A retired garda has told the High Court he regarded Ian Bailey as a suspect for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier four days after the killing.
Kevin Kelleher was giving evidence in Mr Bailey's action for wrongful arrest.
The 57-year-old from the Prairie, Schull in west Cork, is suing the Garda Commissioner, the Minister for Justice and the Attorney General for damages.
Ms Toscan du Plantier was found dead near her holiday home in west Cork in 1996.
Mr Kelleher said he noticed scratches on Mr Bailey's hands in the days after the murder.
He denied that his description of those scratches while in the witness box yesterday was designed to convey a particular message.
Counsel for Mr Bailey Tom Creed said he had described the scratches as looking like they had been scraped with four fingers.
Mr Kelleher denied that this was trying to send out a message as to how the scratches got there.
He said that was not what he intended to do. He disagreed with counsel that a sketch he had drawn of the scratches at the time bore no resemblance to his description in court.
He also denied giving a video to witness Marie Farrell and asking her to look at it to see if she recognised anyone on it. "That is a lie," he said.
Mr Kelleher said that he had brought Ms Farrell to his home on the pretence of wanting her to watch a video to see if she recognised anyone.
However he said the real reason for the invitation was to find out if she was behind an anonymous phone call about a sighting of a potential suspect on the night of the murder.
He denied that he had left the information about the video out of his statement as it would have revealed a grossly improper practice.
Mr Kelleher said he did have a video at the house that day of the Christmas Day swim in Schull but it did not feature Ian Bailey prominently as claimed by Ms Farrell.
Counsel for Mr Bailey Tom Creed said showing a video of a potential suspect to a witness who later names that suspect was a grossly improper practice.
Mr Kelleher denied this had happened.
Mr Creed asked if it was mere coincidence then that the video he had that day was of the Christmas Day swim in Schull which Ian Bailey had attended.
Mr Creed said he would have to suggest that Marie Farrell was in utter trepidation and did not want to be found out and that is why gardaí got her to say the man she had seen was Ian Bailey.
Mr Kelleher said he totally rejected that.
He agreed Marie Farrell was told the information she gave would be treated in confidence but he did not agree this meant he wouldn’t tell anyone.
When pressed a number of times to explain what "in confidence" meant, Mr Kelleher repeatedly said: "it means in confidence".
He then agreed with Mr Creed that the information was never going to be treated in confidence but he would not agree he had lied to Ms Farrell about this.
