Ian Bailey, who became the prime suspect for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, has died in west Co Cork.
Mr Bailey (66) collapsed on Sunday afternoon in Bantry, according to The Irish Times.
The former journalist, originally from England, is suspected to have had a heart attack.
Paramedics performed CPR on Mr Bailey for more than 20 minutes without success. It is understood that he was pronounced dead at the scene. His body has since been removed to the morgue at Bantry General Hospital.
He was twice arrested and questioned by gardaí about the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier but had repeatedly denied any involvement in the killing of the French film producer.
The body of Ms Toscan du Plantier (39) was found badly beaten outside her holiday home in Schull, west Cork, in December 1996.
Mr Bailey, with an address at The Prairie in Schull, was convicted of her murder in his absence by a Paris court in May 2019, which imposed a 25-year sentence.
He had no legal representation, did not attend the court and described it as a farce at the time.
In October 2020, the High Court rejected an attempt by French authorities to extradite Mr Bailey for the murder.
The court ruled that he would not be surrendered to France after a European Arrest Warrant was issued in 2019.
Mr Bailey has always vehemently denied any involvement in Ms Toscan du Plantier’s death.
His solicitor, Frank Buttimer, who has known Mr Bailey since March 1997, said he was “very upset” to hear of his death.
“I knew Ian was very unwell, we were in communication in the past five days, but I didn’t know he was terminally unwell,” he said.
“He had a very severe heart condition, a very bad heart condition, and had cardiac events prior to Christmas.
“He was a candidate for surgical intervention but wasn’t well enough, so he was trying to become well enough.”
Manchester-born Bailey tried to build a career as a journalist before moving to west Cork in the mid-1990s where he turned his hand to poetry, gardening and running a pizza stall with his former partner.
