A diplomat turned investigative journalist from Liverpool ‘befriended’ a man questioned over one of Europe’s most notorious unsolved murders.
Nick Foster shared dinners and wine with Ian Bailey, twice arrested in connection with the death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
Bailey has always denied involvement in the brutal 1996 killing of the French TV director in a remote corner of Ireland.
READ MORE: Boyfriend of mum shot dead on her sofa 'lives with guilt every day'
He has been convicted of her murder - in his absence - in France.
But he has never been charged in Ireland, where the courts have refused to grant his extradition.
Mrs Toscan du Plantier was found dead near her rural west Cork holiday home just days before Christmas.
With no-one having been brought to justice, the case is now the subject of Sky and Netflix productions as the 25th anniversary approaches.
It is also the focus of a book by former Bluecoat pupil Nick, who has spent six years probing the case in Ireland and France.
As part of that work he got to know Bailey following a 2014 court appearance over a civil claim he was making against the Irish state.
Nick said: "I took my seat on the press bench as Ian Bailey took the stand. If I was hooked before I was double hooked then. It was immediately a tremendously interesting civil case.
"I kind of felt then that he had been stitched up because that was his narrative. He was an easy target for them - eccentric with a history of violence against his partner.”
After the court case, Nick approached Bailey.
The 55-year-old, who grew up in Mossley Hill, said: "I introduced myself to Bailey just outside the court. I invited him for a drink and he suggested dinner and we got to know each other. He invited me back to his home in west Cork, out in the countryside outside Schull. I thought 'that's tremendous, that's a way into the story'."
Nick visited him in September 2015, recalling: "I arrived at his place in the countryside. He was really welcoming. I came into his kitchen through the back. He is a fantastic cook and there were things cooking already."
Warmly received by Bailey, Nick went on to meet with him several times as he dug into the case.
Initially, he said: "I wanted to find him innocent. I wanted to discover something to solve the mystery."
But over the following years, as Nick continued to speak to Bailey and probe deeper and deeper, he increasingly began to question Bailey’s version of events.
At the same time he gained extraordinary access to French and Irish police and court files, taking him through the twists and turns of the investigation.
In his book, Murder at Roaringwater, Nick goes into detail about the conversations and discoveries that have allowed him to reach his own conclusions about who may be responsible.
He said: “It was – and still is – a very European, and a very contemporary, murder story. But what I couldn’t have imagined was the roller-coaster ride of false leads and improbable clues that ultimately led me to my own conclusion about the circumstances of the crime and kept me guessing until close to the end of my investigation.”
Bailey has regularly spoken about the case, leading some to claim he enjoys the limelight it brings.
After the time he spent with him, Nick said: "I have absolutely no sympathy for Bailey. He says he has been tortured - he hasn't been tortured, he's enjoyed this. He hasn't suffered, I don't believe that at all.
"My sympathy is for Sophie's poor family, I don't have any sympathy whatsoever for Bailey."
Murder at Roaringwater is available here.
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
