A journalist who wrote about the murder of Frenchwoman Sophie Toscan du Plantier in west Cork in December 1996 but later became a suspect is suing five newspapers for defamation.
Mr Ian Bailey, of the Prairie, Schull, Co Cork, yesterday brought a motion in Cork Circuit Court in default of defence against the Irish Mirror, the Star, the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Independent and the London-based Independent on Sunday.
Mr Bailey alleged in pleadings of the case presented on his behalf that the articles brought him into public odium and contempt and he suffered loss and damages.
Defence barrister David Holland BL said the newspapers had not entered a defence. He said he was seeking more specific information to confirm that the pleadings contained all the alleged defamatory material.
Mr Holland read some of the allegations of defamation outlined in the pleadings of the case against the Independent on Sunday and an article by journalist Ms Brighid McLaughlin published on April 26th, 1998.
Mr Holland quoted passages from the article, including one in which Ms McLaughlin wrote: "I have spent four of the strangest days of my life with Bailey and I still have nightmares about them."
The pleadings also cited a quote from an unnamed local businessman who said: "We simply can't abide him. After the murder, it seems he was the only person who seemed to be enjoying it - he was on a high with excitement."
The court was told the article had led others to believe Mr Bailey was a man to be feared, that Ms McLaughlin "feared for her own life, that he was a devil".
The pleadings also said the article implied that Mr Bailey had "admitted burning clothes on the morning after the murder, the suggestion being that he was suppressing evidence of being implicated in the murder".
Judge Patrick Moran struck out the motion in default of defence, allowed the newspapers six weeks to file a defence and granted costs on the motion to Mr Bailey.