The Director of Public Prosecutions is expected to make a decision soon on whether action should be taken on a file concerning a west Cork murder in December. Garda sources in Cork confirmed yesterday that the file had been sent to the office of the DPP. It concerns the killing of Ms Sophie Toscan du Plantier (38), a Parisian who had a holiday home in Toormore, near Schull, west Cork.
Ms Toscan du Plantier arrived at Cork Airport from Paris on Friday, December 20th, to spend Christmas in west Cork. Although she had an open-ended ticket, she seems to have changed her mind abruptly and decided to return to Paris on Tuesday - the day after her battered body was found in a lane near her holiday home.
It appeared Ms Toscan du Plantier had been beaten about the head with a metal object and that a concrete brick had been dropped on her head.
No murder weapon has ever been found despite an intensive forensic examination of the house and adjoining area by gardai.
Ms Toscan du Plantier was a solitary figure despite having had many friends in the Toormore area. Since December, one of the biggest murder hunts ever undertaken by the west Cork Garda has been under way but up to now no one has been charged with the murder.
Following the murder, an inquest at Bantry heard medical evidence that Ms Toscan du Plantier had been severely beaten and that she had suffered massive internal injuries.