THREE senior members of the team investigating the murder last month in west Cork of Ms Sophie Toscan du Plantier (39) travelled to Paris last evening to interview her husband, Daniel.
According to Garda sources in west Cork, Mr Toscan du Plantier (55) has already had an informal interview with the investigating team. The purpose of the journey to Paris is to discuss with him in more detail the events surrounding Ms Toscan du Plantier's departure from Paris for a Christmas holiday in west Cork and to pool all available information with French police.
Ms Toscan du Plantier's badly mutilated body was found lying in a ditch near her holiday home, at a remote location outside Schull, on December 23rd last at 10 a.m. She had arrived in Schull, having hired a silver Micra car at Cork Airport.
The car is being held in Bantry, and gardai are still trying to establish whether or not Ms Toscan du Plantier gave a lift to someone en route to west Cork.
It is understood Ms Toscan du Plantier and her husband were in the process of finalising a divorce. She has a 15-year-old son by a previous marriage. Mr Toscan du Plantier is a well-known film producer in France.
Since the murder, gardai have searched the normally tranquil countryside where Ms Toscan du Plantier spent her holidays in an attempt to find clues as to the identity of the murderer.
Door-to-door inquiries have been made throughout the area and while gardai say they have received good co-operation from the public, no one, so far, has come forward with information that could lead to a breakthrough in the case.
Gardai are convinced that if the killer was from the area, someone must know his or her identity. Although formal forensic results have not yet been released, it has been established that Ms Toscan du Plantier was battered about the head with a blunt instrument and that a heavy object, such as a brick, was dropped on her.