LAWYERS FOR the State have been given two more weeks to file their legal submissions in the appeal by Ian Bailey against an order for his extradition to France in connection with the killing of French film-maker Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
The appeal was mentioned at the Supreme Court yesterday when Garret Simons SC, for Mr Bailey, told the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Susan Denham, that the State was to have filed its submissions last July but had not done so. His client was on bail and he wanted the appeal heard as soon as possible. Counsel for the State said they required two more weeks to file submissions.
Mrs Justice Denham allowed that time and listed the matter for further mention in three weeks’ time when a date for the hearing of the appeal may be sought.
Mr Bailey (53), a former journalist, is wanted for questioning by a judge in France in connection with the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier in west Cork in 1996.
Mr Bailey, Schull, Co Cork, has always denied any involvement in the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier (39), whose body was discovered near her holiday home in Schull on December 23rd, 1996.
Last March, the High Court ruled the Manchester-born law graduate should be extradited.
At issue is whether the surrender of a person is prohibited by section 44 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003, where the offence for which surrender is sought is committed here and where the victim is a national of the State requesting extradition, in this case France – which seeks to exercise an extra-territorial jurisdiction to prosecute the offence under its own laws – when the Director of Public Prosecutions here has decided not to prosecute the person.
