Ian Bailey writing his life story for ‘Big Issue’

IAN BAILEY is writing his life story in a series of articles to be printed by The Big Issue magazine.

The first article will be published in the online edition of the magazine from late tonight.

Entitled Ian Bailey — In His Own Words, the articles will give details from his life in Britain before moving to Ireland, and will deal with his life since the 1996 murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

He was found guilty of her murder, in his absence, at a trial in France in 2019.

Last October, a third attempt by France to have him extradited in connection with the murder was rejected by the Irish High Court. Mr Bailey has always denied any involvement in the murder.

He was arrested twice as part of the murder investigation in Ireland but was never charged here.

Mr Bailey told The Echo that the first article, being published tonight, will tell his story of growing up in the UK and working as a journalist, before his move to Ireland after leaving journalism.

He described writing his story for The Big Issue as “cathartic”. He said that he is not being paid for the articles.

Earlier this year, his relationship with former partner Jules Thomas broke up after almost 30 years. He is currently looking for a new home.

The editor of The Big Issue, Sean Kavanagh, said he asked Mr Bailey to write about his life for the magazine “because there has been a lot of media coverage” of the case recently, following the release of two documentaries.

He said that people do not know much about the background of Mr Bailey prior to his arrests as part of the investigation into Ms du Plantier’s murder.

He said: “We want people to get the full picture. The articles are entirely his own words.”

Last week, during a visit to Ireland, French president Emmanuel Macron’s suggested that a new trial could be arranged for Ian Bailey in France, if he agreed to travel there.

His solicitor Frank Buttimer has said that there are no circumstances in which Mr Bailey would receive a fair hearing in France.