The French lawyer for Ian Bailey says he expects his client to be sentenced to 30 years for the voluntary homicide of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier.

Ian Bailey has always denied any involvement in the film producer’s death in Cork in 1996.

He is now expected to be tried in France in absentia for her killing, meaning he will not be present for the hearing.

In an interview with the Irish Times, Bailey’s French lawyer Dominique Tricaud says he expects him to be convicted.

Mr Tricaud said: “Things will take place which do not concern my client. Mr Bailey will not be extradited. The French magistrates will condemn him to 30 years in prison in absentia.”

The newspaper’s Paris Correspondent Lara Marlowe said: “Everyone is pretty sure that Bailey will not attend his own trial in France because ot the Supreme Court ruling in 2012.

“It is extremely unlikely that he will be extradited.

“If you don’t attend your own trial in France, you usually receive the maximum sentence, so that is the rationale of the lawyer.”