By Paddy Clancy

The family of murdered Frenchwoman Sophie Toscan du Plantier marked the 10th anniversary of her death with a scathing attack on the lack of legal cooperation between the Irish and French authorities probing the killing.

Sophie’s elderly parents hit out during a visit to Ireland last weekend to place a wreath at the West Cork spot where her battered body was found.

Georges and Marguerite Bouniol, who admitted a fear of dying before their daughter’s killer is brought to justice, said the lack of cooperation left them “angry, frustrated and traumatized.”

Filmmaker Sophie was murdered during a pre-Christmas visit to her isolated holiday cottage near Schull in 1996. Detectives believe she was beaten to death with a concrete block after failing to escape from her killer.

The investigation of the murder has been dogged with controversy, including accusations of police bungling, retraction of evidence by a woman who claimed she was blackmailed by police into falsely saying she saw the sole suspect near the scene of the crime, and a series of libel actions by self-confessed suspect Ian Bailey.

During their pilgrimage of pain at the weekend Sophie’s parents said they had still not received an explanation as to why her body was left in a freezing laneway for more than 24 hours before it was examined by a pathologist.

Her mother said it was difficult to visit the scene on the anniversary every year and appeal for public help in finding the killer, only for no progress to be made.

Marguerite Bouniol said, “Regarding the Irish legal system, it is not a question of judging it but, for us who are accustomed to a Latin legal system, we are surprised by the Irish procedures or, rather, non-decisions to initiate these procedures.

“What is the concern is the absence of cooperation between the two States, France and Ireland, who have not worked together for the past 10 years and who have not made one iota of progress in the area of legal cooperation.”

Self-confessed suspect Bailey, an English-born freelance journalist who lives in the area, sent a registered letter to the family two weeks ago, via the French Embassy, extending his sympathies and repeating his insistence that he was not connected to Sophie’s murder.

The High Court in Dublin is to hear Bailey’s appeal in the New Year against a lower court’s rejection of his libel actions against six of eight newspapers which he sued when costs of $263,000 were awarded against him.