Couple made decision to start a family shortly before the brutal killing

Elizabeth Carrigan said she began seeing Swift when problems developed in the couple’s relationship.

Miss Carrigan said she had been keen to start a family but Mr Williams put plans on hold so he could work hard at his job as well as build up his internet business selling paints.

She said: “Nick kept himself to himself. He wasn’t confrontational at all.”

“I was ready more than Nick to settle down and have a baby and a family.”

“A week or so before this happened me and Nick had a discussion that we were ready for it. We talked about it then I decided to have my implant out on Tuesday December 15 - the day before it all happened.”

Miss Carrigan told the jury how she had begun a sexual relationship with Swift shortly after being introduced to him in January 2015.

Swift was also a support worker for adults and met Miss Carrigan at a disco in Rotherham which they had both taken clients to.

Mr Sharp asked Miss Carrigan: “How did you feel about life as a couple in early 2015.”

She replied: “There were times when I did not think me and Nick was working out. I did not realise at the time that he was going to make our lives successful. Instead it made me feel like we weren’t going anywhere. I felt like he was putting more effort into his paint business and all he was really doing was working and coming home and working and coming home. We weren’t doing anything that a normal couple would do and I was just feeling alone.”

Asked to describe her relationship with Swift, Miss Carrigan replied: “It was just a bit of comfort.”

She said she began spending more time with Swift and was able to use her long working working hours as a cover to meet him.

Miss Carrigan said she would often go walking with Swift and on one occasion attended a wedding with Swift where he was best man for his friend.

She said: “He wanted me to end it with Nick but there was more than one occasion where I told him I was not going to end it with Nick. Sometimes he would make me feel like I should end it with Nick because he made me happy.”

Miss Carrigan described how she told Swift on December 10 - six days before the killing - that she was ending the affair.

She said: “He asked me if I was leaving Nick. I told him ‘no’ then he asked me if I was messing with his head.”

Miss Carrigan told the jury Swift rang her around 10.30pm on December 16 - a short time after he killed Mr Williams.

Asked to describe the conversation, she said: “(It was ) nothing unusual. It was just general chat on how work was, how he was really, and Aaron also stated that he was meant to be going to a Christmas do at work but he changed his mind and did not go.”

She added: “I told him he should go to the Christmas do and possibly meet someone.”

Miss Carrigan said she became worried for her partner’s safety in the hours before she found his body as he had not read or replied to her text messages.

The court heard she found Mr Williams laid diagonally across the living room when she got home from work around 9.35am the following morning.

She was advised by by police to contact somebody to tell them what had happened.

She said: “I messaged Aaron Swift. I asked him to ring me and he said he had no minutes (on his phone). Within two seconds he rang me and asked if I was okay.

“I was crying and I explained that I found Nick laying on the floor.

“I was in absolute shock and could not think straight.”