Ian Bailey cremation behind closed doors kept quiet
Ian Bailey was cremated in Bantry, Co. Cork, yesterday following a private ceremony which was kept quiet to avoid further publicity.
The former journalist, 66, who was the chief suspect in the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, died on Sunday after collapsing on Barrack Street, Bantry.
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His remains had been held in the morgue at Bantry General Hospital as Bailey’s long-time solicitor, Frank Buttimer, made contact with his only sister and next-of-kin, Kay Reynolds, who lives in the UK. Sources have said the Garda investigation into the murder will still result in a file being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions despite the death of Bailey.
It’s understood Ms Reynolds requested her brother’s ashes be sent to her in England following a cremation in West Cork. She also expressed concern about the widespread media attention surrounding Bailey’s death and was cautious about publicly announcing details of the ceremony. As a result, no death notice was posted on RIP.ie.
Ian Bailey Pic: Getty
The arrangements were made by an undertaker from outside West Cork, and yesterday morning Bailey’s remains were transported 100km to the Island Crematorium in Ringaskiddy. Mr Buttimer, who did not attend the cremation, issued a statement to the Irish Daily Mail following the ceremony yesterday. ‘I am authorised to confirm by the next of kin that the remains of the late Ian Bailey were cremated at a private event which occurred earlier this morning,’ he said. ‘No further statement will be made by the late Mr Bailey’s next of kin in this regard.’
It’s expected that Bailey’s ashes will be ready to be shipped to the UK over the next few days, where a private funeral will take place. It has been reported the self-published poet, who had been due to turn 67 this Saturday, died without a will. In 2015, Ms Reynolds appeared before the High Court during a civil action by Bailey against the Garda Commissioner and State arising from the conduct of the investigation into the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier.
Ian Bailey. Pic Tom Honan.
At the time, she said her brother could not even attend his mother Brenda’s funeral in 2013 as he feared that the UK would extradite him to France. She said he was her only sibling, that they were very close and that he had a ‘very sweet, tender’ relationship with their mother. Ms Reynolds said she was ‘very, very scared’ for her brother when she learned France had issued a European arrest warrant seeking his surrender in connection with the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier. She felt that it was ‘unjust’.
On Monday, Jules Thomas, the ex-partner of Bailey, said she wasn’t surprised by his sudden death. ‘He had had a heart attack and then a double heart attack and they couldn’t operate because they knew his heart was too bad so it was on the cards to happen quite soon,’ she said. ‘I just didn’t have any feelings for him at the end, that’s why I got him out [of her house]. He was impossible to live with.’ Bailey was convicted of assaulting Ms Thomas in 2001 and received a three-month suspended sentence. However, she still firmly believes he had nothing to do with Ms Toscan du Plantier’s murder.
Mr Bailey was a native of Manchester but spent his early years in Stockport where his father, Kenneth, was a craft butcher. He moved to Ireland in the early 1990s after becoming disillusioned with his journalism career