Voices in the West Cork Podcast

Ian Bailey

English-born freelance journalist and principal suspect in Sophie’s murder. Bailey, born January, 27, 1957, moved to West Cork in 1991. Over the years, Bailey has worked as a gardener and with his partner, Jules Thomas, baked goods and sold them at the farmer market in Schull, the closest town to their home in Lissacaha. He reported extensively on Sophie’s murder, often under pen name of Eoin Bailey, before being first arrested for the crime on February 10, 1997.

Jules Thomas

Bailey’s longtime partner, Jules is mother of three girls, none by Bailey. An artist, Thomas paints landscapes of West Cork. She remained with Bailey for 20+ years following Sophie’s murder and despite his having beaten her, severely enough to land her in the hospital and him in jail.  Daughters are Saffy, Ginny and Fenella. 

Marie Farrell

Witness who came forward on Christmas day, 1996, to say she saw a strange man following Sophie in town on Saturday, December 21 and saw the same man hitching a lift on the road out of Schull early on Sunday, December 22. In a separate call made from a payphone and using the name “Fiona”, Farrell told police she saw a man staggering along the road beside Kilfadda bridge, close to the murder site in the early hours of December 23. In late January, police linked Farrell to the “Fiona” calls and she went on to identify Bailey as the man from all three sightings. Several years later, she recanted this testimony claiming she had been coached by gardai.

Martin Graham d.2019

Blow-in to West Cork, former counterintelligence officer in the British army in Northern Ireland. Multiple convictions for minor drug and robbery offences. Met Bailey in February 1997 and was recruited soon after as a police informant but double crossed the police, telling Bailey of their plan to elicit a confession. Martin Graham died in 2019 following a long illness. 

France

Daniel Toscan du Plantier d.2003

Sophie’s husband at the time of her murder, a French film producer and friend of French politician Jacques Chirac. Daniel owned his own getaway home in the south of France. He was at his getaway home at the time of Sophie’s murder. Police cleared him of suspicion in Sophie’s murder.  

Pierre-Louis Bauday-Vignaud

Sophie’s son from a previous marriage, who was 14 at the time of his mother’s murder and now owns his mother’s home in Toormore and continues to visit there with his wife and two children. Pierre Louis, along with other surviving family members, has pursued legal action against Ian Bailey in French courts. 

Bruno Carbonnet

Sophie’s onetime lover, he was cleared as a possible suspect in her murder.  

Agnes Thomas

Close friend and former work colleague of Sophie’s. Holidayed with Sophie at the house in Toormore.

Bertrand Bouniol

Sophie’s brother. Married to Pascale Buoniol.

Jean Pierre Gazeau

Sophie’s uncle. President of the Association for the Truth about the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier (ASSOPH)

Marie Madeleine Opalka

Sophie’s aunt. Widow of renowned artist Roman Opalka, now lives in Venice, Italy.

Lara Marlowe

Irish journalist who lives and works in France, has good relations with Sophie’s family.

Marie Dosé

Lead prosecuting lawyer in the 2019 trial in absentia of Ian Bailey in Paris.

Alain Spilliaert

lawyer for the Buoniol family.

Jean-Antoine Bloc

Vice-president of the family’s association, official translator of all the news coverage from Ireland into French

Thierry Lévêque

Former Reuters legal correspondent who has covered the Toscan du Plantier case since 1996 from a legal point of view.

Judge Gachon

First examining magistrate assigned to the case after Sophie’s family have set up their association to find the truth, in 2008 

Nathalie Turquey

Investigating magistrate directing murder charge against Bailey in France. 

Investigators

Dermot Dwyer

Retired former chief superintendent of the West Cork division of An Garda Siochana, was lead detective in the investigation.  

Eugene Gilligan

Scenes of crimes officer.  Went to the crime scene on the first day, arrived late at night to examine the scene.

Jim Fitzgerald

Detective on the investigation, in charge of two principe witnesses - Martin Graham and Marie Farrell.

Forensics

James Donovan

Retired head of Guarda forensics lab in Dublin.  Head of the lab that all the physical evidence was sent to.

Legal

Frank Buttimer

Bailey’s lawyer, a prominent criminal attorney in Cork and ardent defender of Bailey’s innocence and critic of the investigation into Sophie’s murder and what he claims is An Garda Siochana’s fixation on nailing Bailey as the murderer.

Jim Duggan

Bailey’s lawyer (barrister) A west Cork resident, took up the case having been persuaded to get involved by Ian’s first solicitor. Duggan witnessed the initial hysteria, said that he also bought into it and believed Ian to be guilty.  But met Ian, took on his case, and worked with him from after Ian’s second arrest.

Dominique Tricaud

A high profile barrister in Paris who acts as Bailey’s barrister in France. 

Irish Justice

James Hamilton

Retired Director of Public Prosecutions.  Took up the post in 1999 when the investigation was already two years old, but no formal decision about whether or not to charge Ian Bailey had been handed down.  He made this final decision, and issued the 44-page report which outlined the DPP’s reasons for not pursuing charges.

