Plaintiff aghast that he would be ‘placed’ at bridge

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".

He said Detective Superintendent Dermot Dwyer had asked him if he played poker. When he said “no”, Det Supt Dwyer replied “you should”.

Mr Bailey said he knew poker was a game of bluff. The senior garda told him he thought Mr Bailey knew more about the murder than he was letting on.

The garda was going to place him at Kealfadda Bridge, near Toormore, in the early hours of December 23, 1996.

Mr Bailey said he was “aghast” and said that was nonsense, and the officer replied: “We’ll see.”

Mr Bailey said he came home on January 31, 1997, to find a garda, Pat Joy, “ripping” out samples of hair from his partner Jules Thomas, and both of them provided hair samples and fingerprints and he also provided footwear. He understood some 60 local people had also provided samples.

Mr Bailey, who lives at The Prairie, a townland adjacent to Toormore, said he was phoned by an Irish Examiner journalist about 1.40pm on December 23, 1996, and asked to liaise with him about the suspicious death of a woman described on the 2pm news as French.

He drove towards the Toormore area with Ms Thomas, who had a camera. He met a woman whom he knew who told him of Garda activity on a lane. They took some photos before returning home.

He had gotten up about 4am that Monday to work on an article to be faxed to the Sunday Tribune later that day. When he rang the Sunday Tribune about 10.30am, he was told he could phone his article to a copy taker the following day, Tuesday, December 24, he said. Later on December 23, a photographer Mike Browne, contacted him. He gave Mr Browne directions to come to the Prairie and went with him to the scene where he spoke to gardaí.

He had filed two articles concerning the killing that seemed to hit the Schull area like a “mini-nuclear device”, he said. Everyone seemed to know the details, that the woman had been bashed to death with a rock.

Mr Bailey also said he had killed three turkeys on Sunday, December 22, and got a light scratch on the hairline from one turkey’s leg when hanging the bird onto a nail to kill it. He also cut down a Christmas tree that day and had some welts on his arm.