All language subtitles for Murder.At.The.Cottage 03EnglishEnglish

The following programme contains
distressing scenes.

It's so much,
it's difficult to sum it up simply.

But as everybody knows,
20-odd years ago,

there was a murder in West Cork.

And at the time I was erm...a
journalist, a freelance journalist.

And I finished up reporting
on the crime.

And within a few weeks,

erm, I had been identified by
the guards, falsely, as a suspect.

That began...
That was 20-odd years ago,

and I have,
throughout that period,

I've done everything that I could
to protest my innocence.

Because I know, I know,
that I have nothing to do with this,

and I know that the false narrative

that I did have something
to do with it is a complete myth.

I can't prove that. I know that.

It's difficult.

A gap between knowing something
and being able to prove.

So, I've been left in a situation

where I've been accused
in France of the murder.

I can't travel out of the state.

I've already been subjected
to two European arrest warrants,

and I don't know, from day to day,
how that's going to play out.

All I know is,
it's going to be awful.

Yeah, this is all vegetables
in the summer,

so we always have something out here
that we can pick and eat.

Purple sprouting broccoli!

This is why I have no thumbnails.

It's absolutely
delicious, I promise you.

Lovely in stir fries as well.

It's a fucking tragedy.
You have a situation

where a lady is murdered,

and then you have
this fucking massive cover-up.

The French are assured in 1997...

.."Don't worry,
we know who murdered your daughter.

He's an English bastard
called Ian Bailey.

The only problem we have is

we don't quite have
enough evidence against him.

But don't worry,
we'll sort that out."

Ah. Great!

Aw!

Right.

So, what have we got?
Witness detail...

I don't really wanna go
through this.

But this is right
from the beginning.

These are the very earliest
newspaper headlines.

Tuesday February 11th.

That's the day
after the first arrest.

"Man held over Cork murder
freed by Gardai."

16th February, 1997.

That was the photograph of me.
That was me then.

Erm...

Oh, for fuck sake.

I met Ian actually the day
that Sophie's body was found.

Erm... I was called, I was working
mainly as a press photographer.

About 250 metres, yards,
turning to the right.

So, I actually picked him up
at his house,

and he directed me
to Sophie's house.

When was the first day
that you became aware

that the cops
were looking at Bailey?

Very early in January,

they rang, and said could they come
down and interview me.

They kept, sort of, asking me,
did I notice anything about Ian,

did I notice if he had scars
on his hands or face, or marks,

or anything like that?
And I said, genuinely, I didn't.

But I got from it straight away

that they were looking at him.

If I remember rightly,

he was arrested for the first time
on a Monday.

I got a call from a journalist,
and she said,

"He's being arrested today."

She said, "I think the guards
are actually at his house now."

This was about eight o'clock
in the morning. To me,

it came from a journalist,

but I'm imagining it came
from the guards to her, you know?

So, you went in this way?
So, I went in this way.

But in those days you could just
freely walk in there,

get to the back of the building
and shoot across the car park.

'Before 11 o'clock,
Chief Superintendent Noel Smith,

in charge of the investigation,

announced that the man held
would be released without charge.'

Are you disappointed?

You look more disappointed
than I am.

You thought I was going to be
carrying the head out, I suppose.

'Earlier this week a local
man, a journalist,

Eoin Bailey,
was arrested and questioned

for 12 hours
by Gardai about the murder.

And in an unusual development
for Ireland,

he was identified
in several newspapers...'

Once that photograph
hit the newspapers,

everybody knew then
whom the guards, at least, believed

perpetrated the crime.

Everybody in Schull had a view.

You were either for Bailey
or against him, I think.

The phone didn't stop ringing,

the place was inundated
with reporters.

We had the curtains drawn
on the house

for about a month after that arrest.

Complete blackout in the house.

So, I get a solicitor,
I paid this man called Con Murphy.

And he comes along and he says,

"Don't say anything and stay shtum."

'A small country road
beside where Eoin Bailey lives

was blocked with traffic today,

as the media gathered
to hear his story.'

My instinct is, if I had nothing
to do with the thing
I was being accused of,

I'm not going to remain silent.

The Garda Siochana are saying

that they didn't
release my name. But who did?

