Bailey admits vicious assault on his partner

IAN BAILEY assaulted his partner so viciously that her eye was swollen to the size of a grapefruit, clumps of hair were pulled from her head and her lip was severed from her gum.

The English journalist, who is suing seven newspapers in a libel action arising from coverage of the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder, admitted the assault on his partner, but denied he was a violent man.

These descriptions of injuries sustained by Mr Bailey’s partner, Jules Thomas, after she was assaulted in May 1996, were given in cross-examination by senior counsel Paul Gallagher.