Mr Bailey's evidence: The first Mr Ian Bailey heard of the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier was when he got a phone call about lunch-time on December 23rd, 1997, from Eddie Cassidy of the Cork Examiner, saying there had been a murder in Toormore, about three miles away.
"He said there had been a murder. He thought it was a French woman," said Mr Bailey as he gave evidence on the events leading up to his arrest in connection with the murder.
He and his partner, Ms Jules Thomas, drove to Toormore, where they met a local woman who told them there were gardaí in the lane.
"There was a lot of activity. Jules took photographs with a long lens of the activity."
Earlier he had spoken to the local postmistress, who had said a terrible thing had happened in Toormore. He tried to find out the name of the person living in the house, and was given Ms Toscan du Plantier's maiden name.
Mr Bailey said he gave the information he had collected to Mr Cassidy, and filed a story for the Independent. Over the next few weeks he wrote articles for the Sunday Tribune, and was also hired by a number of French magazines and newspapers who came to west Cork to cover the story.
Earlier Mr Bailey said he was born in Manchester, England, and educated in Gloucester. After school he was indentured as a trainee journalist, and following his qualification he worked as a freelance journalist in Cheltenham. He married when he was very young, but the marriage broke up after about five years.
He came to Ireland in 1991, having become disillusioned with journalism. "I fell in love with west Cork. I thought I'd come to Ireland and refocus my life, and work outside offices."
He met his partner, Ms Jules Thomas, in Schull, and moved into a studio house owned by her mother, and later into her house. Ms Thomas had three daughters, and he helped her with parenting them. He also did gardening work and maintenance. "We became closer and closer and we fell in love."
They had less than an acre of land, and grew organic vegetables on it. They also reared free-range chickens and a few turkeys. They were quite self-sufficient, and sold any surplus to shops and restaurants in Schull, he told the court.
He had worked on two FAS schemes, one as a journalist with Earthwatch, and the other writing a film script for a video for a community project. He had also recently decided to return full-time to journalism, and had supplied stories to the Cork Examiner and the Southern Star.
The day the murder occurred he and Ms Thomas and her daughters had been preparing for Christmas. They had three turkeys, and intended to sell one, which would pay for the rearing of all three.
On the Sunday he had killed the turkeys. "I sustained a hairline scratch from a talon as I was tying the feet," he said.
Later that day he went with Ms Thomas's eldest daughter to cut the top off a pine tree for Christmas. "It was quite difficult. The saw was blunt. I got it down eventually and up to the house. I did obtain some scratches," he said.