IAN BAILEY says he believes Sophie Toscan du Plantier's murderer died years ago and is urging authorities to stop focusing on him.
He has called on Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to open a cold case review of the crime, which he claims will clear his name.
"Somebody in Ireland knows that it wasn't me," Bailey told Newstalk.
"I don't know if anybody does know who it was, I suspect there are people who do know who it was.
"Is the killer still alive? I keep seeing this reference, the fact that the killer I think - if my own theory is correct, and I can't say too much about it - the murderer is dead and has quite a long time ago passed away.
"I don't absolutely 100% know... my belief is that the murderer is probably dead - but that's a belief, I can't prove that."
Ms Toscan du Plantier was a French filmmaker who was murdered outside her home near the town of Schull, Co. Cork in December 1996.
Bailey, who lived a stone's throw away from Sophie's house at the time, is the prime suspect, but despite being arrested twice by gardaí in the months following her death, he's never been charged.
No one in fact has ever been charged for her murder, but Manchester-born Bailey was convicted in absentia by a French court in 2019 and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Numerous extradition requests have been rejected in Ireland, where Bailey resides to this day.
Ian BaileyMr Bailey says he has written to the garda commissioner several times requesting a cold case review, even having sent a copy to Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
"There were two salient facts I drew to the attention of Drew Harris," Bailey says.
"One was the fact that there was apparently alien blood - when I say 'alien blood' not the victim's blood - found upon her shoe, clearly not my blood because they have my blood samples from very early on.
"And then you have the situation, as we now know, evidence going missing like the six-bar gate. Then you have statements that would have exonerated me that have gone missing.
"My big prayer has been for a long time that the truth comes out and the truth be acknowledged that I have nothing to do with this," he added.
"I haven't heard back, I believe that's being considered but it hasn't been confirmed yet.
"And I do all I can at every level to fight my corner, as an innocent person would".
See More: Ian Bailey, Sophie Toscan Du Plantier
