A PERSON, or persons, ‘concealing the truth’ about the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier have been asked to speak out before the 28th anniversary of the French film producer’s death on December 23rd.

‘Tell us the truth about Sophie’

Family members and friends of Sophie Toscan du Plantier – who was brutally murdered on the laneway leading to her holiday home at Toormore, near Schull, on December 23rd, 1996 – have made the appeal in an advert in The Southern Star this week.

‘We urge any person, or persons, concealing the truth to take heart and come forward to reveal the facts to garda detectives. For the sake of Sophie’s family and friends let us know the truth even at this late date,’ members of the Association for Truth and Justice for Sophie Toscan du Plantier have stated in a signed advert.

One of the people who signed the appeal, Schull resident Bill Hogan, expressed the hope that this could end the family’s protracted suffering by making a clean breast of it.

‘It’s for the family more than anyone else. They are getting old, and have been pursuing justice for years. The association for truth and justice want both – to learn the truth, and to get a modicum of justice for Sophie.’

Bill spoke of how frail Sophie’s parents, her father Georges who is 98, and his wife Marguerite, who is 94, appeared at the association’s recent agm on zoom.

The advert they placed in this newspaper stated: ‘28 years but we remember Sophie.’ Similarly, locals will shortly make their way to Toormore to lay flowers, and say a few words of remembrance as part of a quiet, low key event, out of the glare of the media.

In recent weeks, two of Sophie’s friends attended Bantry Garda Station to assist members of the cold case review team.

Sophie’s son Pierre-Louis Baudey-Vignaud had called for a cold case review – of a case that has never been allowed to fade from public view.

A podcast series brought the story to an international audience in 2018, as did two documentaries – Murder at the Cottage by Jim Sheridan and Sophie: A Murder in West Cork by John Dower – in 2021.

A scoping exercise by a team of detectives from the serious crime review team was subsequently carried out.

After six months examining the file – to assess whether the investigation had the potential to be progressed – the former assistant commissioner recommended a full review of the case. That commenced in June 2022.

Ian Bailey, who died from a suspected heart attack at Barrack Street in Bantry on Sunday January 21st last, was considered the chief suspect in the case, despite his protestations of innocence.

He was arrested twice and questioned about the murder, but he was never charged because the DPP concluded there was insufficient evidence.

In addition to the cold case review, Sophie’s uncle, Jean-Pierre Gazeau, has called for an official inquest.

The family are also seeking a public inquiry.

‘To have a meaningful investigation into all the circumstances of her death and the subsequent investigative and legal processes is essential to allay continuing public concern and to deliver closure for the family,’ said Jean-Pierre Gazeau.

‘The case continues to be a source of considerable public disquiet,’ he added. ‘It is only right and proper that a public inquiry be held to establish for the family and the public the facts of both of the crime and of the investigation.’

Now, Bill Hogan said, the association is hoping that someone who may know the full facts of the case will finally speak out.