The ex-wife and former lover of a man accused of murdering his son came face to face in court.

Mary Wragg listened as Shelley Ancell told how it was Andrew Wragg's wonderful way with children that made her fall in love with him.

Wragg was with Mrs Ancell for a year in 2000 and 2001, while he was still married to former wife Mary.

Mrs Wragg testified last week that Wragg had been a bad husband and father, disinterested, embarrassed and intolerant of their disabled son Jacob, who he killed in July 2004.

But Mrs Ancell, who lived with Wragg during their relationship and spent time with both his sons, said: "When I first saw Andy he wasn't the sort of person I would go for.

"I started to fall in love with him when I saw how he was with his children.

"Jacob absolutely adored his dad. He wanted to be with him all the time."

In contrast to previous claims that Wragg had preferred his healthy son George over Jacob, Mrs Ancell said he had paid more attention to Jacob in the time she had spent with him.

She also spoke of her ex-lover's quirky sense of humour, describing how he joked about football with his son.

Mrs Ancell said: "They used to have friendly banter. He would say 'Southampton' to Jacob and Jacob would say 'Chelsea'."

Mrs Ancell said she had never seen Wragg bad tempered.

Lynda Paine, a close friend to both Mary and Andrew Wragg, admitted that Wragg had spent much time away but was an exemplary father when he was at home.

Mrs Paine said: "Andy was exactly the same as Mary. They were both really involved. They knew everything about the (Jacob's) illness.

"Andy was great. He was a good, fun type of father. He adored him (Jacob)."

The Reverend Vicki Hammel, mother-in-law of Wragg's younger brother Christopher, said in a written statement that the alleged murderer clearly loved his children but dealt badly with emotions in general.

"I observed Andy and he has difficulty with emotions, either dealing with them in others or himself.

"If he came to me for pastoral counselling, I would recommend he saw a trained therapist."

Nicholas Stevens, a Sussex Police sergeant and friend of Wragg's since the age of 15, said the last time he saw his former schoolmate he had seemed troubled by his son's condition.

Sgt Stevens said: "On one occasion I talked about Jacob, he got upset.

"He was not one to let his emotions slip much.

"Jacob was not a subject I liked to bring up."