, Sophie told me 240 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:52,480 that while she was up at the castles, 241 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:56,040 she felt this great anxiety, almost fear. 242 00:23:56,080 --> 00:24:00,480 This is not an uncommon feeling for people who visit the castles. 243 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:05,000 She wasn't in a cheerful mood but she wasn't really glum either. 244 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:07,840 She said she liked it here but her husband didn't. 245 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:10,720 She said she would be back at Easter." 246 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:18,200 And we might ask why in the hell 247 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:20,680 did she come to such an isolated spot? 248 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:27,480 The last time I saw her was the day before she died. 249 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,400 Did she seem disturbed to you or - Not at all. 250 00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:35,800 No, I saw no difference. Now, I mean... 251 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:39,080 What would she be disturbed about? I wouldn't know but... 252 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:44,120 There was nothing locally wrong that she could be disturbed about. 253 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:48,240 It's just that Yvonne Ungerer said, you know, up at Three Castle Head, 254 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:51,960 she said that she had some dread and she saw The White Lady and... 255 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,200 I heard that too but she never mentioned anything to me. 256 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:57,800 Nothing at all out of the ordinary with her. 257 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:05,960 She drove down with her rented car, parked up, came in, 258 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:07,840 had tea and scones. 259 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:14,360 I remember asking would she come to our little party. 260 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:17,160 A soiree we have at Christmas for the locals. 261 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:21,240 And she said, "Yeah, I'd love to come," or something like that. 262 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:23,640 Or she'd come if she was here or something. 263 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:28,680 And that was the last cup of tea she ever had, poor divil. 264 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:32,880 That's the worst part of it. 265 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:35,080 To think the way she died, like. 266 00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:38,040 Not that. Jesus, not that. 267 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,680 Sophie travelled home to Toormore. 268 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,760 She didn't return to Billy's Christmas party. 269 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:04,760 And in Schull, 270 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,520 the celebrations that year carried on without her. 271 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,480 The gate was closed, the door was locked... 272 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:29,000 ..and Sophie was in bed when she said a sleepy goodnight 273 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:31,680 to her husband Daniel... 274 00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:33,960 before the light went out. 275 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:41,880 In the collective mind, she died a brutal, violent death. 276 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:46,880 No cries were heard, no calls for help. 277 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:59,400 Two men said they heard strange cries that night. 278 00:27:05,360 --> 00:27:07,520 Probably foxes. 279 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:52,920 In the '90s, we were regarded as the experts. 280 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:58,440 Local guards would not have had any experience, most times, 281 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:00,400 of homicides. 282 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:03,560 We got the call early afternoon 283 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:06,520 on the day before Christmas Eve, on the 23rd. 284 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:09,240 'She had bought the house some years ago 285 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,080 and while she intended to spend holidays there...' 286 00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:14,560 We left, I think it was roughly about 3:30 287 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:17,840 and we got down to Schull at 10:00...10:00pm. 288 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,840 Took us seven hours cos we had to drive through all Christmas traffic. 289 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:28,560 We went to the station in Schull because we had no idea where it was. 290 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:32,520 Station was closed and we didn't know what to do. 291 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:36,000 So, I went down to a local phone box, I could see it. 292 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:38,160 Walked down the street to make a 999 call 293 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,320 because we had no mobile phones then. 294 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:43,120 And the phone box had been vandalised. 295 00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:46,280 I had to rewire the phone to make a 3-9 call out. 296 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:50,320 I had to rewire the whole lot and make a 3-9 call 297 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:52,280 to get somebody back from the scene. 