Marie Farrell has been cross examined about giving different accounts of the morning in 1996 when Sophie Toscan du Plantier was found murdered in West Cork.

Marie Farrell says she saw a stranger wearing a beret and a long black coat with silver buttons in Schull two days before Sophie Toscan du Plantier was murdered.

She says this man - and not Ian Bailey – is who she saw staggering down the road at Kealfadda bridge at 3am on December 23rd 1996 the morning the French film producer was killed.

She is being cross examined about how her accounts of that night have varied even as recently as 2 years ago.

It has also been put to her that here in court was the only time in 18 years that she'd said the man with the beret had silver buttons on his coat.

She says that is how she remembers it. The shopkeeper is giving evidence in Ian Bailey's action against the State for alleged wrongful arrest.

Earlier today the shopkeeper in Schull claimed her teenage children were 'punished' by gardai after she admitted making false statements placing Ian Bailey near the scene of the killing.

The High Court has heard the shopkeeper from Schull, Co Cork apologised to the journalist nine years ago for the claims she had made about him during the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder investigation.

An emotional Ms Farrell has been telling the jury about her life, after she admitted making false garda statements placing Mr Bailey near the scene of the French film producer's murder.

She also claims she was coached by a detective to lie and say the journalist had intimidated her.

She said her family had no choice but to sell up their new home in Schull in June 2006, after her son (13) told her he had considered jumping off the rocks into the sea.

She gave evidence that gardaí began to bully her children because she was no longer willing to toe the garda line.

Lawyers for the state are now cross examining her as part of Mr Bailey's action for wrongful arrest over the 1996 killing of Ms du Plantier.