"I had a lot of people coming up to me saying, ‘fair play to you’."
Ian Bailey has said that apart from the odd 'he did it camp' in Schull and west Cork, the rest of the people have been very supportive of him.
Bailey, who was twice arrested by Gardaí and questioned about the killing of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, but was never charged, has always maintained his innocence in the case and has spoken of his belief that a hitman travelled from France to carry out the murder.
He was was convicted in his absence in the Cour d’Assise in Paris in May 2019 of the voluntary homicide of Sophie Toscan du Plantier and sentenced to 25 years in prison, but was not extradited from Ireland following a High Court ruling in 2020.
Speaking on Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio with Niall Boylan on Tuesday night, Bailey discussed the two documentaries recently released about the murder and how the people of west Cork have been very supportive of him.
"With the exception of the ‘he did it camp’, I’ve had nothing but 100% support from the very good people west Cork," Bailey said.
"There were a number of people who gathered together and a number of them made false statements, but that doesn’t matter.
"But the majority of the people here have been absolutely brilliant in their support.
"I had a lot of people coming up to me saying, ‘fair play to you’.
"I even had a very funny thing with some of the local lads which I found very strange altogether. It was the fisherman and the farmers who said, ‘even if you you did do it Ian, you’re grand altogether’, which I found very strange. So I said, ‘Hold on a second, I didn’t do it, but thank you very much anyway’."
Bailey's comments come after he revealed this week that an investigation into the comprehensive cold case of the murder file had been approved by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris after Bailey wrote to him following the emergence of what he described as "new information".
Sophie: A Murder in West Cork, a documentary looking at the tragic murder made by the Oscar-winning producer Simon Chinn (Man On Wire, Searching For Sugarman) and filmed in west Cork, as well as other locations around Ireland and France, was released on Netflix at the end of June.
Bailey recently said that he suspected the
Netflix documentary series about the murder will be "a piece of propaganda" and "a piece of demonisation"
Bailey appeared in the documentary but only gave Netflix "limited access" and has said he has not watched it.
