Bailey made cut-throat gestures at woman, court hears

Mr Ian Bailey "terrorised" a shopkeeper in Schull, Co Cork, who claimed to have seen him early on the morning of the murder of…

Mr Ian Bailey "terrorised" a shopkeeper in Schull, Co Cork, who claimed to have seen him early on the morning of the murder of Ms Sophie Toscan du Plantier about a mile from the deceased's home, a court heard yesterday.

Mr Marie Farrell, who owned an ice-cream parlour in the town, said Mr Bailey had made cut-throat gestures at her on numerous occasions and shouted at her: "You didn't see me washing any blood."

The claims were heard on the eighth day of a libel case where Mr Bailey is taking seven actions against eight newspapers over articles linking him to the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier.

Ms Farrell said she saw a man in a black coat at Kealfadda Bridge between 2.30 and 3 a.m. on the morning of the murder, December 23rd, 1996, and that he appeared to be trying to cover his face with his hands.

READ MORE

She later identified the man as Mr Ian Bailey when she spotted him at the Spar supermarket in Schull, shortly after the murder.

Ms Farrell said that after telling the gardaí, Mr Bailey arrived at her shop on a number of occasions to get her to retract or change her statement.

"He was terrorising me. My life was a living nightmare. We had a small ice-cream parlour and in the end I ended up in debt because I was so afraid to stay there because of Ian Bailey. I'm afraid to let my children out because of Ian Bailey," she said.

Ms Farrell also told the court that as she was decorating the Christmas tree with her children last Sunday, an anonymous woman telephoned the house and said: "You just keep your bloody mouth shut."

Mr Bailey told the court last week that he never left the house on the night of the murder.

In an earlier incident, the Schull shopkeeper told gardaí she saw a man matching Mr Bailey's description on December 21st, two days before the murder, opposite her shop.

Ms Farrell said Ms Toscan du Plantier was on her premises at the time. He stayed there for around 10 minutes, she said.

Superintendent Vincent Duggan told the court that he had visited Mr Bailey and told him of Ms Farrell's complaints, which Mr Bailey described as "ridiculous."

Mr James Duggan, counsel for Mr Bailey, said Ms Farrell was mistaken and that she had told Mr Bailey that she was under pressure from the gardaí to make a statement about seeing him at the bridge. Ms Farrell rejected this.

Mr Duggan also said that due to the distance from Ms Farrell's shop to the other side of the road, she could not possibly have identified a man she claimed was Mr Bailey standing outside her shop.

Mr Duggan pointed to differences in Ms Farrell's evidence in court and statements to gardaí over information such as Mr Bailey's complexion and what he was doing with his arms when he was spotted a second time.

Ms Farrell, however, said it had been seven years since the incidents and she could not remember every detail.

"If I made the remark in statement, it's right. I'd wouldn't have gone and made a statement about something that wasn't right," she said.

Legal teams for Mr Bailey and the newspapers he is suing for defamation concluded presenting their evidence before Judge Patrick J Moran at Cork Circuit Court tomorrow.

They will begin closing submissions tomorrow which are expected to be concluded this afternoon.