The murder of French woman Sophie Toscan du Plantier in West Cork in 1996 has captured the public imagination for the past two decades, and there is renewed interest in the story as a result of the true crime podcast 'West Cork'.

Ian Bailey, who at the time was a freelance reporter for the Cork Examiner, subsequently became the prime suspect for the murder. He was arrested twice but released without charge on both occasions, and he sued several newspapers for wrongly linking him to the murder.

Bailey was interviewed a number of times for the 'West Cork' podcast, and he spoke to Matt on The Last Word about the impact the case has had on his life.

"The first ten years were particularly awful, and the subsequent twelve years haven't been as bad."

He has since gone on to earn a Master's degree in law and says, "Applying my mind to the study of law allowed me to close out a lot of the external things that were going on."

When he was approached by the creators of the podcast, Sam Bungey and Jennifer Forde, he "didn't know what a podcast was." They sent him a copy of Serial to give him an idea of what they had in mind, and he agreed to get involved.

"I met them, listened to them and felt I trusted them. They interviewed me at various stages about what was happening in my life."

Bailey has always maintained his innocence. "I had nothing to do with the murder, and since the implication was made that somehow I did, my life has gone in a very peculiar direction."

He says that when he was arrested, "the tone in the car was immediately aggressive" and that he even received a death threat.

"I knew right from the beginning that there was no arguing with these people. They were just convinced that I was the murderer and they were going to somehow try to put me in the frame."

He still lives in West Cork, where he says he doesn't get any negativity from people. He decided to stay because he knew that moving on "wouldn't ever get it out of my life."

There is now a French investigation of the case, and it's expected that a trial will be conducted in his absence.

"I've already been effectively convicted in advance, and I also know from my studies of law that the French system of law is basically that if you're accused of something, you're guilty, and unless you can prove that you've got nothing to do with anything, you'll be convicted."

"All the time my life is hanging in the balance. It's very difficult to make any long-term plans. On one level my life is lovely, but on another level I'm always tortured by this false allegation."

He doesn't think the 'West Cork' podcast got any closer to finding out what happened, but he says that wasn't its aim: "What it does do is put together a lot of the pieces of it, and it's a good introduction to the narrative."

He says he has always felt sympathy for Sophie Toscan du Plantier's family.

"I've got absolute sympathy for the family and I can only imagine what their suffering is like, but I've got nothing to do with it."

To catch the full chat press the play button on the image on the top of the screen