A nurse found strangled to death in her bath was in a relationship with a man 25 years younger than her, the High Court has heard.

Pauline Haveron (53) began seeing her son's friend Andrew Jones after he briefly went out with her daughter, a judge was told.

Lawyers for her ex-husband, Joseph Haveron (55), who is charged with her murder, claimed they had an “open relationship” which coincided with the deterioration of their marriage.

Philip Magee SC said: “Andrew Jones would come into the home. He (Haveron) would see them holding hands and kissing in various places.

“It was obviously very hurtful and difficult for him.”

Haveron, a former RUC officer of Farm Lodge Grove, Greenisland, denies killing the mother-of-four, whose body was found at her home in Huntingdale, Ballyclare, Co Antrim on April 18.

The court heard she had been put in a bath of water — apparently to make it look as if she drowned.

Haveron was granted bail but ordered to have no contact with Mr Jones. This followed comments the accused allegedly made to a friend in a conversation about his ex-wife seeing a younger man.

It was claimed the accused said: “To tell you the truth, I could kill the pair of them.”

Prosecutors disclosed that on the morning the murder was discovered Haveron allegedly told a church pastor that he had “done things I can't be forgiven for”.

Crown counsel Fiona O'Kane told the court: “All of the witnesses who have been spoken to in relation to the applicant's demeanour in the church service on the day the body was found described him as being unusually quite troubled and distressed.”

Haveron was said to have taken an overdose after learning of his ex-wife's murder and then stated: “Shoot me and get it over with.”

He was arrested and questioned for four days before being released at first without charge.

Following his second detention it was alleged he told police: “I should have just driven off a cliff.”

CCTV footage has been obtained of a car said to resemble Haveron's travelling to and from the Doagh area on the morning of the killing, the court heard.

Mr Magee told the court how Mr Jones had been described as a friend of the victim.

Detailing their relationship, the barrister said Mr Jones was a friend of one of Mrs Haveron's sons who then went out with her daughter for about a week.

“Then he formed a relationship with his (Haveron's) wife who was 25 years older than Andrew Jones, and their marriage deteriorated.”

During his submissions Mr Magee said the accused served for nearly 30 years in the RUC before leaving in 2003.

The defence barrister said, according to his instructions, the murder victim had been violent to his client during their marriage.

Mr Magee disputed the quality of CCTV evidence against the accused, and insisted fingerprints found on the bath were not his.

Mr Justice McLaughlin ruled that Haveron should be released on bail on a surety totalling £25,000.

The accused was ordered to live with his father in Carrickfergus, curfewed, told to report daily to police, and banned from any contact with Mr Jones.