But you're saying to me here you
didn't kill Sophie du Plantier,

nor did you have any part in that.
I'm saying

I didn't kill her,
I had no knowledge of the killing,
I'm an innocent man.

After the first arrest,
it was fucking hell.

It really was. Dreadful, shocking.

Funny because it creates a ball
of fear.

You get this thing of fear
right in your guts.

I was 39 when this began. 39.

I'm 62 now. Most of my hair is gone.

A lot of these teeth
are not the originals.

Of course, they arrested Jules too.

How are you gonna deal
with a situation like that?

Ian Bailey invited me
into his house,

and into his warm kitchen,

while Jules Thomas made tea for us,
and offered scones, and so on.

It was an extraordinary situation.

But every time
I think he gave an interview,

it really just copper-fastened

his associations
with the entire investigation.

'In the wake
of all of this publicity,

can you stay in West Cork?
Do you want to stay in West Cork?

I certainly want to stay
in West Cork,

and I believe I will stay
in West Cork.'

But the cloud over your name
will not be lifted, really,

until someone is charged
and convicted

with the murder
of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

That is correct.'

Pierre Louis is Sophie's son

from her first marriage.

Her only child, he was just 15,
when she was murdered.

Throughout his childhood,
Pierre Louis spent magical moments

with his mother in Toormore.

After her death,
Pierre decided to keep the house,

and he still spends time there
every year.

It remains a tangible link
to his mother.

We still feel great sadness

at such a tragedy happening
in Goleen.

All the neighbours,
they would be anxious, you know?

It makes everybody
feel rather uneasy.

'During the investigation,

Gardai have arrested people
and have interviewed hundreds,

but despite this, the person
who killed Madame du Plantier

amid the peace and tranquillity
of her West Cork home

still hasn't been found.'

Everybody terrified,
women terrified, you know.

And then you start getting reports
of, sort of like,

my neighbour's son being told
by Bailey in a car

that he'd done the murder, you know.

He was 14. It was on the Wednesday

about two months
after Sophie had died.

And Malachi saw Mr Bailey in town,

and he got a lift with him,

which was quite normal here.

He said that he got in the car,

and Mr Bailey was behaving
quite agitatedly,

and he turned around and told him

that he had smashed her brains in.

He used the words,
"F-ing brains in."

And Malachi was quite distressed
at the time.

Well, I think he thought...

He didn't know if he was
telling the truth,

or if he was just acting crazily,
or whatever.

The police focused in on Bailey
very quickly after the crime.

They did, but there was
no other males in the area

that came under the radar.

But from what I can figure out,

the Irish police weren't allowed
to interrogate anybody in France.

Oh, no. Oh, no.

When they went across to France,

and they, out of courtesy,
went to the local Gendarmerie,

they were told to stand there
for a minute,

and the officer came to ask what was
it about, and they told him.

And he told them straight out
that they were not to investigate,

and not to question
any French citizen,

to go back to the airport
and go back to Ireland.

That's the French system.
That's the way it is.

The evidence
would have to go back that way,

and then the French would take over.

And it's the fact
that where the scene is

that they knew the crime scene,
knew the area.

It would've been difficult
to know it was there.

That's the way I look at it.
I agree with that

unless it's an arranged killing.

What I'm saying is,
if we're just going down one road,

and we can't go the other road,

there's no point in investigating
anything in France.

Morning.

The guards knew that
every contact leaves a trace.

So they sent the forensic tests away
in high expectation.

What came back
would be highly unusual.

There was so small DNA
on the briar thorns

that it wouldn't have been capable
of producing evidence.

None of Bailey's DNA
was found under Sophie's nails.

And Bailey's hair sample
didn't match,

as the hair in Sophie's hands
turned out to be her own.

The blood on the door was Sophie's.

The gate was taken off because there
was blood along the top of the gate.

-Was that Sophie's blood?
-That was
Sophie's blood, but that was it.

There was no evidence
of a sexual assault.

He would've left fingerprints, no?

They can be cleaned easily.
If you rub, fingerprints are gone.

The whole police thing was it was
a frenzied attack by a sociopath,

and then you have to turn him
into this career criminal

who cleans the scene.
They don't work together.

