The 25 year long murder case of French Filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier has produced another theory in relation to her death.

According to a top former Irish cold case squad detective who met her family and reviewed the whole file on the case, the filmmaker's killer is local — and more than likely still living in West Cork

Now two documentaries to be shown on Sky and Netflix over the next few weeks will put the high- profile case under the microscope.

Murder At the Cottage: The Search for Justice for Sophie, by Oscar winner director Jim Sheridan, will move the spotlight away from chief suspect Ian Bailey and point the finger in another direction. The first of his five episodes starts on June 20 on Sky.

Sophie: A Murder in West Cork, a three-parter, is being made with the co-operation of Sophie’s family, particularly her son Pierre Louis Brouniol, and starts on Netflix on June 30.

This will focus very much on Bailey and the case against him.


The senior ex-Garda interviewed by The Star on condition of anonymity said the whole investigation was a mess from the beginning from sealing off of the crime scene right down to the interviewing of witnesses.

After much consideration the Cold Case squad decided not to pursue the matter because they didn’t think they would ever get a conviction because so much damage was done to potential evidence.

“From the get-go we felt more than likely this was a one-off attack by someone who wanted to have sex with her but it didn’t happen,” he said.

“Having read the whole file and going from experience of 99 per cent of these types of cases the killer is local and knows the victim. What we didn’t understand is why every local pervert was not rounded up, interviewed and DNA samples taken.

“Instead all the focus was on Ian Bailey when the truth is there was little or no evidence against him.

“Normally in a murder investigation you gather the evidence and see where it leads you, and if those procedures had been followed Ian Bailey would have been eliminated very quickly, in my view.

“But because he was an outsider somebody decided he was the killer so all the focus was in obtaining evidence to prove he did it.

“My own view is the killer was definitely local and is probably still living in the community. “Whatever happened between him and her that night was a one-off attack, he exploded and beat her to death.

“Let’s be honest, have there been any murders around the area since? The answer is no. So what does that tell you? Somebody in West Cork is harbouring a very dark secret. It is not as if there is a serial killer on the loose.”


Some observers felt Sophie’s late husband Daniel behaved strangely after the murder and he didn’t get on the next plane to Ireland after her death. It was, in fact, five years later before he returned to their holiday home in Schull.

He and she had a typical French marriage.

Sophie was much younger and had her own lover, French artist Bruno Carbonnet. He had been a regular visitor to West Cork and they split up a few months before she was killed.

Bruno, now 63, was able to provide an alibi in France for December 23, 1996, the night Sophie lost her life.

Daniel had met his fourth wife, Melita Nikolic, while he was married to Sophie. They wed two years after the murder near his lavish chateau in Toulouse.

He was 57 and she was 29.

The marriage didn’t last long before Daniel died of natural causes in 2003.


One of the theories being explored by Jim Sheridan’s programme is that a hitman was hired to kill Sophie. There are claims a man had suspiciously followed Sophie around Schull on the day she died. It is understood a photofit will be shown.

In both documentaries one thing is clear: Sophie’s family and her parents Georges and Marguerite Brouniol do not accept that anyone else killed her except Ian Bailey.

They view the French court’s trial of the Englishman as the end of the matter and believe all the evidence they heard proved he was guilty.

The court made the same judgement and they want him extradited to serve the 25-year sentence imposed by the judge in Bailey’s absence.

However, others felt it was a kangaroo court.

The Netflix show will feature an interview with her son, himself a regular visitor to the Cork home where his mother was killed.

Indeed he had even made a plea from the pulpit of the local Catholic Church for people with any
evidence to come forward.

But our cold case source believes the riddle will never be solved unless the real killer has a crisis of conscience and eventually owns up.

He added: “Let’s face it — Ian Bailey was arrested twice but never charged here because the DPP ruled there wasn’t evidence against him.

“I met her family and they are very nice decent people, but it is highly unlikely poor Sophie will ever get justice.”