Ian Bailey has claimed the three children of his ex-partner Jules Thomas were "jealous" of his relationship - and he says he feels "eternal shame" for violently abusing the Cork-based artist.
Mr Bailey has launched his new long-awaited podcast, Ian Bailey: In His Own Words.
The Englishman details his life before and after he became the chief suspect in the murder of the French filmmaker Sophie Toscan Du Plantier, who was found bludgeoned to death from a rock just 100 yards from the front door of her west Cork holiday home in Schull just before Christmas in 1996.
READ MORE - House next to where Sophie Toscan Du Plantier was murdered for sale for second time in two years
Mr Bailey was never charged for her death and has always denied any involvement in her killing.
In the first episode of his new autobiographical podcast, Mr Bailey opened up about his relationship with his now ex-partner, Jules, which ended in April of 2021. It was previously revealed that in 1993, Jules was the victim of an assault by Mr Bailey after an "alcohol-fuelled" attack, which left her with "very painful" injuries, the High Court was told at the time.
Jules told the High Court in 2014 of a second "alcohol-fuelled" assault carried out by Mr Bailey against her in May of 1996 which was described as "very bad", confirming that she experienced hair loss and facial injuries during the assault. She added that a third assault also occurred in 2001.
Opening up about the domestic violence in their relationship, he said: "To my eternal shame, there were two or three occasions in those years when I can only describe as domestic violence occurred between myself and Jules.
"Both of us had taken drink. I wasn’t good. I am still ashamed of my behaviour. She forgave me."
The pair initially met when he went to work for a fish factory in West Cork.
"While working there, I met a Welsh lady, an artist named Jules. Jules would subsequently play a major part in my life," he says on his new podcast.
"After our first fishing encounter, I met Jules socially and we immediately got on. She had three daughters and was a single mother having parted from her two partners, who were the fathers of the girls.
"It is fair to say that we both found each other interesting and attractive.
"Fish season came to an end in March 1992, and I was home hunting. I mentioned my situation to Jules, and she said she might have an answer. Her mother had a house close by to hers which she used as a painting situation. She couldn’t let it.
"It was warm, dry and I was welcome to it. Initially I paid rent by doing jobs, tasks, gardening, and driving the girls to school."
Mr Bailey also claims on the podcast that Jules' children were "jealous" of the attention their mother would give him.
He said: "So, Jules had three daughters. The eldest was I think about 18 at the time, Saffy (Saffron), she had a 14-year-old called Virginia, and a young one called Fenella and I think that they were a little bit jealous of the attention that I received from their mother.
"Anyway, we subsequently became entangled. For a long time, Jules’ womanly needs had not been met and it was remedied when we started to become closer friends.
"We went to a lot of music, we went to parties, we went to sessions in Ballydehob and in 1992 we went over to Cape Clear for our first international storytelling festival, which continues to this very day.
"We were only intending to spend Friday night there… but as it happened, we didn’t get back until Monday morning. I don’t think both of us had ever laughed so much. It was a real hoot."
He said he continued doing work on Jules’ garden around her cottage, while also helping her install large scale artwork.
Speaking to us, Mr Bailey said listeners will hear him open up about his relationship with Jules throughout the podcast and the effects the Toscan Du Plantier allegations had on their relationship.
"People are going to have to wait and listen," he said.
"I touch on where we met in episode one and how we came together but people are going to have to wait. I’ve set the scene, in episode two I will tell more of the story. In episode three I will tell coming up to the present."
Mr Bailey says he is going to release an episode every month on Spotify.
Speaking about his new podcast, he said he hopes people will understand the "real him".
He said: "I’ve written three episodes. I try to address as much as I can in the fewest possible words. It was a real struggle to write it and it was also quite taxing to record it but at least it is underway as a project.
"I’m hoping they get the real me. The real me has never really been shown. I’m hoping they’ll get the real inside track on who I am and what makes me tick."
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