No, they don't, and that's unlikely.

The breeze block
with the blood on it,

that wouldn't
-have fingerprints on it.
-No.

Because the surface of the breeze
block won't hold fingerprints.

It won't get it.

This person was very lucky who
-killed her.
-Oh, absolutely.

Without a shadow of a doubt.
No doubt.

There should really have been
more evidence than there was

because the theory
of forensic science

is that every contact
leaves a trace.

Now, you've got to find
the traces, too, of course.

There is, effectively,
not a scintilla of evidence there

to prosecute Ian Bailey for it.

And Bailey, without it
being necessary for him to do so...

..gave samples.

He didn't hide anything.

Statement of Brian Jackson,
taken on the 7th of February, 1997.

"I recall that on
or about Christmas time,

I smelt a fire
and I heard a crackling.

It smelt like a garden fire
and it smelt like garden rubbish.

I thought it was unusual for Ian
to be cleaning up the garden

that time of year,
or, indeed, any time of year.

We had a fire. we were clearing out
that house from somebody

who had been there before and
hadn't taken all their rubbish.

An old mattress
and that sort of thing, you know?

We just put a fire in the back,
but that was in November.

Or October even.
But people were saying

that the fire at the studio
was Christmas time.

I think that was the guards
cooking it up, myself.

I investigated the bonfire
that was reported by locals,

and we found, in the burned remains,

furniture, bed furniture, beddings.

So, what happened
to Ian's big, black overcoat?

They took it. The cops took it.

Apparently,
it got cut into inch squares,

and they tested
every square inch for blood.

Detective Garda Pat Joy.

"On the 10th of February, 1997,

I went to a house
known as the Studio House, Schull.

In the Studio House
in a room off the kitchen,

I found a black overcoat
on the sofa.

I placed this overcoat
in a brown paper bag

which I sealed and marked 'PJ-24'."

Yeah, really.

That's what happened to his coat.

Patchwork quilt maybe one day.

Yeah.

Perhaps there was
another black coat

that was burned in the fire.

Oi! No, no, no, no, no. Out! No, no.

I know what you're doing. Out! Out!

Out!

Go on! Isn't she beautiful?
She's a Bluebell.

And I was fairly successful
as a journalist in another life,

and I wasn't doing too badly here.

I mean, I wrote all of that.

You can see, Daily Star,
date and everything, front page.

As a freelance journalist,
in effect, you're a pen for hire.

Jokingly, I referred to freelance
journalists as "presstitutes".

I reached a point
when I was about 28, 29,

where I saw the total empty
vacuousness of journalism,

and the damage, because you're
in a very powerful position.

Part of what I was doing,
I was trained

as a court reporter
and other things,

and I was sort of becoming aware
of Buddhism.

And I reached the point, I thought,
"Fuck this.

I can't do this anymore."

I'm actually making a living

out of writing
about other people's misfortunes.

I can't do it anymore."

That was towards the time I... When
did I come to Ireland? I was 38.

The guards said you knew a lot about
the case, and you knew too much.

Um...you know, you've got
your sources as a journalist.

And I was coming out
with all the lead stories.

Why? Because I'm down here,
and the French are coming in.

I'm liaising with them, and I'm
the only journalist doing that.

You know, this was a big story,
and I'm reporting on it.

And then I start to get this rumour,
people and journalists saying to me,

"You know, it has been said
it's you who murdered her."

I said, "Ah, sure, yeah,
course I did, I needed a story."

That's irony, by the way.
I'm being sarcastic.

That isn't an admission.
Mm-hm.

In most cases, what happens
is the guards investigate,

and then they pass a file
to the DPP.

It's a constitutional matter,
so the guards have no power

to prosecute anybody
with an indictable offence

unless authorised by the DPP.

The guards in this country
are very good.

They're very skilled.

They had done a huge amount of work,
a massive amount of work.

They felt they had sufficient
evidence collated...

'Around Kealfadda Bridge
I saw the man on the road.'

..to have convinced the DPP
to press charges.

The DPP took a different view.

From the DPP's point of view,

they had no scientific
or forensic evidence

to link Ian Bailey to the scene.

Bailey's reason for getting up

on the night of the murder
to write an article

was found plausible.

