Joe O'Reilly told gardaí he had his phone with him all day on the day of his wife's murder, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Det Sgt Sean Grennan told prosecuting counsel Denis Vaughan Buckley SC that after Mr O'Reilly was arrested on November 17th, 2004, he interviewed him on a number of occasions in Drogheda Garda station.
During the first interview, which started at 11.40am, Mr O'Reilly was asked about his mobile phone.
When asked: "You had it with you all day?" he said: "Yes, I think so."
Det Sgt Grennan then asked him whether he had the mobile with him when he answered it. He replied: "Yes."
Asked: "You're not denying killing Rachel." He replied: "I deny killing Rachel."
Mr O'Reilly also signed a witness statement he gave gardaí over a month earlier on October 6th.
At 8.15pm, Rose Callaly, Rachel O'Reilly's mother, called to the station, and Det Sgt Grennan supervised a meeting between them.
After Mrs Callaly left, they interviewed him again.
Asked: "Had you ever a steel bar in the house?"
Mr O'Reilly replied: "No, I don't think so."
When asked whether he was sure about this, he answered: "No, I'm not sure."
Det Sgt Grennan then gave evidence of interviews after Mr O'Reilly was arrested for the second time on March 14th, 2006.
The garda told him about an e-mail found on Nikki Pelley's phone, the woman with whom he was having an affair.
The message said: "All the boys down on the beach. Only thing missing is you. (xxx)."
Asked whether he remembered sending it, he said: "No."
In a later interview, Mr O'Reilly was shown a number of items, including a brown leather satchel, camera bag and jewellery box.
Mr O'Reilly told gardaí he did not recognise the bag, but that it could have belonged to his wife.
Asked whether he might have handled it, he said: "I don't recognise the bag. If it is Rachel's bag, I could have handled it. Rachel has lots of bags."
In relation to the camera bag and camcorder, he said they "certainly had one like it".
Mr O'Reilly said he did not recognise the jewellery box, but thought the jewellery contained in it belonged to his wife.
He was "nearly sure" the engagement ring was hers.
Det Garda Lorraine Travers gave evidence of taking hair and blood samples from the accused when he was arrested on November 17th, 2004.
During the course of an interview she conducted, Mr O'Reilly told them he would have washed the clothes and towels in his sports bag on October 4th or 5th. He said he would have done this because they "would have been damp and dirty."
Asked why he would have travelled alone to the bus depot, he said: "Derek was hanging back" to do something with other workers.
Asked: "Why did you not wait for him?" he said he wanted to "go ahead and get a head start".
Mr O'Reilly was then asked whether he had "any regrets", and he replied: "For what?"
When the garda said: "For the murder of your wife", he answered: "I have regrets my wife was murdered."
Det Garda Malachy Dunne told Mr Buckley when he interviewed Mr O'Reilly on March 14th, 2005, he said to him: "At no stage have you said you did not kill Rachel. Can you look me in the eyes and say that?" He said Mr O'Reilly then looked him in the eyes, and said: "I did not kill Rachel."
Later in the afternoon the court also heard about another e-mail from Mr O'Reilly to his friend Ciaran Gallagher.
Det Garda Gerard Keane said he found this e-mail along with other e-mails on Mr O'Reilly's laptop computer. It was sent at 10.16am on the day of the murder, and referred to the two men meeting for lunch.
Mr O'Reilly told Mr Gallagher: "I will be out and about most of this morning in poor phone coverage, so unless I hear from you otherwise, I take it you're still on for lunch at the usual place. Later, Joe."
Also yesterday, radio engineer Enda Furlong, who works for 02, said he prepared a presentation showing the mobile phone transmitters used on the morning of October 4th. He then traced in chronological order the mobile phone transmitters which picked up mobile phone traffic on Mr O'Reilly's phone.