298 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:54,280 That was normal at the time. 299 00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:56,640 So, one came back in and then brought us out. 300 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:07,560 We were amazed at how far off the main road the scene was. 301 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:20,240 And there she was on the ground, you know? 302 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:22,360 In the middle of countryside. 303 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:25,200 Dreadful. 304 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:33,720 It was as if all forces conspired 305 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:36,680 to protect the murderer of Sophie. 306 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:43,600 On the day Sophie died, 307 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:48,200 John Harbison was celebrating his 63rd birthday. 308 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:50,040 Did I leave the file 309 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:53,280 on the brain case that I did last night? 310 00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:56,240 He was the Chief State Pathologist for Ireland 311 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,240 and he called himself "the dead man's doctor". 312 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:02,480 Now, rigor mortis is a chemical phenomenon. 313 00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:04,680 It's variable in its rate... 314 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:07,520 Professor Harbison was a reluctant one-man band 315 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:10,320 who didn't have a deputy, and that day of all days, 316 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:13,000 he couldn't be contacted until after lunch. 317 00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:15,280 At which point, it seemed to him, 318 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:17,080 there was little to be gained 319 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,760 by travelling the seven hours to West Cork. 320 00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:22,560 There's no doubt that the longer a body's around, 321 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:25,960 the more difficult it becomes to assess actual time of death. 322 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:30,240 You can be reasonably accurate if the body is found quickly 323 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:33,240 in an ongoing temperature but once a day passes, 324 00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:36,640 you'll have variation in the ambient temperature. 325 00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:39,520 It was just above freezing point. 326 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:43,040 The body would have been frozen solid, practically. 327 00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:49,720 We decided that there was no point in leaving the body in situ. 328 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:53,320 And I rang the local officer. 329 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:57,520 And I was more or less told by the police officer 330 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:00,560 that he wanted Dr Harbison down there 331 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:02,720 and that's what was happening. 332 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:08,280 It's a regulated force so I said, "Yes, sir. Thank you. Goodnight." 333 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:16,080 The forensic team left for the night. 334 00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:21,720 A lone reporter from Dublin hung around for some night-time shots. 335 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:30,520 And, watched over by two policemen, Sophie was left in the lane. 336 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:40,440 That was one of the things that angered every one of us. 337 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:46,200 To think that this poor girl was left lying there... 338 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:49,160 ..for so long. 339 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:52,280 It's not what we'd like to see for any one of our own. 340 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:26,480 It's inexplicable and it's unacceptable 341 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:30,200 that it could take 24 hours for a state pathologist 342 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:32,320 to visit a murder scene. 343 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:35,640 If you cannot take a body temperature, 344 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:38,960 then you cannot measure when exactly the murder took place. 345 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:42,360 And obviously, that information is vital 346 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:44,640 in terms of interviewing suspects 347 00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:47,320 as to where they were at particular times. 348 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:53,240 See, nobody has any experience of a murder here. 349 00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:57,800 We had no flying squad, we had no special murder team. 350 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:03,600 So on Christmas Eve 1996, 351 00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:08,520 24 hours after Shirley Foster discovered the body, 352 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:10,760 Dr Harbison arrived 353 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:15,520 to perform the autopsy on Sophie Toscan du Plantier. 354 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:23,720 How could such a thing happen? 355 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:26,680 And it's particularly somebody that had trusted us 356 00:34:26,720 --> 00:34:30,160 to come to us and find a special place among us. 357 00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:37,480 You know, evil is a strange thing. 358 00:34:39,240 --> 00:34:43,160 It can't...co-exist with beauty. 359 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:46,320 It must destroy it. 360 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:06,760 'But, it's not yet clear whether the killer 361 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,680 was foreign or local or was known to the dead woman. 