A retired superintendent has admitted that he told a number of people, including Ian Bailey, about the fact that there could be blood on the clothing of the person responsible for the death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
JP Twomey, who was the superintendent at Bandon Garda Station in 1996, said he told Mr Bailey and others about the possibility of a struggle at the gate and the fact that the assailant could have blood on their clothing because he was looking for assistance from the public on the matter.
He said he had spoken to Mr Bailey on three occasions after the death of Ms Toscan du Plantier - on Christmas Day and again on 28 and 29 December.
However, he denied revealing to Irish Examiner journalist Eddie Cassidy that Ms Toscan du Plantier was a French national the day her body was discovered.
He said: "I told him she was a non-national not a French national. I don't know how it got out. I didn't tell him. I'm very clear on that."
Retired detective garda Jim Fitzgerald has said Marie Farrell's account of their first meeting was not correct.
He said he went to meet with Ms Farrell after she had been identified as the woman who had called gardaí with information on three occasions and called herself Fiona.
He said he and his colleagues did not go to meet her on 28 January with any agenda.
He said they came there to confirm she was the caller known as Fiona and to find out what she knew.
He added she saw a man who she knew to be Mr Bailey at a bridge near the scene.
He said Ms Farrell did not make a statement because she said she would have personal difficulties if she had to go to court.
He said she later drove out to the bridge with one of his colleagues while he and another colleague followed.
He said she pulled up opposite a white reflector stick and pointed to the area where she claimed to have seen the man.
Mr Fitzgerald said claims by Ms Farrell that she had a child with her at the time were not true
He said he was later asked by the incident room to document meeting in Ms Farrell's house and that his understanding was that he was doing this because they were coming close to the arrest of a suspect, Mr Bailey, and that people needed to be briefed.
Mr Fitzgerald said he first saw Mr Bailey when he questioned his partner Jules Thomas on 10 February.
He said he recalled seeing Mr Bailey in the corridor briefly on that day and it was the first time he saw him.
He said he took a statement from Ms Thomas that day and then he and a colleague dropped her home.
He said he later dated and signed a statement from her but did not put it to her as she had been released from custody, but that he should have done this.
Mr Fitzgerald said he got a call on 13 February to say that Ms Farrell would be willing to meet the same gardaí she had met before and give a statement in Ballydehob Garda Station
On Valentine's Day 1997 he said he and his colleagues recorded a statement and read it back to Ms Farrell. He said she initialled a few mistakes before signing it
Ms Farrell said claims that the statement had been dictated for her were "completely incorrect".
Mr Fitzgerald said it was "completely untrue" that she had been given blank pages to sign where gardaí would later fill in evidence.
He said the first mention he had heard of this claim was in 2012 when Mr Bailey was being interviewed on a television programme.
Mr Fitzgerald said he was in touch with Ms Farrell on several occasions to try to determine the identity of the man who she claimed she was with on the night she saw a man on Cealfada Bridge on the night of 22/23 December 1997.
Mr Fitzgerald said from three pieces of information she had given him about the man over a couple of weeks he traced him as Jan Bartel from Longford.
When he approached Ms Farrell to confront her with this information she eventually admitted it in Washington and then later tried to facilitate a meeting between the two.
However, before one such meeting she claimed Mr Bartel had gotten cold feet.
He later managed to arrange a meeting with Mr Bartel through a detective garda based in Longford.
He said Mr Bartel had told him that he knew Ms Farrell well but had not seen her in years and that he was at a function with his wife on the night in question.
Mr Fitzgerald said after a number of further meetings with Ms Farrell she admitted the man with her was not Mr Bartel, but that she could not reveal who it was because of personal problems.
