A mutual friend of Lynda Casey and Peter Ling visited the defendant in High Down Prison a month after he was arrested, a court heard.

Anne Shaw was a fellow student at the Sutton College for Adult Learning (SCOLA) and had become friends with the couple, even inviting the pair to a house-warming party.

But on September 8, Mrs Shaw decided she needed to speak to Mr Ling face-to-face, the Old Bailey was told.

Mrs Shaw said: “I just needed to look him in the face and find out for myself. When I arrived he had this terrified look on his face. He said to me ’I don’t know whether you’re here to hit me or hug me’. I said ‘neither’.”

The court heard how Mr Ling had gone on the run in Somerset for several days after finding Mrs Casey’s mobile phone and the “explicit” photos of her other lover, Mr Tolfrey.

Mrs Shaw told the court: “That was why he didn’t hand himself in. The photos really upset him.”

Mr Ling is appearing at the Old Bailey charged with murdering Mrs Casey.

He denies the charge.