Bailey was left heartbroken in his final days

TORMENTED Ian Bailey had fallen in love in recent months and went to his death a heartbroken man.

He had secretly become very close to a local woman in west Cork – but she stood him up on what was to be their first public date on New Year’s Eve.

The woman who had known the eccentric 66-year-old Englishman for years regularly visited him at his Bantry home and especially since he suffered a series of heart attacks last autumn.

But she was too embarrassed to be seen with him in public because of his past history and that he was still a suspect in the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder.

They were due to go to a Phil Coulter concert in the area on the last day of the year and he had spent

€40 on the ticket.

However, the mystery woman rang

Bailey to tell him she could not go as she did not want anybody to see them out together. He got really annoyed and rang a friend in anger complaining the whole Sophie saga had absolutely destroyed his life and that he would never be able to move on.

He fumed: “I can’t even have a relationship with someone I really like and love because they are too afraid and embarrassed of being seen with me in public and the reaction it will spark locally.”

The friend he called said the harsh reality of the grim situation he was in was starting to hit home.

Only last week Bailey said: “I feel trapped because gardai are looking at nobody else but me and the real killer is getting away with it.”

The former journalist also did a series of interviews with the award- winning director Jim Sheridan and his documentary team, which will be shown later.

In one interview, Bailey said: “If I die my conscience is clear.

“I did not kill Sophie du Plantier.”