A Dream of Death Page 13

  Mr Gazeau was joined by Julien Cros, Jean-Antoine Bloc, Michel Puechavy and a number of others. Those who were either actively involved with ASSOPH or quietly supported its work included some of the top journalists, film executives, justice campaigners, women’s rights activists and politicians in France. The association also had a Dublin-based solicitor, James McGuill, representing their legal interests in Ireland.

  The campaign launched by ASSOPH was hugely effective from the very start. It focused on legal submissions and galvanising public and political opinion in France. Its campaign was methodical and unrelenting. The case had captivated public interest in France for years, and there was widespread sympathy for the Bouniol and du Plantier families for what they had endured since 1996.

  A number of articles were written in French newspapers about Sophie’s killing and the fact that her family had been denied justice in Ireland. While the French family were careful not to alienate Irish interests by being overly critical of the west Cork investigation or Irish state agencies, the French media were less forgiving of how Ireland had handled the case and, in particular, the failings of the garda investigation. Numerous articles claimed that the original investigation had been bungled.

  In March 2008, a hugely influential piece was written by Marie-Victoire Louis entitled ‘The Murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier née Bouniol – eleven years of failure and denial of justice’. A sociologist and a researcher with the French National Centre for Scientific Research, she was one of France’s most respected experts on violence against women. Journalists such as Guy Girard, who had worked with Sophie, and Pascale Gérin of Le Parisien also raised the plight facing the du Plantier and Bouniol families now that little or nothing appeared likely to happen in Ireland. The articles had a significant impact on French public opinion and bolstered the case for something to be done in France to help the family.

  President Nicolas Sarkozy had taken office in the Élysée Palace in 2007, and it was made clear that French support and political influence would be fully behind the family – as it had been during the term of President Jacques Chirac, who had been in office at the time of the murder and who was a good friend of Daniel du Plantier, who had died in 2003, just months before the Cork libel action opened. His death was a significant setback for the French campaigners as he wielded enormous influence and, had he lived, he would have been in a position to galvanise political, business and societal support for the fledgling ASSOPH campaign. However, others had influence which could be brought to bear. Mr Gazeau had also acted as a science advisor to several campaigns and events led by President Chirac, all of which lent weight to the investigation now about to get under way.

  Within 12 months of the foundation of ASSOPH, the French authorities had agreed to appoint a special magistrate to investigate the circumstances of Sophie’s death. Magistrate Patrick Gachon was appointed to the role in November 2007. He was given access to the full resources of the French police and would be assisted by fellow magistrate Nathalie Dutartre. Both were experienced legal officers and were given the resources and time to conduct the type of investigation they saw fit over the 23 December 1996 killing. They had the full support of Sophie’s family – and the resources of the French state. The two magistrates also had access to some of the most experienced police detectives in Paris, some of whom had spent years dealing with homicide cases.

  Many of the Paris-based detectives who would assist the investigation by Magistrates Gachon and Dutartre also had experience of so-called ‘cold case’ reviews. Such long-unsolved cases, many of which dated back years or even decades, required a specialist police approach and a forensic ability to review old evidence. They also required time and vast reserves of patience.

  Critically, the French investigative team would also be given whatever support they required in Ireland, including full access to the original garda murder file. This ensured that the French investigators would have access to all witness statements, forensic reports, the crime scene photographs and the post-mortem examination file of State Pathologist Professor John Harbison. If the French police team had not had access to the Irish files, an investigation would be fatally compromised from the outset.

  This granting of access was unprecedented. It also confirmed, beyond any doubt, that no action would ever be taken by the DPP over the garda case file in Ireland. Any such action would be critically undermined from the very start by the fact that access to the file had been given to someone outside the Irish judicial process – and would open any future prosecution, even one taken on the basis of new evidence, to an immediate legal challenge based on a breach of process.

  While it was never confirmed, the astonishing level of access granted to Magistrate Gachon and his police team was clearly the result of consultations between Paris and Dublin at the very highest levels. Even allowing for existing European judicial and police cooperation protocols, journalists covering the case – including myself – felt the level of access given to the French was astonishing.

  The Irish authorities were clearly eager to facilitate the French police and avoid potential fallout from any perceived failings of the domestic investigation. It was a sensitive issue for successive Irish governments, who were clearly determined to do everything within their power not to alienate the French authorities, while carefully negotiating Irish legal requirements.

  ***

  The first move in Magistrate Gachon’s investigation would prove one of its most shocking – the exhumation of Sophie’s body. On 26 June 2008, it emerged that Magistrate Gachon had applied to a French judge for permission to exhume the body for the purpose of conducting a fresh battery of forensic tests. Permission was granted within a matter of weeks. While forensic science and, in particular, DNA sampling had developed dramatically in the 12 years since the killing, there was still major doubt over the benefits of such an action.