362 00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:13,400 What is clear is the particularly violent manner of the killing...' 363 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:17,640 The only topic of conversation that Christmas in Schull was the murder. 364 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:20,200 Hello, Santy! 365 00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:22,840 And the only thing that took people's mind off it 366 00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:25,840 for a few minutes was the cold Atlantic sea. 367 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:33,720 There they go, 1996. 368 00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:42,120 Ho-ho, Pat! There's a fine West Cork man for you now! 369 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,600 Eoin O Balaigh! Eoin O Balaigh, have you any words for the camera? 370 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:47,400 You're a man of many words. 371 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:49,080 I haven't. 372 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:52,800 What about a poem? 373 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:56,600 There he is, drinking brandy. 374 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:04,600 In the early hours, grief is compounded by suspicion. 375 00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:10,000 There were over 50 suspects, including Sophie's family. 376 00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:13,000 But they were quickly discounted. 377 00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:16,800 After her next-door neighbour, Shirley Foster, found the body, 378 00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:18,640 her partner, Alfie, 379 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:20,360 went to check on it. 380 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:24,760 They had to be among the early suspects as the police wondered 381 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:27,320 how they'd heard nothing through the night. 382 00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:30,520 Not a peep! 383 00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:34,280 We heard no human voices at all. 384 00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:39,720 And the windows would be closed at night because it was December. 385 00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:44,440 And, of course, in the case of murder, 386 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:47,160 the first suspect is always the husband. 387 00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:55,200 So Daniel Toscan de Plantier became an immediate person of interest. 388 00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:02,960 Among the many people in France that the Irish police 389 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:08,360 wished to speak to was an artist by the name of Bruno Carbonnet. 390 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:11,080 He visited Toormore with Sophie 391 00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:15,360 in 1993, the year Daniel bought the house for her. 392 00:37:18,720 --> 00:37:22,360 Statement of Bruno Carbonnet, Jean Michel. 393 00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:26,280 "Madam Toscan du Plantier was for me an intimate friend 394 00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:29,840 during the year 1992 and 1993. 395 00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:34,120 In fact, I have known her since the spring of 1992 396 00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:37,680 when she was introduced to me at a workshop 397 00:37:37,720 --> 00:37:43,160 of the art centre of the Ephemeral Hospital in Paris. 398 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:46,800 We afterwards became lovers. We went to Goleen 399 00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:48,480 in Ireland together, 400 00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:52,800 to the small house where I stayed, helped her to set up herself. 401 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:56,160 Our affair was secret and discreet 402 00:37:56,200 --> 00:37:59,880 and I think that Monsieur Toscan du Plantier knew of it. 403 00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:05,280 My affair with Sophie finished in Christmas 1993, 404 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:08,400 a date on which she finished it without any warning. 405 00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:12,120 This end was very difficult for me. 406 00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:22,640 What always happens then is people speculate. 407 00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:24,360 Rumours. 408 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:27,960 Rumours...by the dozens. 409 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:33,240 One of the conspiracy theories out there, of course, 410 00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:35,200 is that it was a guard. 411 00:38:35,240 --> 00:38:39,600 I did feel as though it had something to do with France. 412 00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:42,120 We always thought maybe, you know, Mr du Plantier 413 00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:45,760 didn't want to pay a third alimony and he was having... 414 00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:48,080 It's full of bloody rumours. 415 00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:53,200 This afternoon, detectives from the National Bureau 416 00:38:53,240 --> 00:38:56,640 of Criminal Investigation arrived at the station in Bandon. 417 00:38:56,680 --> 00:38:58,560 They're assisting local Gardai 418 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:01,040 led by Chief Superintendent Dermot Dwyer. 419 00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:07,040 'Sophie Toscan du Plantier 420 00:39:07,080 --> 00:39:09,360 was a glamorous and beautiful French woman.' 421 00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:12,920 '..her death turned international media focus on West Cork.' 422 00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:28,200 There were a lot of rumours 423 00:39:28,240 --> 00:39:32,040 and some of them would've been borne out by some of the media coverage. 