Murder victim feared ‘weird man’ who wanted to read her poetry, court hears
A FILM director’s wife murdered 23 years ago had voiced suspicions about a poet, a court heard yesterday.
Sophie Toscan du Plantier, battered to death outside her Irish holiday home, had told best pal Agnes Thomas about meeting the man.
Agnes recalled their phone call yesterday at the French trial of Brit murder suspect Ian Bailey, 62, who writes verse.
She told the Cour d’Assises in Paris that Sophie had described a man trying to recite poetry to her.
He also said he wanted to meet again, she added.
Agnes went on: “She was suspicious of him and she didn’t want to see him.” But Agnes also admitted her memories were “a bit polluted”.
STRONG MARRIAGE
The murder of 39-year-old TV producer Sophie — who was wed to France’s Daniel Toscan du Plantier — remains one of Ireland’s most famous unsolved cases.
She was hit with a blunt object outside her isolated cottage in Toormore, West Cork, on December 23, 1996.
Manchester-born Bailey, below, who still lives in West Cork, vehemently denies any involvement. He also denies confessing after several people claimed they had heard him.
The former journalist moved to Ireland in the mid-1990s, where he turned his hand to poetry, gardening and running a pizza stall.
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Ireland refuses to extradite him to France, and he is being tried in his absence. A verdict is expected on Friday.
Yesterday’s court hearing also heard that Sophie had bought the Irish cottage as an escape from her husband’s showbiz lifestyle.
Close pal Gilbert Jacob said: “Sophie was quite reserved and needed from time to time to have a little calm.”
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