Judge rules newspapers did not identify journalist as murderer
The newspapers simply reported correctly that he was a suspect and they reported his assertions that he had nothing to do with the killing.
Mr Bailey was awarded €8,000 against two newspapers, The Sun and The Mirror, but not for their coverage of the murder. of Ms du Plantier.
The money, €4,000 against each paper, was awarded because of unsubstantiated reports that he had assaulted his former wife, Sarah Limbrick.
Other than this finding, the judge ruled in favour of the newspapers’ defence and he dismissed the cases against The Daily Telegraph, Times (and Sunday Times), Irish Sunday Independent, Independent on Sunday and The Star.
Judge Moran expressed the view that Mr Bailey had, on the balance of probabilities, confessed to the murder of Ms du Plantier.
Judge Moran believed the evidence of Ritchie and Rosie Shelley, who said that Bailey said to them after a long New Year’s Eve discussion of the murder, “I did it. I did it. I went too far”.
He also accepted that Mr Bailey confessed to the murder to Malachi Reed, who was just 14 years old at the time.
The judge made the point that he was making these findings of fact on the balance of probability, but, crucially, not to the higher criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.
“When the gardaí make an arrest in any serious criminal case they do it for very strong reasons. The plaintiff complains about his treatment by the gardaí but that is not a matter for this court. There are other authorities for that, the Garda Complaints Board.
“I was anxious that this trial should never take on the mantle of a criminal trial, I am afraid that once or twice it did. It was not a criminal investigation. Evidence was given in the course of this trial that would not be admitted in a criminal trial. Any findings of fact I make in this case are made on the balance of probabilities and nothing else,” he said.
The judge said the plaintiff’s case in essence was that he was branded as violent towards women and branded a murderer.
“Ms Thomas suffered three nasty assaults at the hands of Mr Bailey. He was given a six month-suspended sentence in the district court for one of these.
“The newspapers say he is violent towards women. He said he was violent towards one woman and that is it.
“In my experience of family law cases, to have violence once is unusual, twice is very unusual and three times is exceptional. I have no hesitation in describing Mr Bailey as a violent man. I think the defendants were perfectly justified in describing him as violent towards women in the plural. He has not been defamed by that,” he said.
Referring to neighbour Alfie Lyons’ evidence that he was 90% sure that he had introduced Mr Bailey to the deceased, Judge Moran accepted that he probably did but that Mr Bailey did not know the deceased in a social way.
The judge accepted evidence from shopkeeper Marie Farrell that she saw Bailey at Kealfadda Bridge on the night of the murder, but the judge remarked that he did not know to what extent that evidence would stand up if it were produced in a criminal case.
He accepted neighbours’ evidence that there was a fire on Mr Bailey’s land by The Prairie in Schull on St Stephen’s Day, 1996, but that what was burned was “anyone’s guess”.
He also accepted what Mr and Mrs Ritchie and Rosie Shelley told him of the plaintiff’s confession to them, “I did it, I did it, I went too far,” following a late night conversation about the murder, at Mr Bailey’s home on New Year’s Eve, 1998.
“Again it goes back to Mr Bailey being a man looking for notoriety and self-publicity,” commented Judge Moran.
He also accepted that he made a similar confession to Malachi Reed when he was giving him a lift home from Schull.
“I think it was a form of bravado, trying to impress this 14-year-old for whatever reason,” he said.
“The plaintiff says that articles portray him as the murderer of the late Sophie Toscan du Plantier. I put myself in the position of the ordinary reader. These articles do not say to me that he was the murderer. They convey that he was the suspect and the articles constantly quote him as saying, ‘I did not do it’ and they give that equal prominence,” he said.
The judge said the reports by The Mirror and The Sun that Mr Bailey had assaulted his ex-wife, Sarah Limbrick, had not been substantiated in evidence and so awarded €4,000 against each paper.
