A Suffolk mother who was allegedly murdered by her jilted husband was strangled while their 12-year-old daughter died from a single stab wound to her abdomen, a court has heard

Giving evidence to a jury in the trial of 47-year-old Peter Nash, Home Office Pathologist Dr Benjamin Swift said Jillu Nash had a number of small bruises on her wrists, hands and legs which had the appearance of grip marks and suggested she’d been physically restrained.

He said there was no evidence that a cord or rope had been put around her neck and used as a ligature and injuries to the structure of her neck suggested her neck had been compressed by a hand or forearm in a chokehold.

Dr Swift said there was also evidence which suggested a hand or soft fabric had been used to block her airways.

He said 43-year-old Mrs Nash had around 40 areas of bruising and grazing to her arms, legs, face and head and some of the bruises suggested she was on her knees when she was attacked.

Dr Swift said the couple’s daughter Louise, who was autistic, died from a single stab wound to her abdomen from a weapon such as a kitchen knife.

He said Louise had suffered a 12.5cm deep wound which cut through the aorta - the main blood vessel in the body.

Dr Swift said Louise had suffered catastrophic blood loss and would have lost consciousness within ten seconds and died rapidly thereafter.

Nash, of Heath Estate, Great Waldingfield, has denied murdering his wife and daughter between September 7 and 9 last year.

The court has heard that the body of Nash’s Indian born wife was found under a quilt on the living room floor and appeared to have had a T-shirt stuffed in her mouth.

The court has heard that Mrs Nash had been having an affair for eight months with a man she worked with at Homebase in Sudbury and had been preparing to leave Nash and set up home with her lover.

Mrs Nash had secretly filmed a number of videos of conversations between her and her husband which David Josse KC, prosecuting, said showed the “rancorous and unpleasant” side of their marriage which appeared to have irretrievably broken down.

Police went to the couple’s home on Heath Estate, Great Waldingfield, on September 8 after Mrs Nash failed to turn up for work and Louise didn’t go to school.

Police officers forced their way into the family home but were initially deterred by the smell of gas and alerted the fire service.

When the emergency services entered the house they found Mrs Nash’s dead body on the floor in the living room under a quilt and Louise’s body was found under a sheet in a bedroom.

Nash was lying on the bed next to his daughter holding a knife and repeatedly stabbing himself. Police disarmed him after tasering him twice and he was taken to hospital with 22 stab wounds.

At an earlier hearing Nash dispensed with his legal team and said he wanted to represent himself during the trial.

The trial, which is expected to last six weeks, continues. 

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