Ian Bailey extradition hearing set to resume over alleged homicide

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Ian Bailey’s extradition hearing in the High Court was set to resume on 14 June 2017. France was seeking his surrender over the alleged voluntary homicide of Sophie Tuscan du Plantier, who was found dead outside her holiday home in Schull, west Cork, in December 1996. Bailey denies involvement in her death.

French authorities first sought Bailey’s surrender in 2010, but the Supreme Court refused the application in 2012. A second request was transmitted to Ireland in 2016. The State asked the High Court to refer the Supreme Court’s interpretation of section 44 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003 to the European courts.

Opposing surrender on 31 May 2017, Bailey’s counsel, Garrett Simons SC, argued that the 2012 decision created an absolute bar and that trying to litigate the issue again was an abuse of process. He also recounted concerns expressed by a former Director of Public Prosecutions that the Garda investigation into Ms du Plantier’s death was thoroughly flawed and prejudicial.

Counsel for the Minister for Justice, Robert Barron SC, said the Supreme Court majority’s interpretation was incorrect and denied that anyone was trying to usurp the courts. Mr Justice Tony Hunt questioned whether the application was a way to revisit the Supreme Court decision. The case remained ongoing.