424 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:11,040 The consensus seemed to be 425 00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:14,200 that there had to be some kind of an overseas link to this. 426 00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:17,360 Bruno Carbonnet was a person of interest 427 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:21,640 on the basis that he had been having an affair with Sophie 428 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:25,280 in the early stages of her marriage with Daniel Toscan du Plantier. 429 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:28,200 And what was unusual, from a Garda point of view, 430 00:40:28,240 --> 00:40:31,160 was that Bruno Carbonnet had accompanied Sophie 431 00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:34,760 to the house at Toormore. So, at their behest, 432 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:37,320 Mr Carbonnet made a statement to the gendarmes 433 00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:39,400 which was then passed to the Gardai. 434 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:43,480 And on the basis of that, he had a watertight alibi. 435 00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:45,600 He was attending an arts event 436 00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:48,160 in the south of France, I think it was, 437 00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:50,720 on December the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. 438 00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:53,680 And the Gardai eliminated him from their enquiries. 439 00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:06,360 Daniel had a watertight alibi as he was just outside Toulouse 440 00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:10,320 in rural France, a thousand miles away, 441 00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:12,560 at the time of the murder. 442 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:19,560 'While Gardai would not say officially 443 00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:23,280 whether they believe the killer to be local or non-national, 444 00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:26,560 it appears that privately they are thinking increasingly 445 00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:28,800 that the killer may be a local. 446 00:41:46,240 --> 00:41:48,680 Oh, we had a dreadful job finding it. 447 00:41:48,720 --> 00:41:52,080 I mean, we were driving through narrow country roads, 448 00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:54,080 we were going astray... 449 00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:57,360 This place was so remote, I was sure 450 00:41:57,400 --> 00:42:00,240 the murdered woman must have known her killer. 451 00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:03,360 I mean, this didn't appear to be a random killing. 452 00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:07,240 It certainly wasn't a gang of thieves or an individual burglar. 453 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:19,440 So Christmas happened then. All the people in the area 454 00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:22,200 were being visited by the guards. 455 00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:26,680 Being questioned, given the questionnaire to fill out. 456 00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:30,280 It was really strange because 457 00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:32,160 you felt really guilty with them. 458 00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:36,400 This attitude they had was as if we had something to do with it. 459 00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:42,840 They just wanted to know, as locals, did we know Sophie? 460 00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:45,960 Did we have any contact with her? 461 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:48,640 And we knew nothing about her. 462 00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:51,920 Um, nothing at all. 463 00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:07,840 Well, I was the crime correspondent for the Irish Daily Star 464 00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:09,360 at that time, 465 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,600 and the first instruction I got from the news desk 466 00:43:12,640 --> 00:43:17,680 was to please go down to West Cork and look further into this murder. 467 00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:26,520 So myself and a photographer, Julie, set out on this very long drive 468 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:29,120 and we'd been told to meet the local stringer, 469 00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:33,520 the local correspondent, at a crossroads just outside of Schull. 470 00:43:35,720 --> 00:43:41,120 We got out to the junction and I saw this huge, hulking figure 471 00:43:41,160 --> 00:43:43,720 dressed in a dark Crombie. 472 00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:48,400 I got in the back to allow this huge frame into the passenger seat. 473 00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:51,080 I asked for a "fill", which is journalistic language 474 00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:54,960 for "please fill me in on everything you know". 475 00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:59,240 And I was expecting to get only maybe half a page of details 476 00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:04,240 but instead I got the best fill of my professional career 477 00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:07,200 before or since. This man was extraordinary. 478 00:44:07,240 --> 00:44:10,960 He was giving me purple passages of prose 479 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:14,600 that I was feverishly writing down, turning over pages of my notebook. 480 00:44:14,640 --> 00:44:18,440 And I filled page after page with his detail. 481 00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:22,440 It was about lights being seen going on and off at particular times, 482 00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:26,840 two wine glasses turned up on the draining board. 