Joe O'Reilly told gardaí that he had an affair but that it was over by the time his wife Rachel was found murdered at the family home in north Dublin, a jury heard yesterday.
Det Sgt Patrick Marry said Mr O'Reilly was questioned on the day of the murder and he admitted that he did have an affair with a woman named Nikki Pelley, but it was over. He also said that he had spoken on the phone to Ms Pelley at mid-day that day.
Det Sgt Marry said he and two other gardaí went to Mr O'Reilly's mother Anne's house at Riverdale Crescent, Dunleer, Co Louth, at 7pm on the day Rachel's body was found.
She answered the door and she called Joe, who came down from upstairs.
The detective sergeant said he made notes of his conversation with Mr O'Reilly.
Mr O'Reilly told him Rachel would have left their two sons, Luke and Adam, to school at 9.15am - Luke to Hedgestown National School and Adam to a creche. He said he had got up at 5.20am.
He had been sleeping in a separate room from Rachel because he was getting up early and didn't want to disturb her.
He met Derek Quearney at 6.20am at the Jackie Skelly gym at Citywest and they sat in Mr Quearney's car and talked about work before going in. They had a sauna and shower and then both left in separate cars to go to Viacom where they worked.
Mr O'Reilly said he stopped at a Tesco filling station in Finglas to get petrol and he arrived at Viacom at 7.45am. He was going to do a bus inspection at Phibsboro with Mr Quearney and he left at 8.15 and arrived there at 9am.
He couldn't find Damien Tully, who also worked for Viacom, at Phibsboro but found his van. Det Sgt Marry said that he asked Mr O'Reilly if Mr Quearney was a good friend and he said that he was just a work colleague. He said he left the Phibsboro depot at 11.30am and went back to Viacom, arriving there at midday.
He said at 1.15pm he got a phone call from the school to tell him that his son had not been collected. He said he rang Jacqui Connor, a friend of Rachel, and then rang her brother, Tony, and her mother, Rose Callaly.
"He said he was concerned and he rang to make sure that Rachel was all right." He then went home and when he arrived at the house, Sarah Harmon, a neighbour and Ms Callaly were there. Joe said he tried cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Rachel and moved a box in the house.
"I asked him could he think of anyone who could do such a thing. He said that it was only recently that Rachel had been in contact with her natural mother and things had not been too hot."
He also named a man from Ballymun whom he had sacked recently and said he could have done it. He added that Rachel did not have any enemies.
Det Sgt Marry said he asked Mr O'Reilly if he or Rachel were having affairs and Joe said "there was nothing like that going on". He said that Rachel was involved in a campaign against a phone mast at Murphy's Quarry and had spoken about this on NewsTalk radio.
He also said they had been having "an issue" with their neighbours about a 12-metre stretch of land at the rear of their house. During this conversation, a girl came into the room "in a frantic state". She was Mr O'Reilly's younger sister Anne and she was very upset.
"I asked him was he having marital difficulties and was there violence and he said there was no violence." He also said that Rachel had been reported anonymously to the social services for being rough with the children but this had been sorted out.
He said that Rachel used to mock him about a hairdresser friend of hers from Co Tipperary.
"There was a short pause in the conversation and Mr O'Reilly said he did have an affair with a girl Nikki Pelley, from Rathfarnham, who worked in Dundrum. He said the affair was over and he didn't want his family to know. He said at 12 o'clock that day he had rung her from his office."
Det Sgt Marry said he asked Mr O'Reilly for his shoes to eliminate him from people who had been walking at the scene and Mr O'Reilly gave gardaí a pair of shoes. He said he arrested Mr O'Reilly at 10.20am on November 17th, 2004, for the murder of his wife and he was brought to Drogheda Garda station.
He said that on October 20th, 2006, he arrested Mr O'Reilly at his mother's house at Dunleer for the purpose of charging him with the murder of his wife and he was brought to Balbriggan Garda station, where he was charged.
Cross examined by defence counsel Patrick Gageby SC, Det Sgt Marry said that he had not written down in his notes the words "things were not too hot" between Rachel and her natural mother or that the man from Ballymun he had sacked could have been a suspect for the murder but Mr O'Reilly had said these things.
The officer also denied that he had given daily briefings to the press and denied knowing Mick McCaffrey from the Evening Herald.
He said that after he arrested Mr O'Reilly they were leaving the house and two photographers came racing down the road.
"It's a very embarrassing situation. It's very inappropriate that the press were there."