Ian Bailey was arrested in Dublin on Monday afternoon over the 1996 murder of filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier, after an Irish High Court judge endorsed the third warrant seeking his arrest and extradition to France, reports The Irish Times.
Following the endorsement of the European Arrest Warrant by Mr Justice Donald Binchy, Mr Bailey was arrested outside a courtroom at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin.
He was then brought back before the High Court where Detective Sergeant Jim Kirwan, of the Garda Extradition Unit, gave evidence of his arrest.
Mr Bailey was remanded on bail to appear before the court again on January 20th, 2020, for a full hearing in respect of the warrant.
Mr Justice Binchy set a notional hearing date for December 20th next but the court heard Mr Bailey does not need to attend this hearing.
Giving evidence of Mr Bailey’s arrest, Det Sgt Kirwan said he arrested Mr Bailey at 2.34pm on Monday at the Criminal Courts of Justice on Parkgate Street, Dublin 8, that he cautioned him and showed him an original copy of the European Arrest Warrant before giving him a copy of the same warrant in English and French.
He said he explained to Mr Bailey that the warrant was on foot of his conviction in absentia in France, where he was subsequently sentenced to 25 years for the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier.
Det Sgt Kirwan said when he asked Mr Bailey if he knew what the arrest was about, Mr Bailey replied: “Yes I do. I just want to say I had nothing to do with this crime.”
Mr Bailey was remanded on the same bail terms and conditions previously set down.
These included entering his own bond of €15,000 without lodgement on condition that he resides at the address provided to the court; that he surrender his expired passport to An Garda Síochána within seven days; that he undertakes not to apply for a new or duplicate passport or any other travel documents which would allow for him to travel outside the jurisdiction; and that he undertakes not to leave the jurisdiction without the consent of the court.
The terms and conditions also include that he be of good behaviour and that he appears at every court hearing whenever necessary and required.
Det Sgt Kirwan agreed with Ronan Munro SC, for Mr Bailey, that Mr Bailey lives “very visibly in Cork” and is “easy to keep an eye on”.
Mr Munro told the court that endorsing the warrant for Mr Bailey would simply expose the former journalist to another abuse of process.
He recalled the judgment of Mr Justice Tony Hunt in the High Court in July 2017 when the second French extradition request in respect of Mr Bailey was dismissed as an “abuse of process”.
Mr Justice Hunt held that the “unique features” of the case justified “termination” of the proceedings.
Lawyers for the State on Monday said the law had changed since that decision in 2017 and argued that, in the interim period, Mr Bailey had also been convicted of murder at a trial in France in his absence.