THE PRIME suspect in the unsolved murder of French filmmaker Sophie Toscan Du Plantier claims he has been flooded with messages from women online.
In an exclusive interview with the Irish Mirror, Ian Bailey revealed he had received multiple messages from “big bosomed” admirers.
It comes after he split from his long-term partner Jules Thomas.
The former journalist told the newspaper: “I put up a Twitter account, Facebook account and Instagram and I noticed I am getting quite a lot of contact from members of the female sex through my Facebook page.
“I just happened to notice that I’ve had a lot of contact through Facebook and the majority of the contacts are from ladies and a lot of the ladies have big bosoms.”
The claims come just days after it was revealed that the Gardai were receiving the case file related to Toscan Du Plantier’s murder after a potential new suspect was identified.
According to the Irish Independent, detectives are reviewing the case based on information provided by Marie Farrell who claims she can now identify the male suspect she saw with the victim just days before her murder.
Farrell was previously a key witness in the Gardai’s case against the prime suspect in Toscan du Plantier’s murder, Ian Bailey.
She initially identified Bailey as the man she recalled seeing outside her shop in Schull on the day Toscan du Plantier was last seen alive back in December 1996.
Farrell recalled seeing a man wearing a long black coat watching the victim that day.
She also recalled seeing the same person on a remote bridge close to the holiday home Toscan du Plantier was staying in at the time.
Though she initially claimed the man was Bailey, Farrell later withdrew her testimony.
However in a fresh twist, she has now identified the man as an alternative suspect.
Farrell pointed out the individual, she claims to have seen, while perusing photos of Toscan du Plantier with filmmaker Jim Sheridan in the Sky documentary Murder at the Cottage.
It is understood she identified the man while perusing photos of Sophie, her late husband and people known to the couple.
Detectives are now in the process of assessing the credibility of the information and will be reviewing the investigation file to see if the person Farrell has named is among the 50 suspects initially identified as potential suspects in Toscan du Plantier’s murder.
Bailey has twice been arrested by gardaí for the murder, in 1997 and 1998, but never formally charged in Ireland.
He was, however, convicted in absentia by a French court in 2019.
Bailey has always maintained his innocence and claimed in Sheridan’s documentary that a French hitman may have been hired to kill the Paris-born filmmaker at her home.
