Life with Ian Bailey ‘not a bed of roses’, partner agrees

Life with journalist Ian Bailey has not been a bed of roses, his partner Jules Thomas has agreed at the High Court.

Ms Thomas told the jury of being assaulted by Mr Bailey a first time in 1993, a second occasion in 1996 and a third time in 2001. There had been absolutely no violent incidents since, she said.

The violence is “still a bad memory” and she did consider it “unforgiveable”, “but I do believe there is good in everyone”.

The first assault happened in 1993 when Mr Bailey pushed her “quite hard” against the wall when she went to join him in a bed in a friend’s house in Cork, she said. It was “very painful”, she said. Her friend had asked him to leave the house and she was checked out in hospital but there were no broken bones.

There was a lot of whiskey involved and she did not think he knew what he was doing but there was “no excuse for violence”, she said. She was “pretty disgusted” with his “appalling” behaviour and he had “enormous remorse” afterwards.

She said she did not speak to him for some weeks afterwards but they eventually made up. He said it would not happen again, she said.

The second assault happened three years later and was “also drink fuelled”, she said. It occurred when they were driving home from a bar in Schull and he was swerving across the road and she got angry with him and was asking him to stop. They “grabbed” at each other and it was “very bad”, she said.

She suffered an injury to her face and hair loss and one of her daughter was distraught when she saw her back at home, Ms Thomas said.  She was taken to hospital by her daughter’s friend.

Asked by her counsel Jim Duggan BL how she felt after the second assult, she said it was “hard to put into words, it was awful”.

The third incident happened in 2001 when Mr Bailey was on crutches with an Achilles tendon injury. She said he was on strong painkillers and maybe had also consumed some wine and was sleeping on a couch. When she asked him to move, he was "outraged" at being disturbed and swing his leg over and she was hit with a crutch. She did not know if it as intentional, she said. There was no excuse for his behaviour, she added.

A friend had phoned the gardaí about the incident although she herself had not asked her friend to contact the gardaí, she said. Mr Bailey later received a three month suspended sentence for that assault.

She suffered bruising as a result of that incident, she added. After that assault, there was a discussion with him in front of the gardaí and he agreed to go to England for a while.

Earlier, when Mr Duggan put to her that life with Mr Bailey “has not been a bed of roses”, Ms Thomas agreed.

Ms Thomas is giving evidence in the continuing action by Mr Bailey against the Garda Commissioner and State. They deny his claims,  including of wrongful arrest and conspiracy arising from the conduct of the Garda investigation into the murder of French film-maker Sophie Toscan du Plantier. Her body was found on December 23rd 1996 near her holiday home at Toormore, Schull.

The action continues before Mr Justice John Hedigan and a jury.