Eamonn Barnes

Ireland’s first DPP and Hamilton’s predecessor.  Similarly troubled by the police investigation, hence brought no charges.

West Cork

Billy O’Sullivan

Billy O’Sullivan is the former owner of O’Sullivan’s Pub in Crookhaven, County Cork, at the southeastern tip of Ireland. He speaks French and was friendly with Sophie. She stopped at O’Sullivan’s for tea on the afternoon before she died. 

Shirley Foster and Alfie Lyons

Neighbours of Sophie. Shirley discovered the body shortly after 10am December 23. Alfie called emergency.  

Leo and Sally Bolger

West Cork couple who kept horses on land next to Sophie’s house. Leo also worked as a handyman at Sophie’s (employing Tom Quinn). Claims he saw Alfie Lyons introduce Bailey to Sophie in 1995.  

Pete Bielecki

Onetime friend of Bailey who witnessed the aftermath of his 1996 assault on Jules Thomas. He drove Thomas to the hospital, then stayed on the couch at the Prairie for several weeks while Bailey was a few hundred meters down the road in Thomas’s ‘studio’ cottage.  

Ceri Williams

Former neighbour of Jules Thomas and Ian Bailey, and former partner of Pete Bielecki. Williams claims that Bailey appeared outside her remote home one night after the murder, wailing her name. Now partner of Tom Quinn.  

Elizabeth Wassell and John Montague

Novelist and poet couple. John Montague was Ireland’s equivalent of the poet laureate. They employed Bailey as a gardener in the mid-90s. Montague gave Bailey free poetry coaching but felt he lacked the necessary dedication. Co-wrote an article about Bailey and the murder for the New Yorker in 2000, after which they claim Bailey left them threatening phone messages.  

Bill Hogan

Retired cheesemaker. US-born long time Schull resident. Sophie was a repeat customer.

Len Lipitch

British born Schull resident, among the first West Cork blow-ins in the 1970s. Former friend of Jules Thomas. Runs jewellery business, Enibas, with his partner in Schull. Briefly worked with Bailey, employing him to write little poems to include in his jewellery.

Delia Van Hemmen, nee Jackson

Worked with Bailey at the Schull fish factory during his first winter in West Cork, rebuffed his romantic advances. They became neighbours in Lissacaha when Bailey moved into Jules Thomas’s studio house. Says she smelled a bonfire burning on Bailey’s property around Christmas, 1996.

Tom Quinn

Painter decorator, Schull resident, partner of Ceri Williams. Claims to have confronted Bailey on multiple occasions over the murder. Jules’s daughter Fenella stayed at his house on a regular basis over the time of the murder. Did decorating work at Sophie’s house. Police took fingerprints.

Nadine O’Regan

Journalist and broadcaster in Dublin, grew up in Skibbereen. Worked on a community film project with Ian Bailey and Claire Wilkinson as a school kid. Daughter of the editor of Southern Star newspaper. Bailey freelanced for the paper.

Claire Wilkinson

Former West Cork resident – friend and supporter of Bailey. Artsy, fellow blow-in. Worked with Bailey on community film project, “Changing Tides”.

Tom Brosnan

Owner of several businesses in Schull including the Spa supermarket.

Mike Brown

Freelance news photographer, driven to the crime scene on December 23 by Ian Bailey. He secured an exclusive photo of the suspect and of Bailey entering Bandon Garda station on February 10, 1997.

Billy McGill

Photographer who briefly partnered with Bailey on work for the Sunday Tribune. Witness in the failed sting of police in the Martin Graham witness fiasco.

Michael Sheridan

Non-fiction author and playwright. Wrote a 2001 book on the du Plantier case entitled Death in December. Helped the Buoniol family begin to mount a civil action against Bailey - however, the family abandoned the suit.

Dermot O’Sullivan

Son of Billy O’Sullivan and current owner of O’Sullivan’s pub. Served Sophie at the pub on December 22, 1996.

Kieran Doyle

Retired Cork City paramedic and ambulance driver who developed a fascination with the Du Plantier case, and a growing belief that a horse was responsible for the death.

Bailey’s Early Life

Kay Reynolds

Bailey’s sister. Lives in London.

John Hawkins

Owner operator of the Gloucester news agency. He hired Bailey as an apprentice reporter in 1975, while Bailey was still a pupil at Crypt Grammar school. Bailey became an indentured journalist, Hawkins financing him to attend block release courses in media law, shorthand etc. Bailey then set up a rival enterprise in nearby Cheltenham. 

Viv Hargreaves

Freelance journalist and former friend of Ian Bailey in Gloucester. 

George Henderson

Freelance journalist in English and onetime business partner with Bailey in news bureau in Cheltenham, England. Henderson says he and Bailey parted ways after Henderson discovered Bailey had been cheating him on receipts.