483 00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:31,720 The body had been dressed in a nightie, 484 00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:35,760 one boot half off, that boot only being partially laced. 485 00:44:36,720 --> 00:44:42,400 And naturally, you know, I assumed that he had the most spectacular Garda contacts and sources 486 00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:45,120 who provided up-to-the-minute information 487 00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:47,080 on the progress they were making. 488 00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:52,560 We eventually arrived there at the murder scene in Goleen 489 00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:55,360 and it was still surrounded 490 00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:59,600 with some officers who were preserving the scene and no doubt could see us. 491 00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:01,640 And I turned to him as if to say, 492 00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:04,720 "Right, Ian, let's go down and you can do the introductions." 493 00:45:04,760 --> 00:45:06,280 I said, "Come on." 494 00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:10,400 But instead, Ian Bailey riled back and said, "Oh, no, no, no. 495 00:45:10,440 --> 00:45:14,320 You're on your own now. I've given you everything I can." 496 00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:17,240 I had to go down on my own. 497 00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:20,640 Course I met bristling resistance straightaway. 498 00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:23,280 "Oh, no. You'll have to talk to Garda Press Office. 499 00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:26,960 We're not allowed to say anything. Could you stand back there, sir." 500 00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:31,120 All my efforts were futile and I felt as if I was, 501 00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:33,120 you know, was like a small child 502 00:45:33,160 --> 00:45:38,080 compared to Ian Bailey with his masterful command of this crime. 503 00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:39,320 Sin sin. Sin sin. 504 00:45:39,360 --> 00:45:41,640 Go raibh mile maith agat, Eoin. Happy Christmas. 505 00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:59,000 Just going through Bailey's press clippings, 506 00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:01,320 the ones he actually wrote 507 00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:03,680 as Eoin Bailey mostly. 508 00:46:03,720 --> 00:46:05,600 Liked being Irish. 509 00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:11,280 And they're within, like, days of the murder. 510 00:46:12,240 --> 00:46:14,320 "Tangled love. New mystery." 511 00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:18,080 December the 28th. 512 00:46:18,120 --> 00:46:20,040 "Sophie was in her night clothes 513 00:46:20,080 --> 00:46:22,680 when she ran from her luxury holiday home Sunday night. 514 00:46:22,720 --> 00:46:26,360 As she ran from him in the dark, she appears to have tripped." 515 00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:29,720 Dunno where he got that. 516 00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:32,320 "Glasses clue to the killer. 517 00:46:32,360 --> 00:46:34,120 A bed hadn't been slept in 518 00:46:34,160 --> 00:46:37,080 and two empty wine glasses were in the kitchen." 519 00:46:39,440 --> 00:46:43,560 Evening Echo, Eoin Bailey. Sunday Tribune, The Star. 520 00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:45,440 He was all over this case. 521 00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:53,720 Sophie died on Monday 23rd of December. 522 00:46:55,160 --> 00:46:58,280 Tuesday was Christmas Eve. 523 00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:01,400 Christmas Day was Wednesday... 524 00:47:02,160 --> 00:47:05,440 ..and on Thursday, the 26th of December, 525 00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:10,160 an article in The Star newspaper aroused suspicion. 526 00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:14,480 "A post-mortem examination 527 00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:16,800 showed she died from multiple head injuries 528 00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:18,840 but was not sexually assaulted." 529 00:47:18,880 --> 00:47:21,280 He should not have known that. 530 00:47:21,320 --> 00:47:23,480 It wasn't available to the public. 531 00:47:23,520 --> 00:47:27,080 Certainly not on Thursday the 26th of December. 532 00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:32,160 And the police wondered, 533 00:47:32,200 --> 00:47:35,080 "How do you know that, Mr Bailey?" 534 00:47:41,640 --> 00:47:45,480 The guards were interested 535 00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:48,080 in what Ian Bailey knew and when he knew it 536 00:47:48,120 --> 00:47:51,360 and why he had gone to the scene at Toormore. 537 00:47:57,800 --> 00:48:00,800 You'd need some balls to kill somebody 538 00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:03,160 and go back a few hours later 539 00:48:03,200 --> 00:48:06,800 and be a reporter on it and then start writing articles. 540 00:48:06,840 --> 00:48:12,080 Well, that was a known trait... of...people that commit crimes. 541 00:48:12,840 --> 00:48:14,840 People who kill come back 542 00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:17,560 to re-live the experience and the excitement 543 00:48:17,600 --> 00:48:21,240 or to monitor what the Gardai are doing. 544 00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:23,280 That's what you do. You get close, 545 00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:25,040 you watch, and you see. 546 00:48:27,200 --> 00:48:31,040 Advice to any Gardai at a scene of a crime... 547 00:48:31,080 --> 00:48:34,960 is there somebody with a considerable interest in what's going on? 548 00:48:39,360 --> 00:48:42,480 When a reporter seems to know too much, 549 00:48:42,520 --> 00:48:46,160 when the man covering the story becomes the story... 550 00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:50,560 ..you know things are gonna get complicated. 551 00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:00,400 AccessibleCustomerService@sky.uk