A WOMAN slept with her lover as her partner looked on in excruciating pain the day before he was murdered, a court heard.

Clare Nicholls, 28, her brother, Simon Nicholls, 24, and her lover, Steven Martin, 44, deny murdering Andrew Gardner, 35, whose badly injured body was found by paramedics at the County Durham home all four shared.

Teesside Crown Court heard a transcript of Miss Nicholls’ police interviews yesterday during which she admitted having sex with Mr Martin, also her mother’s former partner, on March 12, last year.

Mr Gardner was found dead the next day with more than 100 injuries, including 21 rib fractures.

Experts believe he was tortured in the weeks before his death.

Earlier in the hearing a medical expert said the fractures were inflicted ten to 14 days before death and would have rendered Mr Gardner immobile and in excruciating agony.

The trio initially said Mr Gardner went out walking and complained of being attacked when he returned to the three-bedroomed terraced house in Arthur Street, before he fell into unconsciousness.

Mr Nicholls later admitted concocting the story before calling 999.

Yesterday, the court heard that Miss Nicholls told officers the pair had sex in the lounge in front of Mr Gardener twice because she preferred her partner to see them instead of her brother, who was upstairs, hearing them.

Miss Nicholls told Detective Constable Edward Robson, who conducted the series of interviews, that Mr Gardner self harmed, had once hit his hand with a hammer and cut his calves with a kitchen knife.

She said burns on Mr Gardner’s feet were sustained when he forgot to put cold water in his bath.

A medical expert concluded that the burns were likely to have been caused by someone pouring boiling water on Mr Gardner’s feet.

Miss Nicholl said she had to tell off Mr Gardner for picking the burns on his feet, falling asleep during the day and eating food that was meant for the children.

She admitted to having anger management issues as a child and slapping and pushing Mr Gardner over the course of their four-year relationship.

The court heard that Mr Gardner’s incapacity benefit was paid into Miss Nicholls’ bank account but that Mr Gardner knew her pin number and had access to the bank card.

She offered no explanation to how Mr Gardner’s bloodsoaked clothing ended up in her wheelie bin including tracksuit bottoms with the pockets cut out.

The trial continues.