Bailey case: Witness ‘was not told to lie’

A garda detective who met Marie Farrell a number of times during the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder investigation has denied that gardaí asked Ms Farrell to name Ian Bailey as the man she saw on the road near Schull hours before the victim’s body was found.

Jim Slattery, now retired, denied Ms Farrell’s claims she was told gardaí needed a statement and was asked to sign blank pages when she came to Ballydehob Garda station on February 14, 1997, four days after Mr Bailey was released without charge after his first arrest in connection with the murder.

Asked about Ms Farrell’s evidence that she was told all gardaí needed was a two-line statement that she had seen Mr Bailey, there would be no court case, and there was nothing to worry about, he said that never happened.