A FORMER Forest journalist could face years in jail after being arrested in Dublin for the murder of a French film producer outside her clifftop holiday cottage 23 years ago.

A French court found Ian Bailey (right) guilty in his absence of murdering Sophie Toscan du Plantier earlier this year and sentenced him to 25 years in jail.

French authorities have now applied to extradite him from Ireland.

The battered body of the 39-year-old mum-of-one, who was married to the director of the Paris Film Festival, was found on the Cork Riviera on December 23, 1996.

Bailey, who lived in Newent in the early 1990s, has always denied any involvement and has never been charged in Ireland..

He has labelled last May’s Paris court hearing, where only two irish witnesses appeared, a ‘show trial’.

But having convicted Bailey, French authorities issued a European Arrest Warrant for the 62-year-old last month, and the High Court in Dublin agreed to his arrest on December 16, setting the extradition process in motion.

Bailey was bailed to reappear in court on January 20 and ordered to surrender his passport and post a bond of €15,000.

The former journalist has a reputation as an eccentric, and read poems from his recently published book of poetry, A John Wayne State of Mind, to drinkers in a pub near the court following the bail hearing.

He was the first reporter on the murder scene shortly after the discovery of Ms Toscan du Plantier’s body, and still lives with long-term Welsh artist partner Jules Thomas two miles away in Schull.

Despite being arrested twice by Irish police, prosecutors in Ireland decided there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him and he was never charged.

At the December 16 hearing, Bailey’s lawyers objected to the warrant’s endorsement, deeming it an abuse of process after two previous failed attempts by French authorities.

But state Irish lawyers said the law had changed since the last decision and Bailey had since been convicted of murder in France.

Mr Justice Donald Binchy endorsed the warrant and said the court would schedule a full extradition hearing later.

Bailey later told reporters: “I was expecting it. I anticipated it but I wasn’t under any obligation to come up to Dublin from West Cork, but I chose to.

“I knew the tsunami would reach me at some point and I’ve been ­living literally through it on a sort of cliff edge from the end of May.

“I’ve been convicted of a crime that I have nothing to do with. I’m 62 years old and have a 25-year sentence hanging over me, so yes, it is a fear that I have.”

The twists and turns of the case have spawned a hit podcast and a new documentary directed by six-time Oscar nominee Jim Sheridan is in the pipeline.

Ms Toscan du Plantier’s family, who have kept the cottage exactly as it was the night she was murdered, pursued the case through the French courts after Irish authorities ruled out legal action.

Bailey, who also makes pizza to sell at a local market, told Irish broadcaster RTE that claims he was the killer were a “bundle of lies”.

But convicting him last May, Judge Frederique Aline said there was “significant evidence” of his guilt.

Shop owner Marie Farrell, the only witness to put him near the scene on the night of the killing, later retracted her claim, saying she had been groomed and bullied into giving false evidence.

The Paris court was told of scratches Bailey had on his hands and forehead on the day Ms Toscan du Plantier’s body was found.

He said they were from killing and plucking three turkeys and cutting down a Christmas tree, although witnesses had seen him playing a bodhran drum in the pub the night before and observed no scratches.

Bill Fuller told the Paris court hearing Bailey had recounted a scenario of the killing to him the day after the body was found.