  One garda source I spoke to at the time was incredulous at the decision, pointing out that after a post-mortem examination in Ireland and such a lengthy period of time, not to mention two burials, the chance of obtaining critical new evidence was remote at the very best. Sophie’s body had been subjected to a full post-mortem examination in Ireland on 24 December 1996 before being released to her family and brought back to France. It had already been exhumed once before. That exhumation in 2004 was done for the purpose of moving her body to a family plot in a different part of France. Sophie was initially buried in Mauvezin, near Ambax in the Haute-Garonne region of south-west France. This was close to where her husband, Daniel, maintained a beautiful country retreat and where Sophie had spent glorious holidays. If Toormore was her special place, Ambax was the place outside Paris closest to her husband’s heart.

  However, Mr du Plantier had been buried in Paris, not interred beside Sophie at her Mauvezin resting place. A year after he died, Sophie’s family decided to have her buried closer to a property they owned in the Lozère region, not far from Combret, a beautiful mountain town in south central France. It meant her plot could be visited more easily and frequently by her family and friends. It was also intended that, in future years, family members would be interred beside Sophie. Their exhumation request was granted, and the body was quietly moved.

  On 1 July 2008, Sophie’s remains were exhumed for a second time in an operation that began shortly before dawn at 5.30 a.m. The entire procedure was tightly controlled by French police. The exhumation took just over an hour and a half to complete. A number of Irish journalists and photographers had travelled to France to report on the major development in the case but were kept well back from the scene by gendarmes who gruffly refused to engage with the foreign press. French journalists were likewise not permitted access close to the area where the exhumation was being conducted. The French police were adamant that nothing would be allowed to interfere with the operation or potentially cause upset for the family.

  None of Sophie’s family chose to attend the scene. ASSOPH founder and Sophie’s uncle Jean-Pierre G
azeau said it would be too upsetting and the family did not want to distract investigators from their painstaking work. ‘The family will not be there,’ he said on the eve of the exhumation. ‘There will be some officials but that will be it. The remains will be taken to Paris and we hope that some new evidence can be found.’

  Following the exhumation, Sophie’s body was transferred by police escort to a specialist Paris forensic facility, where a second post-mortem examination was conducted. Given that it had been 12 years since the killing, the post-mortem examination and the forensic sampling process required almost a week to complete. The bulk of the tests focused on DNA sampling to determine if any unexplained genetic profiles were present. Other tests, including fibre, hair and organic material sampling, were also conducted.

  In December 2008, Magistrate Gachon formally received the full case file from gardaí. This allowed the French investigation team to review all the garda interviews and case notes to determine what their next move would be. By early 2009 it was confirmed that French police would travel to Ireland to conduct interviews with the key individuals spoken to by gardaí 12 years earlier.

  ***

  On 12 June 2009, Magistrates Gachon and Dutartre flew into Ireland and travelled to west Cork to view the key sites of the investigation for themselves. They were briefed by senior gardaí in west Cork and were offered the Irish force’s full cooperation. They visited the Toormore site where Sophie’s body had been discovered and they had access to her holiday home. Magistrate Gachon did not offer any media interviews while in west Cork, and it was clear that his visit was preparatory to a major French investigative operation.

  Having carefully consulted with gardaí in west Cork, Magistrate Gachon asked two senior officers to follow up that meeting by travelling to Paris for further consultations. Permission was given by the government and Garda Síochána chiefs for both officers to travel to Paris, a development revealed by Barry Roche in the Irish Times.

  The pace of developments in France accelerated and Magistrate Gachon, in early 2010, moved to issue a European Arrest Warrant for Mr Bailey – a decision that stunned most Irish observers, but which had been expected by the French family and their supporters. The warrant was issued on the basis that the French wanted to formally question Mr Bailey in Paris as part of their investigation.

  ***

  Just nine days after Mr Bailey’s UCC graduation in December 2010, the French extradition bid was listed for preliminary High Court hearing. Under various European judicial and police cooperation agreements, there are strict protocols to be followed in respect of EAWs. In the case of the French warrant, it had to be listed before the High Court and then considered at a full hearing. If the warrant was valid and if there weren’t any glaring errors in it, it had to be considered on its merits before the Supreme Court if challenged or appealed. For Mr Bailey, this news was hardly the ideal backdrop against which to celebrate a major academic achievement.

  ‘It certainly was not made easier but I have had great support [from family and friends] – I would like to say that the standard of tuition in the academic fraternity here is exceptionally high.’

  Mr Bailey said that he now hoped to pursue his law studies towards a master’s degree but realised that in post-recession Ireland securing work in the legal world would not be easy or straightforward. ‘In the present climate, [for] journalists, lawyers, engineers, mechanics … it is going to be very difficult. We are heading into unknown territory.’

  At the time, many of us wondered whether his ‘unknown territory’ comment was more about judicial than economic matters. In terms of the French extradition warrant, few doubted but that Ireland and France were now heading into uncharted legal waters.

  ***

  Sophie’s family were determined to play their part and keep the case in the headlines. On 15 December 2010, Georges and Marguerite Bouniol flew into Cork. The purpose of their visit was to mark the fourteenth anniversary of their daughter’s death. The visit made headlines across the Irish media as a result of the extradition proceedings that had just been triggered.