And, as he was the only
local journalist,

he was the first
at the scene of the crime.

He said that he had been
led directly to Sophie's house

because he was informed
that the deceased was French.

The Director of Public Prosecutions
accepted his explanation.

Yeah, yeah. No, I was with Ian.

I mean, why buy a Christmas tree,

if you've got a perfectly good
ten foot growing in your garden?

Apparently, there was guards
climbing the trees

to see had we been chopping tops
off them for the last several years.

Detective Garda Pat Joy.

"On the 19th February, 1997,
Garda Bart O'Leary pointed out

a Sitka spruce tree near
the Studio House to me.

The top had been cut off
of this tree.

I photographed it,

then Garda Kevin Kelleher, who was
also present, climbed the tree

and when he came down,
I photographed his hands."

A number of guards had witnessed the
scratches on Ian's hands and face,

but they never took photos.

Instead, they made sketches.

This is their official record
of the infamous scratches.

There was another visual reference
of Ian's hands

recorded at the Christmas swim.

That day, you remember,
Ian performed a poem,

and the woman holding the camcorder
made this statement.

"When he finished reciting his poem,

I stopped recording
and wished him a happy Christmas

and extended my right hand out
to shake hands with him.

He had his hands deep in his pockets

and he took out his right hand
and shook hands with me."

The police had to question this,

as Ian's right hand
is clearly not in his pocket,

and his left hand
is holding a camera.

"The back of his hand
was covered in visible scratches."

'Eoin O Balaigh!

Eoin O Balaigh!'
Here's his hands.

It's hard to say either way
if he had scratches,

but the guards also said
he had scratches up his arms.

If he had his coat on, overcoat on
like they say at Kealfadda Bridge,

then you have to believe he took it
off to kill her and put it back on.

But maybe Ian Bailey
was forensically aware

and maybe he took off the coat
before he dropped that block...

..for that purpose,
to prevent blood spatters.

Memory fades over time,

and I find it questionable
that this particular statement

was taken by the Gardai
ten years after the event.

Statement taken
on the 4th of May, 2006.

All the evidence about scratches,
and so on,

that was all very speculative.

Remember in a jury trial, especially
for murder, a judge is quite likely

to say "I'm not allowing this
evidence in, it's prejudicial."

You can only prosecute
if you believe

that there's evidence
to support the prosecution.

My second arrest,
which was a year after in January

on my birthday
when they pretended not to know

it was my fucking birthday.
When I said,

"You've got my fucking date of birth
there on the fucking forms.

"Oh, well, happy birthday."
Fuck off!

They weren't quite as hostile
as the first bunch of fuckers

who arrested me, but I wasn't
very pleased to see them.

Meanwhile in France,

Sophie's second husband, Daniel,
fought to keep the pressure up.

Even with the help of his friend,
French President Jacques Chirac,

he couldn't manage
to get Bailey charged with murder.

A year and a half
after Sophie's death,

Daniel married his fourth wife.

On the same weekend, Sophie's family
erected the cross in Toormore.

His new wife, Melita,
would have understood his pain.

She herself had been subject
to the trauma of a murder,

that of her mother which, like
Sophie's murder, remains unsolved.

Despite his criticism of the Guards,

Daniel travelled to Cork
in the year 2000 to meet with them.

Inspector Dwyer sent him off.

Thanks so much.

Now...

..a lady came by earlier on
and left me with this box.

I asked her for her name.

She said she'd come back
and pick it up.

She told me it was Pandora.
"Miss Pandora," she said,

and told me to be very careful
if I was to open it.

But she told me
whatever came out of this box,

at the bottom of the box there'd be
a tiny little bit of hope left,

and this is what I'm looking for.
Oh.

So, this is the eggs department.

Right.

Good morning, good people.

We haven't thought ahead, you see.

We've kept it in the here and now,
and it's healthier, really.

Ian writes and I paint.

So, that's what we've always done,
you know.

For the first few years,

we didn't see many people,

and, locally,
people were backing off us a lot.

It was like 50-50, actually,
we reckoned.

50 percent of people believed
that we had nothing to do with it,

and the other 50 thought we had.

So, it was very strange, you know?

