Son of Sophie Toscan du Plantier describes feeling of seeing chief murder suspect Ian Bailey on visits to Schull

SOPHIE Toscan du Plantier’s son has opened up about the moment he set eyes on the chief suspect in her murder case while having ice-cream with his kids in West Cork.

Pierre-Louis Baudey-Vignaud, the son of French woman Sophie Toscan du Plantier, was speaking on RTÉ’s the Late Late Show when he said he felt free again in Ireland following the death of Ian Bailey.

The years leading up to his recent death from a heart attack had been steeped in controversy due to his suspected involvement in the Sophie Toscan du Plantier case.

It comes 27 years after Ms Du Plantier’s body was discovered outside her holiday home in Toormore on the outskirts of Schull in West Cork.

Bailey was sentenced in absentia to 25 years in jail by a French court in 2019 for the murder which dates back to 1996.

Nonetheless, the Irish High Court prevented his extradition to to serve a prison sentence.

Mr Baudey-Vignaud described his visits to Schull where he saw Bailey three times.

"The first two times, he didn't recognise me because we crossed him on the street or in the supermarket,” he told presenter Patrick Kielty.

"The last time I was with my kids at Schull harbour having tea and ice cream and I felt a look on me. I saw someone and he was looking at me with a dark look with no empathy. I was under shock. It was before the Paris criminal case. I felt so much violence in this look."

Mr Bailey had denied any involvement in the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier up until his death at age 66 on Sunday January 21 of this year.

Mr Baudey-Vignaud described the shock he experienced after hearing about Bailey’s ing.

"I was fighting for 27 years," he said, "and it's like a game over. Finally, this is a game over. There is no happy ending but it's a game over."

His certainty around the late Bailey’s guilt remains.

"I am 100% sure that Ian Bailey was a convicted murder," Mr Baudey-Vignaud said.

"For me it's important that at least he's [Ian Bailey] been convicted for murder once."

Pierre-Louis Baudey-Vignaud’s is calling on the public to his mother as a “free spirit".

"She was French and when she was 31, she decided to buy a house in Ireland. She had no money at the time ... and she succeeded. She made her dream to have a house in Ireland, just to be alone, to be free. Maybe her mind and her legend can be free again. So this is game over of this case."

Speaking about his visits to her former home in Schull he remarked:

"It's a very good way for my kids to meet their grandmother and even for me to be in the cocoon she created. I feel so good there. I am free again here in Ireland and I don't want any more interviews, I don't want any more pressure. It's the end of this story. Another story now ... a peaceful story."