Sophie Toscan du Plantier's son to be interviewed on Late Late tonight 

The son of murdered French woman Sophie Toscan du Plantier is set to be interviewed on the Late Late Show on RTÉ 1 tonight. 

In a video message on social media, host Patrick Kielty said that Pierre-Louis Baudey Vignaud plans to talk about what the death of Ian Bailey means for his mother’s case.

Mr Baudey-Vignaud is a frequent visitor to Ireland and travelled from France to this country three times last year.

His 39-year-old film producer mother was murdered at her holiday home at Toormore, near Schull in west Cork in the early hours of December 23rd, 1996. 

Her body was found in a laneway near her cottage.

Following the death of 66-year-old Ian Bailey earlier this month Mr Baudey Vignaud sent a video message to RTÉ News.

The late Ian Bailey had on two occasions detained by Gardaí for questioning in relation to his mother's murder.

In the message, he said that his family planned to continue to seek “truth and justice” regarding the murder. 

Appeal to community 

In 2019 Mr Baudey Vignaud had asked locals in West Cork to travel to Paris to testify at the then-upcoming French trial of English journalist Ian Bailey.

Speaking in Goleen, in West Cork, Pierre-Louis Baudey Vignaud said that it was imperative that the relevant parties travel to France for the four-day murder trial which got underway in late May 2019.

Mr Baudey Vignaud travelled to Goleen with his uncle Betrand in order to attend a mass in memory of his mother.

He told massgoers that his idyllic childhood had been blighted by the violent killing of his mother in West Cork in 1996.

He stressed that Sophie was a real flesh and blood person whose life ended in a horrifying manner. 

He spoke of his pride at her ‘resilience' in her final moments.

"My mother, Sophie is not a ghost, she is the victim of human cruelty and violence which has no place here. Sophie fought like a lioness against the most atrocious violence there is. The violence used by a monster that nothing stops -- the one that struck her for no reason, for nothing.

"I still come back here every year because it is the only way for me to defy this violence and to destroy it.

Pierre Louis stated that his life became a 'prison" overnight after his mother's death and that it was impossible for him to come to terms with what had happened to her.

"I have been coming to Ireland for 30 years. I was eight years old the first time I came here and I was 15 years old when my mother was brutally killed. I can’t bear the thought of her blood seeping into your soil."

He claimed that the killing of his mother was not in keeping with the soul of Ireland.

"This is a trial of a crime that does not fit with what Ireland is like and does not fit with what you, Irish people, are.

"This is a trial of a crime that no one, especially myself but also you, would have wanted to know about. This is a trial of a crime that you and I did not deserve, whether it takes place here or in France."

He said that Sophie travelled to Ireland for "peace of mind, serenity and trust" and never would have thought that she was at risk in her "haven of peace."

Pierre Louis said that he decided to keep his mother's home in Toormore near Schull because he preferred to "believe in the trust that my mother had when she opened her door. "

"I could have given up my mother’s dream of peace of mind. I could have abandoned this country, this house, her house, mine and your house. I could have chosen not to bring my children here, I could have believed in curses and in a kind of predestination. I could have been afraid but here I am standing before you.

"I preferred to desire her Ireland, your Irish way of life that tranquility that she could not find either in Paris or in the glitter that so many others imagined."

Ian Bailey questioned on two occasions 

The late Ian Bailey was on two occasions detained by Gardaí for questioning in relation to the 1996 murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

Mr Bailey always denied any wrongdoing in relation to the murder of the mother of one who had a holiday home in West Cork. 

Mr Bailey was convicted in absentia after a trial in France in 2015. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

However, officials in France were unable to extradite Mr Bailey to Paris to serve the sentence handed down by the courts.

Mr Bailey fought two attempts by the authorities in France to extradite him to the country.