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| - A British man convicted in France in his absence of a 1996 killing in Ireland said on Wednesday he is in "recovery" after Dublin blocked his extradition to serve a murder sentence. Last year, Ian Bailey was found guilty by a court in Paris of murdering Sophie Toscan du Plantier, the wife of film producer Daniel Toscan du Plantier. The 39-year-old's body was discovered at Christmas outside a holiday home in southwestern Ireland, beaten on the head with a concrete block and dressed in night clothes. Bailey has always denied any involvement and though arrested and questioned he was never charged in connection to the case in Ireland. On October 12, Ireland's High Court turned down a third extradition request by the French authorities and on Tuesday it was confirmed the decision will not be appealed. "After a quarter of a century in effect of torture and a false narrative being cast about me, I feel as though I'm in a state of sort of recovery," Bailey told state broadcaster RTE. "I'm probably going to be in a state of recovery for the rest of my life," he added in the interview. Bailey said the state's decision not to appeal the extradition block was "the end of a chapter more than the end of the book", in what is one of Ireland and France's most notorious cases. "Obviously there are a lot of questions still unanswered," he added, saying he was "very sympathetic" to the victim's family. A spokesman for the family on Tuesday said they were surprised by the latest twist in the long-running saga, which they have described as a "judicial fiasco" and a "denial of justice". jts/phz/bp
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