  Together with other Cork-based reporters, I met Georges and Marguerite during their visit, which once again revolved around staying at Sophie’s Toormore house, the laying of a wreath of white lilies at the stone Celtic cross that marks the spot where she died, and attending Mass in Goleen parish church. Marguerite was adamant they were not in Ireland because of the Paris investigation or the extradition proceedings.

  We are old now, so we will not suffer for many years more. We do not wish what we are living for anyone. We suffer a lot. We do not come here for what will happen tomorrow. That is not our problem. We do not come for that. That is the job of the justice system.

  We could not come to Ireland last year [2009] but we are happy to come back this year because we owe it to our daughter. She suffered so much when she tried to escape and then she was hunted down. She suffered so much that we want to suffer as well. I have had to be twice as strong as anyone – but it is natural, is it not, that I should want my daughter’s murderer to be behind bars?

  There are moments I do not believe at all. There is something totally unjust and abnormal about parents surviving their children. I know you will say I am biased because I was her mother, but Sophie really did have all the [best] qualities. She loved life, she was gay and pretty. She loved meeting people and loved nature. She spoke to everyone. In Ireland, the people we met told us, ‘She was like one of us.’ But it is still very difficult to talk about.

  There were times it was difficult to witness at close hand the obvious grief and pain etched on the faces of the elderly couple. Over the years, many members of the Cork media had got to know them and were touched by their kindness and generosity. The couple also went to great pains to thank the gardaí locally for the support they had shown them during their various trips, especially Superintendent Liam Horgan of Bantry Garda Station, who invariably met Georges and Marguerite Bouniol each time they visited and ensured they had whatever liaison support they required.

  A few years earlier, after a press conference with the family at Cork Airport, I had decided it would be worth attending a special candlelit vigil at Toormore that had been planned by the family. That evening was dark, damp and grim. Standing on the bleak hillside at Toormore, waiting for the event to begin around 8 p.m., I was surprised to be approached by Mr Gazeau, Sophie’s uncle. It was, he said, a cold evening and he asked if I would like to come into the house for a hot drink and a seat by the fire.

  I politely declined, not wanting to intrude on a private family gathering, at which point I was told that if I didn’t walk up the hill to the property, the elderly Mrs Bouniol had promised she would walk down to the gate to bring me a hot drink. Accompanied by a photographer who had been shivering beside me in the December cold, I walked up to Sophie’s old house. Inside, we were made to sit by the roaring fire and offered rum and cheese. When we both declined the rum, hot mugs of coffee were then pressed into our hands. Some 30 minutes later, and just a short time before the candlelit ceremony was due to start, we offered our thanks, shook hands with our hosts and left the house. It was a kindness I have never forgotten.

  Every time there is a development in the long-running investigation, I remember that, while for those of us in the media it is a news item, for Sophie’s family and her elderly parents the search for justice has effectively become their life. More than once I’ve wondered why such evil befalls the kindest and most decent of people.

  ***

  Two years after their first meeting with senior garda officers, the French investigation team were finally ready for witness interviews in Ireland. On 3 October 2011, a five-man team of experienced Paris detectives and forensic experts flew to Ireland to conduct an exhaustive series of interviews in west Cork with those who had been interviewed by gardaí as part of their original Irish investigation between 1996 and 1998.

  Gardaí confirmed that the French team was being assisted un
der European mutual assistance agreements:

  Following a request through the Central Authority for Mutual Assistance at the Department of Justice and Equality, a team of French investigators comprising of three police detectives and two scientists will arrive in Cork this afternoon [3 October]. The purpose of their visit is to interview witnesses and conduct an examination of a number of exhibits seized by An Garda Síochána as part of its investigation into the murder of Ms du Plantier. Throughout their stay, the French investigators will be assisted by members of An Garda Síochána from the west Cork Garda division under the direction of Chief Superintendent Tom Hayes.

  During their time in Ireland, a garda spokesperson said, the Paris police team would be assisted by officials from the French embassies in Dublin and London. A special press conference was facilitated at Bandon Garda Station on 4 October.

  The press briefing was conducted with the assistance of Eric Battesti, a senior official at the French embassy in London, who was acting as liaison between the gardaí and the Paris detectives and forensic officers during their time in west Cork. The briefing was notable for a number of reasons.

  First, Mr Battesti said the French investigation team were confident of making progress during their fortnight of work in Ireland. There was no attempt to downplay the importance of the work of the Paris detectives. Mr Battesti said it was hoped there would be sufficient evidence gathered to facilitate a future prosecution in France. However, it was also admitted that no new witnesses had come forward, despite the recent appeals in both the Irish and French media. That meant the French team would be entirely reliant on the garda case file – the same file that the DPP had ruled was not sufficient to justify any prosecution in Ireland. The French authorities also confirmed that Mr Bailey remained a suspect in their investigation.