Judge disregards French correspondence in Ian Bailey extradition case

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

A High Court judge said he would disregard correspondence from French authorities seeking legal submissions on Ian Bailey’s objections to extradition. The proceedings were reported on 18 May 2020.

Mr Justice Paul Burns said the correspondence had not come from France’s Issuing Judicial Authority and was of no consequence to the proceedings. He described the issue as “a storm in a teacup” and said there was “no sinister element” to the correspondence.

Bailey’s counsel, Ronan Munro SC, described the request as unprecedented and unorthodox. Counsel for the Minister for Justice, Leo Mulrooney BL, said the Minister would not release the submissions without a court ruling.

A three-day High Court hearing at which Bailey would contest his surrender to France was scheduled to begin on 15 July 2020. He had been remanded on continuing bail until then.

Bailey was convicted in his absence of the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier by a Paris court in May 2019 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He denies involvement in her death. He did not attend the French court and had no legal representation in those proceedings.

The report said this was France’s third attempt to secure Bailey’s surrender. The Supreme Court refused extradition in 2012, and the High Court dismissed a second request as an abuse of process in 2017.