A DUBLIN man, Mr Val Ballance, told the court of the last time he saw his former partner and three year old son alive.
Mr Ballance said that he made breakfast on the morning of April 29th for his children Liam (3) and Oisin (7) at the Whitegate cottage he had helped his former partner, Imelda, to buy just months earlier.
He said that Imelda did not normally eat breakfast, but she was up to share the meal.
Mr Ballance said that he then left Oisin to a neighbour's house to be taken to school. He returned briefly to the cottage before heading off at 9 a.m. to do voluntary work on a school near Scariff.
He said that Imelda had said she wanted to do some things around the house and would go to see him at the school later. He left her and Liam in the house and went to the school. That was the last time he saw Imelda and Liam.
Describing Imelda as "striking looking", he said she was about five feet seven inches tall and had long red hair and green eyes. She would usually wear leggings or beans and a jumper. She was "in very good form" on the last morning he saw her, he said.
Dressed in a dark grey suit, Mr Ballance quietly told the court that he was a 40 year old computer analyst and a native of Clontarf, Dublin. He had emigrated to London in the middle to late 1970s and had met Imelda Riney, who was from Terenure, in 1982.
She had moved into a London squat with him, but then went back to Dublin. She subsequently returned to London and they had lived together at Highbury and at Crofton Road.
He had worked as a computer analyst while Imelda worked at a succession of temporary jobs.
They bought a house just outside Manchester. Oisin was born in 1987, while Imelda was visiting her sister in Holland, and she stayed with her sister for a time after the birth. He had visited Imelda and Oisin, who was born prematurely.
Mr Baliance said that Imelda stayed on in Manchester when he went to work in London in about 1989. Imelda had studied art at Manchester Polytechnic and later began an art degree course at Stoke on Trent Polytechnic.
Liam was born in 1990 in Manchester, also prematurely.
The relationship began to deteriorate and Imelda returned to Ireland and went to live in Co Clare in 1992. She lived initially in rented accommodation and in October 1993 bought a house which he had mainly funded. She and the two children moved into the house about March 194.
Mr Ballance said that he kept in touch with Imelda and their children and travelled to Co Clare to visit as often as he could. He spent all his holidays there.
He said that he began a visit to Imelda and the children on April 24th, 1994. On the morning of April 29th, 1994, he got up at about 7.30-8 a.m. He made breakfast and had it with the two children. Imelda was also up, but she did not normally eat breakfast. He took Oisin over to friends who were to take him to school.
He said that Imelda had a Ford Fiesta car. The car was outside the house that morning.
Mr Ballance said that he left the house at about 9 a.m. to go to Scariff. Imelda told him that she wanted to do things around the house and would go over to the school at Scariff later and bring lunch with her.
Imelda never arrived at the school, Mr Ballance said. He had worked at the school until the afternoon and then went to the bank in Scariff. He collected Oisin from school and had one pint in Scariff. They then returned to the house.
Imelda and Liam were not there, he said. He noticed that the gas stove was on and that the kettle had boiled dry. Imelda's tobacco pouch was there, which he thought was curious, because she smoked and would have taken that with her.
Imelda's car was also missing. Mr Ballance said that he was not particularly concerned at that stage. But the following day, Saturday, he became anxious, and made some inquiries. He asked local people and Imelda's sister in Ennis if they had heard from or seen her.
He went to the gardai at Scariff on the Sunday and reported Imelda and Liam missing. He gave gardai a registration number for Imelda's Fiesta. He took the number from the car insurance certificate, but it was incorrect.
He joined in searches for Imelda and Liam over the following few days, Mr Ballance said. He could not recall any signs of disturbance at the house. He said that Imelda had been doing some work on the outside of the house the night before she disappeared. When he returned to the house on the Friday afternoon he noticed that she had continued that work.
Mr Ballance said that he was later shown a burnt out Ford Fiesta car. It was unrecognisable.
At a later stage he gave the gardai a photograph of Imelda. It was a relatively recent photo and was a good likeness of her.
He told the court that he had identified the bodies of both Imelda and Liam and their clothing.