JOURNALIST Ian Bailey is to appeal a decision by the Master of the High Court refusing an application for discovery of the Garda file on the murder of French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
Mr Bailey’s solicitor, Frank Buttimer, has confirmed to The Irish Times he will be lodging an appeal, on behalf of his client, of the decision by Master of the High Court Edmund Honohan to refuse his application for discovery of the file.
Mr Bailey (53) is seeking discovery of both the original Garda file on the murder of Toscan du Plantier and a subsequent review by then assistant commissioner Ray McAndrew of the Garda handling of the murder investigation.
Last week, Mr Honohan refused Mr Bailey’s application in its entirety and awarded costs to the defendants in the case – the Garda Commissioner, the Minister for Justice and the Attorney General – saying he was bound to do so.
Mr Bailey is seeking discovery of the Garda file on the murder as part of his action against the State for what he says was his wrongful arrest for questioning about the murder of Toscan du Plantier at her holiday home at Toormore near Schull in west Cork in December 1996.
He wants the defendants to discover all documents, reports, records, statements, notes and memoranda of interviews generated by gardaí in their investigation and he also wants discovery of all material relating to other persons detained in connection with the murder.
Mr Bailey was arrested by gardaí for questioning about the murder on February 10th, 1997, and again on January 22nd, 1998, but was released without charge on each occasion and he has continually protested his innocence of any involvement in the killing.
Mr Buttimer initiated legal proceedings against the State in 2007 after a key witness, Marie Farrell, retracted a statement she made to gardaí in which she said that she saw Mr Bailey at Kealfadda Bridge near Toscan du Plantier’s home on the night she was murdered.
Mr Buttimer previously pointed out that Ms Farrell had confirmed that no such sighting of Mr Bailey had taken place and that her statements came about at the instigation or insistence of members of An Garda Síochána.
Mr Bailey believed that no case of any sort could be made against him by the State save for the existence of Ms Farrell’s statements and he was therefore wrongfully arrested by gardaí in both February 1997 and January 1998, Mr Buttimer said.
Mr Bailey has six days from last Thursday to lodge an appeal to the High Court against the Master of the High Court’s refusal of his application for discovery and he will be lodging such an appeal, Mr Buttimer confirmed.