'CONFESS TO SOPHIE MURDER OR YOU WILL BE SHOT'

Bailey tells of garda 'threat' unless he admitted his guilt

- JOHN KIERANS

IAN Bailey claims Gardai told him paramilitaries would kill him if he did not admit murdering French filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier. 

He made the allegation in the second episode of his new podcast Paradise Found, Paradise Lost.

The 64-year-old said he was given the warning by a senior officer who he named when he was first arrested over the shocking Christmas 1996 killing.

He alleges he received a call from a senior garda, who he claimed “came out to my house”.

Bailey recalled: “His last words were he was going to place me close to the murder scene.

“It was chilling and would foretell what was going to happen to me. On New Year’s Eve a detective took hair and fingerprint samples from Jules and I.

“The false story I was spotted washing wellies near the murder scene had spread among the population.

“I was handcuffed and forced into the back of the patrol car. Little did I know that I was at the beginning of what was to become a 26-year nightmare. I remember Jules shouting at them you are making a big mistake.