A garda told Ian Bailey that if they did not pin him for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, he would be found dead in a ditch, a High Court jury has heard.
The former journalist with an address in Schull, Co Cork has been giving evidence in his action for damages against the state and garda authorities.
He claims gardai conspired to concoct evidence against him and that he was wrongfully arrested on suspicion of killing the French film producer in December 1996.
The state parties deny all the allegations.
Death threat claim
The jury has heard Mr Bailey (57) was arrested in February 1997 and again in January 1998.
He claims the first time he was brought to Bandon garda station, the driver of the police van, Garda Liam Hogan told him, ''Even if we don't pin this on you, you are finished in Ireland. You'll be found in a ditch with a bullet in the back of the head.''
Mr Bailey told the jury he interpreted this as a death threat.
He claims prior to his arrest Garda Superintendent Dermot Dwyer told him he was going to place him on Kealfadda Bridge, which was close to the murder scene, early on the morning of the killing.
Intimidation claims
The jury has heard he was also accused of trying to intimidate a potential witness Marie Farrell, who allegedly approached him in 1997 over concerns that an innocent man was being framed.
He denies ever making a cutthroat gesture at the shopkeeper who is due to give evidence in the coming weeks.
Shock in Schull
On the stand, Mr Bailey gave evidence that the shockwave caused by Ms du Plantier's murder was like a 'mini-nuclear device' going in West Cork.
Her beaten body was discovered outside her holiday home in Schull on Monday December 23rd 1996.
The court heard the then journalist became aware a woman's body had been found when a correspondent from the Irish Examiner contacted him at lunchtime for information.
He said he attended the scene twice and filed copy for The Star and the Irish Independent.
Describing his movements, he said he had spent Sunday December 22nd cutting down a Christmas tree and killing some turkeys - which had left him with marks on his arm and head.
Mr Bailey says he initially cooperated with the garda investigation by supplying hair samples and fingerprints because he had nothing to hide.
However in the days that followed, he claims rumours and lies were started up that he was responsible for the murder.
He described 1997 as a 'very strange year'. ''We had rubbish dumped at our gate; paint on our walls; a dead rat in the mailbox,'' he said.
He was rearrested on his birthday, January 27th 1998, but was again released without charge.
In 2007 he was informed that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) did not intend to prosecute him. ''I never stopped fighting or hoping to one day bring out the truth,'' he said.
