Ian Bailey died 'a lonely and sad individual' whose life was destroyed by the Irish State, his solicitor has said.
The 66-year-old collapsed and died yesterday afternoon in Bantry, Co Cork after a suspected heart attack.
Mr Bailey became the chief suspect in the murder of 39-year-old French woman Sophie Toscan du Plantier in 1996.
A still of Sophie Toscan du Plantier from the Netflix documentary 'Sophie: A Murder in West Cork'. Picture by: NetflixMs Tuscan du Plantier was murdered outside her holiday home near Toormore, Goleen in Cork on December 23rd, 1996.
Mr Bailey was arrested and questioned twice by Gardaí about the murder but has denied killing Ms du Plantier.
He was convicted of her murder in absentia in France in 2019 and sentenced to 25 years in jail However, the Irish courts refused to extradite him.
Ian Bailey outside the High Court in Dublin, after the court rejected an attempt by French authorities to extradite him for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, in October 2020. Image: Niall Carson/PA Archive/PA ImagesA cold case review into her murder is continuing.
Ian Bailey's solicitor Frank Buttimer told Newstalk Breakfast he was in touch with Mr Bailey as recently as last week.
"All very, very unfortunate I have to say; he died a lonely and sad individual whose life was destroyed as a result of what was done to him by the Irish State," he said.
Mr Buttimer said any hope of a breakthrough in the Garda cold case review "died with Ian insofar as he hoped there would always be some identification of a suspect and a successful prosecution".
"There's always a possibility - modern science, etc - but really in the absence of people coming forward with meaningful information, as the years go by the chances of securing the identification of a suspect and a successful prosecution are receding."
'Highly questionable'
Mr Buttimer said the Director of Public Prosecutions had decided there was no case against Mr Bailey.
"The DPP diligently considered the so-called evidence on more than one occasion, and clearly not only debunked the evidence but pointed out quite clearly also the manner in which the so-called evidence was generated was highly questionable," he said.
"The DPP, the responsible authority for prosecution in this State, stated in the report that there was no basis upon which a thorually flawed and prejudiced investigation could lead to a prosecution.
"[Author Nick] Foster or anybody else who promotes the idea that Mr Bailey has a case to answer is going against evidence, going against our State system and going against the available information."
Mr Buttimer added that this information "clearly indicates that there was something substantially problematic about the manner in which Mr Bailey was investigated".
A funeral service for Mr Bailey is expected to take place in west Cork later this week.
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