Final picture of Pistorius and girlfriend Reeva days before her death

Snuggling tenderly on the sofa, Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp could not seem more in love as they share a laugh over their pet monkey - in their final photograph together before he shot her dead. The photo provides a moving insight into the life of the lovers, who friends claim appeared every inch South Africa's golden couple. But four days after it was taken, Reeva would be dead and Pistorius in court accused of murder.

'He was tickling her,' Pistorius' best friend Christo Menelaou, who took the picture, told South Africa's You magazine. 'They were lovers and also real friends.' Christo, 34, who said Pistorius had grown a thick beard since his girlfriend's death, added: 'He cries a lot and says over and over, "I’m sorry".' Pistorius denies murder, claiming he shot his model girlfriend by accident because he believed a burglar had entered their home while they slept.