An ex-British soldier has given evidence that gardai beat him up and threatened his life in the back of a car over fears he had tape recordings that would reveal they were corrupt.

Martin Graham told the High Court that the attack happened after he'd been given cannabis, cash and a promise of a large reward if he could get a statement implicating Ian Bailey in the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder.

Martin Graham's evidence is that Detectives Jim Fitzgerald and Liam Leahy gave him cannabis and about £500 to get close to Ian Bailey and try secure a confession about the Sophie Toascan du Plantier killing.

But the 53 year old said alarm bells rang and he decided to come clean and tell Ian Bailey he was being stitched up.

The ex-soldier said around early June he met with detectives Leahy and Fitzgerald who arrived with two other policemen who bundled him in the back of a car, drove him round the countryside and repeatedly asked him 'where are the tapes?' which related to a failed tape a newspaper reporter had tried to make.

Fighting back tears the ex-British soldier said he thought he was going to be murdered because he'd caught the police being corrupt and they could lose their livelihoods, their pensions and their reputations.

He said gardai also threatened the provos would take his life – he said after the incident he hid for 2 weeks and then managed to leave the country.