Witness rejects suggestion of inconsistencies in record

Ian Bailey rejected suggestion by counsel for the State, Luán Ó Braonáin, that the samples of his work provided were inconsistent with his claims of having a “serious track record” in journalism since the 1970s.

There was other material and, until he came to Ireland, he was making a living as a self-employed journalist, he said. He agreed that he had not substantiated his claim of having earned about stg£30,000 in 1982. He said he earned substantial sums from national newspapers, and lesser sums from other media all mounted up that year.

Asked whether an article in which he described peace activists in England being “ambushed” by “the forces of law and order” represented his own view, he said his sympathies “are always with people who are victims and underdogs”.