-Ha ha ha!
-Listen, good luck.
Yeah, nice to see you.

Yeah, and if you want
advice on chickens,

come to us
because we are chicken people.

Nice to see you. All the best.

People come up
and they wish the best,

and it gives me a sort of...

You know, it bolsters me.

I'm very appreciative,
and I'm very touched by it often.

Such is the life.

I've been forced into becoming
a wheeler dealer,

a tangler and a wrangler.

Now, that's the sunset
over Dunmanus Bay.

In oil, hardwood frame.

We would negotiate.

I met him about 30 years ago nearly.

I've reared three great girls,
and they think I should've left Ian.

That's their honest opinion.

Why?

Because it taints me,
being connected to him.

You know?

I went to get paintings
into a new gallery in Clonakilty.

So, he was gonna take some
when I went in,

and I said I'd come back
with some in a week's time.

Ian took 'em in and he said,
"Don't want them." Just like that.

"Out! Don't want
anything to do with you."

So, that's the tainting I mean,
you know?

This...

We collected in one...folder...

all the hate mail Ian Bailey
got sent to his house.

"A New Home."

"Move. You'd be really happy there."

"To Ian Bailey, the woman basher,

and Jules, wrinkle-faced witch,
rot in hell."

Now it's Ian AND Jules.

"Wrinkled-face witch."
Like she's involved.

"Jules Thomas, Schull."

"Neighbourhood witch."

This is a letter from the police
about threatening phone calls.

"Hope to visit one of these nights."

Wow.

Wow.

Syringe in the post.

This just looks like...

Bul... Bullets, yeah.

He doesn't seem to believe

that anybody, actually,
is against him, you know?

It's kind of like
an emotional dyslexia,

that he can't read it,
or doesn't want to read it.

But it's complex.

"A thousand arrows they fired at him
and failed to kill the spirit.

"A thousand arrows they fired at him
and failed to kill the poet within."

And then I go into the spoken word
bit of the poem,

and bring the drum back in

"A thousand arrows they fired at me
and failed to kill the spirit.

"A thousand arrows they fired at me
and failed to kill the flame.

"A thousand arrows they fired at me
and failed to kill the poet within.

Sin sin."

Well, I came to Ireland
to move a cousin in and never left.

Schull was really sort of laid back.

It was really
just a very chill place to be.

Lots of nice traditional music
in the courtyard, nice people.

Do you know where you were when
you first heard of Sophie's murder?

Erm, I was sitting on a bus,

coming down from Ballinascarty,
on the National bus.

The news was on the radio,

and it came on about a woman's body

being found in a boreen
in West Cork.

I, actually, thought it was...

My fear was that it was Jules.

You thought it was Jules
-that was murdered?
-Yeah!

It was six months before the murder.

It was early in the morning,
and there was a knock on the door,

and it was Virginia,
Jules' daughter, with the doctor,

saying, could I take Jules
to the hospital?

And as I walked through the door,

erm...

I could hear these,
sort of, animal -

that's the only way you can
explain it - animal sounds.

One eye was completely turned in
and swollen.

Lumps of hair out of her head.

Gouges in her face.

People who were perhaps in doubt
began to change over

to thinking,
"Yes, he has beaten a woman.

Perhaps it went too far this time."

Jules, I'm afraid I'm gonna
have to ask you about the violence.

Well, the thing was,
it was drinking always.

He was fine when he wasn't drinking.

It brings out the worst in...people.

-Yeah.
-When they drink too much,
especially spirits.

Imagine how bad Ian would get
-on spirits, you know?
-Yeah.

No, I've blocked it out now.

I-I cured myself of thinking of it,
so I don't.

You know, it's only putting myself
through more agony. Why bother?

He hasn't been violent since,
even though he's drank quite a lot,

he's never touched me. I mean,
He was so remorseful afterwards.

So it's no bloody good.

You've just got to drink less
and have a bit more self control.

You know?
Hm.

There is a nice person in there.

We both drank too much.

Is he that kind
of impulsive character

who just, like, acts on a whim?

It's... It's thoughtless.

It's not even a whim, it's...

It's like an impulse just,
erm, like a child...

..getting a temper on, you know?

It's just like, pew!

