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Oscar Pistorius is a "broken man" who remains devastated by the death of Reeva Steenkamp at his hand, says to the only journalist who has spent time with the athlete during his trial.

The Blade Runner Paralympian will appear in court tomorrow to hear the verdict in his murder case.

On the eve of the trial's conclusion, investigative reporter Mark Williams-Thomas has told how Pistorius still insists the fatal shooting of Reeva was an accident - and says he believes the athlete's version of events.

Speaking to ITV’s This Morning from Pretoria in South Africa, he said: “[Pistorius] is obviously devastated, I think it’s very important to set out that Oscar admits to having shot - and obviously as a result of that - Reeva died, but he’s also very clear in that it was a very tragic accident, that he didn’t intend to, and he believed someone was in the house.

"And having spent time with him and spoken to him in real detail, and not just him but his family, and the evidence and the more I talk to him, I do believe that also it is a tragic accident.”

This Morning host Phillip Schofield highlighted that was Mr Williams-Thomas' personal opinion, but went on to ask if he felt comfortable being in the company of a man that could be convicted as a "brutal murderer".

Mr Williams-Thomas replied: “Absolutely... I’ve talked to Oscar, I’ve been seeing him obviously away from everybody else and I think the big difference is that everybody else is judging on seeing him in a court fashion and not away from that and in his normal family environment and I’ve unique access, I’ve been the only person in the world that’s been able to do that...

"So I’ve seen him in a very different environment. And he is a broken man.”

Oscar Pistorius
Oscar Pistorius

He went on to say that Pistorius had made it "very clear" that whatever the verdict tomorrow, "nothing will bring Reeva back".

"He still loves her dearly… and he wishes obviously that circumstances were different," he said.

"He said that no punishment will be anywhere near the punishment that he has for himself because he’s lost someone he was in love with.

"He was only going out with her for three months but they were still very much in a courting relationship.”

Judge Thokozile Masipa will begin delivering her verdict in Pretoria tomorrow morning.

There are a number of guilty verdicts open to her, as Mr Williams-Thomas explained.

“The process of course for the judge is that the judge will come back with a decision in respect of the first charge - which is that of premeditated murder - which is what the prosecution have charged him with.

Oscar Pistorius
Oscar Pistorius

"So she has to decide if he intended to kill her, the options are obviously ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’ - if he’s found not guilty then she has the lesser charge of murder, which she will then consider with regards to intent, and then if she feels he’s not guilty of that, there is a separate charge of culpable homicide and was a charge put to him in the initial charge - it’s similar to our manslaughter - and she will have to decide whether or not he was reckless in regards to the shooting."

Pistorius also faces three other firearms charges.

If found guilty of premeditated murder, he faces a minimum of 25 years in jail.