A key witness in Ian Bailey's wrongful arrest action is to continue her evidence this morning.

State lawyers have said Jules Thomas' allegedly doctored garda statements would not have been "worth tuppence" to detectives investigating the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

Ian Bailey said he has no recall of writing the words: "Back in print again, hip hip hooray" after doing interviews with a journalist related to events surrounding the murder in West Cork of French filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier in late 1996.

Ian Bailey’s High Court action against the State for alleged wrongful arrest during the investigation into the murder of French film-maker Sophie Toscan du Plantier could last until Christmas.

Ian Bailey told the High Court how he was visited in his home by a detective superintendent in January 1997 who told him he thought the Englishman knew more about the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier than he was "letting on".

A packed Court Three shows the huge level of interest in the case, writes Michael Clifford.

Journalist Ian Bailey’s case against the Garda commissioner and the State is not about negligent investigation of the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier but about "deliberate corrupt behaviour", a High Court jury has been told.

TALKS about Ian Bailey’s abandonment of his case began as early as Thursday afternoon following the English journalist’s “horrific” evidence against lawyers for the newspapers.

IAN BAILEY thanked the people of West Cork for consistently supporting him as he spectacularly withdrew the appeal of his failed libel action over newspaper coverage of Sophie Toscan du Plantier’s murder.

IAN Bailey accused newspaper lawyers of putting a witness in the box to give evidence they knew was false, prompting cross-examining senior counsel to say this claim was horrific and an abuse of the witness box.

“OF course I did, I needed a story” was Ian Bailey’s response to what he thought was a joke when a news editor told him of the rumour that he had murdered Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

The team investigating the withdrawal of key statements in the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder investigation is finalising its report this week.

MARIE Farrell, a key witness who sensationally withdrew statements she made during the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder investigation, claimed yesterday that Garda intimidation was forcing her and her family to relocate to the midlands.

A KEY witness who sensationally withdrew statements in the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder investigation was yesterday questioned by gardaí.

ENGLISH journalist Ian Bailey and the newspapers he sued unsuccessfully over their coverage of the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in West Cork nine years ago both asked yesterday for a High Court judge to hear the appeal of the action.

A KEY witness in the Ian Bailey libel trial, Marie Farrell, who this October withdrew her key allegations against Mr Bailey, is to sell her recently-built family home in Schull.

A PRINCIPAL witness in the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder investigation has insisted she wrongly identified a chief suspect nearly nine years ago.

GARDAÍ yesterday confirmed they will investigate a travel agent’s claims that evidence he possessed in relation to the Sophie Tuscan du Plantier murder case was ignored.

Ian Bailey today said he is relieved that a woman who made statements implicating him in the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier has now said they were untrue.

A KEY witness who made statements to the gardaí in the investigation of the murder of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier in West Cork nine years ago, has now claimed important aspects of statements she made to the gardaí were false.

IAN BAILEY lost his libel action because Judge Patrick J. Moran ruled the newspapers did not identify him as the murderer of Sophie du Plantier.

A Schull shopkeeper claimed today that she saw Ian Bailey in the early hours of the morning of Sophie Toscan du Plantier’s murder about a mile from the deceased’s home.