I don't think it's preconceived,
-or anything.
-Yeah.

My behaviour was very,
very bad and...

and erm...

The photos of Jules,
they will be forever linked

to the forensics
of Sophie du Plantier,

and it's very difficult to get past.

I mean, it's to my total shame.

We did have erm...
I did hurt her.

And I think on
two or three occasions, we...

Alcohol was a major part of that.

And it's to my eternal shame, erm...

Yeah.

But I have, you know...

I have nothing
to do with this crime.

Do you mind me asking, Jules,
are you scared of Ian?

No, I'm not.

No, I'm not scared of him.

I'm pissed off with him quite a lot
of the time, but I'm not scared.

'Ian Bailey says
the newspaper coverage

following his first arrest
was the start of his demonisation.'

'His barrister,
Jim Duggan, said Mr Bailey

had been
subjected to trial by media.'

In 2003, in an effort
to clear his name,

Ian Bailey sued eight newspapers.

The newspapers' defence,
essentially,

was that they didn't say
he killed Sophie Toscan du Plantier,

but that the Gardai
had treated him as a suspect,

and that they were entitled
to report that.

Bailey was suing the newspaper

for preventing him being able to
earn a living, for ruining his life.

They would have to prove
that he was capable of murder.

The guards assisted,

and I know this for a fact,
they assisted

the newspapers,
and this was, as it were,

they got him to trial almost.

The judge in the libel trials
at many stages said,

"This is not a murder trial."

'Over 70 witnesses
had been subpoenaed.

Less than half took the stand.

The newspaper's defence team
produced evidence

of a man who, on several occasions,
admitted to killing Sophie.

The most compelling evidence,
I thought,

was Richie and Rosie Shelley.

They were out celebrating
New Year's Eve, 1998.

They met Jules Thomas
and Ian Bailey,

and they were invited
back to The Prairie.

Statement of Richie Shelley,
taken on the 2nd July, 1999.

"Ian came into the kitchen and was
crying and became very emotional.

I found it strange to see a man
of his size crying.

He cried, "I did it."

He said and repeated this statement
about four or five times.

Each time he said, "I did it."

I said to him, "You did what?"

But he did not answer me.

When I persisted with my question,
Ian said,

"I went too far. I went too far."

It was abundantly apparent that
they didn't have an axe to grind.

'A local teenager said
that, out of the blue, he told him,

"I went up there
with a rock one night
and bashed her f-ing brains in".

You could've called this section
"The People Versus Bailey."

He had confessed to 11 people.
Why should they make it up?

Each one of those admissions
was backed up

by very credible witnesses.

'Ian Bailey
also denies having met Sophie.

However, the French woman's
neighbour, Alfie Lyons,

told the court
he was 90 percent sure

that he introduced them.'

He was here, doing the gardening.

I had mentioned to him, I said,
"Sophie is down in the house now."

And then she came up
and I introduced her to Bailey.

I said, "This, is Ian Bailey.

And he's been doing some gardening
work for me. You know?

So he came over and shook hands
with her, and that was it.

Erm...

When it became important...

..after Sophie was murdered...

..when I was asked about it,

I was...

You know, I could...

I could remember it, and yet...

Memory is such an elusive thing
that you can't always be sure

what you're remembering
is what happened.

I could only say
that I remembered it.

I was 90 percent sure that
that was what happened.

The state objected to any
of the investigating Gardai

being called to give evidence,

but the newspapers then,
under disclosure,

they wanted to see
Ian Bailey's diaries,

which, of course, had been taken
by the Gardai and examined

as part of their
general investigation.

And what sort of stuff
was in the diaries?

Well, it's just everything I'd
written over the years. I mean...

A lot of it was, like, bad writing,
shit writing.

I was keeping all the stuff
I'd written and stuff
to do with my personal stuff,

and I was going to bundle it,

and put it in a book called "Lessons
Part I."

The counsel said to him -

this is how he opened his reference
to the diaries -

he said, "Would you describe
yourself, Mr Bailey as an animal?"

And Bailey says, "No, I would not
describe myself as an animal."

And he said, "I ask you again, would
you describe yourself as an animal?"

"No," he says, "I wouldn't describe
myself as an animal."

