The plaintiff's case: Ian Bailey's "nightmare" began on January 10th, 1997, when he was arrested by three gardaí and brought to Bandon Garda station to be questioned about the murder three weeks earlier of Ms Sophie Toscan du Plantier, according to his counsel, Mr James Duggan.
"I do not know whether he committed the murder or not. He has told me he did not and I accept it," said Mr Duggan.
"He has been the subject of trial by media. For nearly seven years he has been subjected to trial. He has been shunned by society. He has been referred to as 'the murderer'. He has had to endure victimisation by the media. It is a living horror story."
Mr Bailey is suing seven newspapers, the Irish Mirror, the Star, the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Independent, the Independent on Sunday, the Times and the Sunday Times, for alleged defamation in articles published in the weeks and months following his arrest.
Mr Duggan said that when Mr Bailey arrived at Bandon Garda station following his arrest that day, there were 20 or 30 journalists there, and at least one TV crew. The gate was left open for one cameraman to take pictures, and that photo of his client was on the front of a newspaper the next day.
"From then on there was no anonymity for Ian Bailey," he said.
Having been questioned for about 12 hours, he was told he was free to go, but that he was not wanted at home, so he went to the home of a friend. Three days later he contacted the mother of his partner, Ms Jules Thomas, who had been "demented" with worry. "There was no question that he could not go home."
However, when he did arrive at his home near Schull, west Cork, there was a "scrum" of journalists outside the house, which was under siege for 24 hours a day.
Ms Thomas has three daughters, and she tried to protect them as best she could. Various journalists tried to ingratiate themselves with Mr Bailey by suggesting they would write sympathetic articles, said Mr Duggan.
"He fell for this a number of times, only to find out they wrote horrors," Mr Duggan said. He accepted by now that he was a suspect, as he had been arrested. Each of the newspapers being sued had maintained an interest in Mr Bailey and had placed his picture beside the most offensive of articles.
"Collectively they have been massively damaging to Ian Bailey and Jules Thomas and the girls. They have deprived him of a career or the possibility of earning a living."
He said Mr Bailey and Ms Thomas had lived with the huge hope that some day someone would be tried and convicted of the horrific crime.
Mr Bailey had been arrested and interviewed on two occasions. The file had been reviewed an unprecedented number of times by the DPP. A new set of personnel had been asked to do it a second time.
"He has been DNA-ed. His hair, blood, clothes have been examined. But no charges have ever been brought."
He said Mr Bailey was not bringing the cases against the seven newspapers lightly.
"He has brought them to convince some ordinary people he is not 'the murderer'. It is the only way of decriminalising himself."
He said he was not setting his client up as a saint. He was a human being with failings.
"He has been guilty of engaging in gutter press himself. He is also guilty of mistreating his partner in a physical manner." But his right to be assumed innocent, guaranteed by the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights, had been denied to him.
Despite Mr Bailey's denial of any involvement in the death of Ms Toscan du Plantier, a number of articles linked him with her and her death, and published other defamatory material about his client which was untrue.
For example, one article stated he "had a stormy relationship with his ex-wife".
"That will be strenuously denied," said Mr Duggan.
An article in the Sunday Independent by Brigid McLaughlin, who had inveigled her way into his confidence, said that there were scratches on his face and hands.
"People were suspicious," she wrote. "Ian Bailey said he was killing turkeys that morning. There were rumours that he was burning clothes on the morning after the murder. He says he was obliged to burn the clothes because they were covered in turkey blood," Mr Duggan quoted.
He continued: "That is a lie. But a member of the public would see that as burning the evidence." He continued to quote from the article, which said Mr Bailey had pinned a full-frontal nude picture of himself up in a busy newsroom where he worked in England, and had boasted to colleagues about his sexual prowess.
"That is a lie."
There were a number of references in the article to Ms Thomas, her history before her relationship with Mr Bailey, and a claim that she had a child with a man called "Indian Joe" who lived on an island near Schull. "They are lies and more lies," said Mr Duggan.
Defamation proceedings had been successfully taken with regard to these matters.
Ms McLaughlin had described a trip she took with Mr Bailey to Schull and back. "There was nothing untoward about it. But she built it into a picture where she was afraid." Another version of this article later appeared in the Independent on Sunday under the title, "A Devil in the Hills," he said, published the day after his client had a drink-driving conviction. "She improved on her earlier article to further blacken my client."
An article by Ms Audrey Magee in the Times newspaper appeared under the heading "Ian Bailey has no alibi for the night of the murder," he said. It also said "Bailey admits he has a history of violence against women."
"That is not so. He admitted one incident in respect of his partner." Another article in the Times said he was believed to have been introduced to Ms Toscan du Plantier by a mutual neighbour. This was not so.
He never met her and was never introduced to her.
In the Star there was a story about his "bitter bust-up" with his former wife. This, too, was untrue. The Sun newspaper said he admitted violence towards his ex-wife. He never did.
The Daily Telegraph claimed a motive for the murder by describing him as a writer whose film script was rejected by the French wife of a film director.