Mr Ian Bailey told the court that Brigid McLaughlin, a journalist with the Sunday Independent, did not seem to be uncomfortable or afraid when she visited him in Schull.
He said the reporter came to Schull in June 1997 and spent about a week there. She contacted him and said she wanted to write a sympathetic piece. "I agreed I would give her an off-the-record statement. I believed her, naively."
She then moved into a B&B near his house, and asked him to drive her around, offering to pay for petrol. He drove her into Schull and back, but he said she did not give the impression she was unhappy or uncomfortable. Before she left they had a drink together, and she gave him her home phone number.
Mr Bailey was describing his relationship with various journalists in the days and weeks following his arrest and questioning in connection with the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier.
When he arrived at Bandon Garda station following his arrest on February 10th, a large group of journalists was gathered outside. His picture was taken, and appeared next day in the Sun newspaper. He was told by the gardaí that his partner did not want to see him, so when he was released around midnight he went to the house of a friend. When he eventually arrived home two days after his arrest, he found a large group of journalists gathered outside the house.
Two reporters, Senan Maloney of the Star and Paddy Clancy of the Sun, sent him a note seeking to speak to him, and signed "Cheers, mate." He decided to speak to Paddy Clancy and John Kerins of the Irish Mirror, and later to Senan Maloney. "I am a press man. I had worked for the Sun and the Star. They would have been members of the NUJ. I took solace from their note," he said.
However, when he spoke to Clancy and Kerins, they asked him if he had been violent towards his former wife. He was astonished by the line of inquiry, and when he saw the articles later, he "couldn't believe it."
Mr Duggan then turned to an article by Maeve Sheehan in the Sunday Times (not by Audrey Magee in the Times of London, as was wrongly attributed to her in evidence given on Monday). This was headed "Murder suspect has no alibi," and said he had "admitted he was alone for a crucial period during the night."
"I had a phone call from Maeve Sheehan. She was very persistent on the question of the alibi," said Mr Bailey. "I didn't have an alibi because I wasn't charged." Asked if he had admitted he had been alone for a crucial period, he said he was alone because he had got up to write during the night.