And he says, "Well, that's strange
because here I have a diary

in which you describe yourself
as an animal

for the assaults that you
perpetrated on your partner."

A pin would be heard drop
after that statement.

Ian Bailey's diaries
were forensically examined.

Writings about violence,
about alcohol, substance abuse,

about sexual preferences,
personal behaviour.

Enormous attention was focused

on Mr Bailey's history of violence
against his partner, Jules Thomas.

I would've used all my writings
and personal stuff,

and very, very private,
personal stuff,

where I'd actually gone in
and analysed

and realised
I was drinking too much.

Well, it was whiskey, basically.

I should never have really
drunk spirits.

'One of the more
interesting pieces of evidence

to emerge during this libel case

centred here on Kealfadda Bridge,
about a mile from Sophie's house.

A shopkeeper from Schull told the
court that she saw Ian Bailey here

at 3am on the night
of Sophie's murder.'

Statement of Marie Farrell.

"I now know this man
to be Ian Bailey from Schull."

Marie Farrell was described as
the star witness of the libel case.

Her evidence was absolutely central

because Ian Bailey always maintained

that he had never left his house
on December 22nd.

I mean, I was in court
and it was astonishing

to hear the evidence
that she had given.

So now you go
-in to the libel trial, yeah?
-Yeah.

Oh, I was panicking.

She maintains that she had been
harassed by Ian Bailey,

that she felt threatened by him.

'She told the court:'

They said that he was harassing me,
and he was calling into the shop,

and threatening me.
None of that ever happened.

Did he ever do that to you?

Never. Never.

So, he never threatened
-to slit your throat?
-Never did.

So...the thing they got from you
was a statement to say

that you saw him outside your shop
and at Kealfadda Bridge?

Yeah.

'.. to spend Christmas
alone in West Cork.'

The murder happened,
and the local guard

came to the shop with a video tape,

and he asked me to bring it home

and watch it, and see was that
the man that I had seen.

And I brought it to the Garda
Station in Schull the next day,

and I said that was not the man
that was outside the shop.

Wow.

And they said, "We know that your
man there on the tape,

that Ian Bailey,
he murdered that woman.

And if he's not stopped,
he's going to kill again.

And there is nobody can put him
out of his house that night.

But if you say that it was
definitely him you saw

and give us two lines
of a statement,

that'll be the end of it."

Wow.

And I remember being on the stand
and thinking,

"Will I just tell this judge
that this is all lies and go?"

And then I looked down
at the back of the court,

and there's a lot of the guards
that were involved in the case.

So... I said nothing.

It was a civil action. Almost by
default, it became a murder trial.

The libel trial
was like a murder trial.

The libel trial started a fire...

..and out of the ashes,

the faint glimmer of a murder trial
began to emerge in France.

♪Treaty

♪ I haven't said a word

♪ Since you've been gone

♪ That any liar couldn't say as well

♪ I just can't believe
the static coming on

♪ You were my ground

♪ My safe and sound...

'Today Judge Patrick
Moran ruled against Ian Bailey

on all three points. The newspapers
didn't brand him the murderer,

and Judge Moran had no hesitation

in describing Mr Bailey
as a violent man.'

♪ Crying out it's jubilee

♪ We sold ourselves for love

♪ But now we're free...

'And where there were conflicts
in key aspects of the evidence,

Judge Moran believed
the witnesses for the newspaper.'

♪ Only one of us was real

♪ And that was me...

I don't really understand
that lyric.

I haven't quite understood
that lyric.

♪ I heard the snake
was baffled by his sin

♪ He shed his scales
to find the snake within...

Ian lost his battle with the papers.

He achieved two technical victories.

Small comfort in that.

He came to clear his name, but left
with his reputation in tatters.

Mr Bailey, how do
you feel about your reputation now?

♪ And I do not care
who takes this bloody hill

♪ I'm angry
and I'm tired all the time

♪ And I wish there was a treaty

♪ I wish there was a treaty

♪ Between your love and mine ♪

For 25 years,

Sophie's family believe there is
a killer on the loose in Ireland.

Encouraged by the evidence
that emerged in the libel trial,

and the failure of the authorities
to charge Bailey,

they decided it was time to take
matters into their own hands.

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