The Garda investigation of the 1996 murder of a French woman, Sophie Toscan du Plantier, in west Cork will be completed within six weeks, a senior Garda spokesman confirmed yesterday.
The original file on the murder of the 38-year-old television producer was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions in mid-1997. In recent months, gardai have been reinvestigating the case.
The body of the dead woman was found, badly battered, near the gate of her holiday home at Toormore, on the Mizen peninsula on December 23rd, 1996.
"We have never stopped working on this case," the spokesman said. "We still have six or seven people working full time on it. Once every month we meet to bring ourselves up to date. It is the most important job we have to do. We have to be fair to everybody. We are constantly evaluating and re-evaluating the situation."
Gardai have reinterviewed a number of people who previously gave statements. "We know that parts of our investigation are strong and others are weak and we have continued to build up the file," the spokesman said. "We are in contact with the DPP's office and no decision has been made on the file, one way or the other. We do not want the DPP to make a decision until a lot of other issues are dealt with."
The Garda spokesman rejected media reports that the DPP, Mr Eamon Barnes, was anxious to make a decision on the case before he retires next month.
Ms Toscan du Plantier's murder made international headlines in 1996. She was married to a wealthy French film producer, Mr Daniel Toscan du Plantier. He and other family members have been severely critical of the failure of the Irish authorities to prosecute her murderer. In an interview with Le Figaro last year he spoke of "a devil in the hills of Ireland".
A man and woman were detained for questioning in February 1997. Almost a year later, the man was detained for further questioning, but again was released without charge.
Ms Toscan du Plantier was last known to be alive at 11.30 p.m. on December 22nd, 1996, when she phoned her husband in France. Her body was found 11 hours later and it was another 24 hours before a post mortem was conducted. As a result of this delay, it was not possible to establish the time of death. The investigation has been hindered by limited medical and forensic evidence.
Ms Toscan du Plantier flew into Cork Airport on December 20th, 1996, to spend Christmas at her isolated holiday home, located between Schull and Goleen. She had booked an open-ended ticket, but appears to have changed her mind and decided to return to Paris on December 24th - the day after her body was found.
An inquest into her death heard medical evidence that she had been severely beaten and had received massive internal injuries.