A freelance press photographer who took pictures of Martin Graham with cannabis after meeting gardaí has told the High Court he did not discuss the former British soldier's claims beforehand with Ian Bailey.
Billy MacGill also denied he was "part of the apparatus" to prove Mr Graham's claims that he was given drugs by gardaí to get close to Ian Bailey.
Mr MacGill was being cross examined in Mr Bailey's civil action against the Garda Commissioner and State over the investigation into the murder of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier in December 1996.
The claims are denied.
Mr MacGill said he was hired by the Sunday World to go to Skibbereen in May 1997 to meet Mr Graham who had looked for £1,000 and an airline ticket "out of here" for the story.
He was asked today about a 2012 article in the Sunday Times in which he spoke about the photographs he took of Mr Graham.
The court heard the article said Mr MacGill kept quiet about it for over a decade but decided to reveal what he knew out of public interest.
Mr MacGill said this afternoon that he felt it was a matter of public record.
He said he did not talk to Mr Bailey's solicitor Frank Buttimer about it when he passed him on the street a few days after the Sunday Times article.
He said: "I was not offering myself to any side.....I did not work for one side or another like you are suggesting".
Earlier counsel for the State Luán Ó Braonáin asked Mr MacGill if he had spoken to Mr Bailey about Mr Graham's claims before they arranged to take the photographs.
Mr MacGill rejected a suggestion that he was "part of the apparatus" to prove the claims made by Mr Graham, saying he only heard about the claims the day before he went to Skibbereen.
Mr Ó Braonáin said the drugs claims rely on the credibility of Mr Graham because Mr MacGill does not know what happened on that car journey.
He said Mr Graham could have asked to stop at a pub to use the toilet to which Mr MacGill replied "only Martin Graham and the people on that journey know what happened".
After he had finished giving evidence the jury foreman observed it was day 34 and week nine of the case and said the jury would like an estimate of duration.
Mr Justice John Hedigan has asked the lawyers to give an update of progress tomorrow.
