Collegaues of a man and woman accused of murder told a Belfast court yesterday that their affair was common knowledge throughout the fire brigade's headquarters where they worked.
One woman who made a statement to police told them she thought it "amusing" that they were trying to be discreet even when most of their colleagues had heard they were having an affair.
The pair, 34-year-old Ms Lesley Gault and Mr Gordon Graham (40), from Wheatfield, Ballygowan, deny murdering her husband, Mr Paul Gault, in his Audley Avenue home in Lisburn in May 2000.
Yesterday Ms Hazel Kelly told Belfast Crown Court that on May 16th, three days before the gruesome killing, she noticed Ms Gault and Mr Graham talking outside the headquarters in Lisburn where both worked.
"My attention was drawn to them because Mr Graham appeared quite agitated. His face was very red and he was looking very intensely at Lesley," she said. Ms Kelly added that Ms Gault looked as though she was "in despair". She also said that she had seen them dancing together at a Christmas party.
Mr Drew Donaldson QC, for the defence, suggested Ms Kelly had come to an "unwarranted conclusion" about Mr Graham being "agitated".
However, she maintained that "it was the impression I got".