Great Waldingfield murder trial: Suffolk police bodycam clip

In the footage, 47-year-old Peter Nash is lying on a bed next to the lifeless body of his autistic daughter Louise while police officers scream at him to drop a knife he is using to stab himself.

When Nash ignores their demands he is warned that he will be tasered.

He is then tasered twice before being disarmed.

Nash was eventually sedated and taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital by air ambulance with 22 stab wounds to his chest and abdomen.

Although most of the wounds were superficial, he was critically ill and spent a month in hospital, said David Josse, prosecuting.

The court has heard that the body of Nash’s 43-year-old wife Jillu was found under a quilt on the living room floor. 

She had been asphyxiated and appeared to have had a T-shirt stuffed in her mouth, while Louise died from a single stab wound to her abdomen.

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

He attended the first day of the opening of the case at Ipswich Crown Court on Tuesday but wasn’t present for the second part of his opening on Thursday.

The trial judge, The Hon. Mr Justice Edward Henry Murray, told the jury panel it shouldn’t speculate about the reason for his absence.

During his opening to the jury on Thursday, Mr Josse played a number of videos to the jury of conversations between the couple which had been secretly filmed by Mrs Nash.

In them, mention was made of Mrs Nash’s affair and the fact she was planning to move out of the family home.

“These videos show the rancorous and unpleasant side of the marriage,” said Mr Josse.

He claimed that by the time of the alleged murders Nash was “embittered and self-pitying”.

He said that after the alleged killings Nash made a “determined” attempt to destroy mobile phones belonging to him and his wife and he had also attempted to damage the home computer.

A number of TikTok videos were found on the computer including one which had the text: “A broken man who has rebuilt himself is very dangerous.” 

It has been alleged that Nash confronted his wife after finding a picture of her with another man in September last year and strangled her before stabbing their autistic daughter Louise.

Police went to the couple’s home in Heath Estate, Great Waldingfield, on September 8 after Mrs Nash failed to turn up for work and Louise, who was described as being non-verbal, didn’t go to school.

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 stabbing himself.

The court heard that Nash and his wife, who were married in 2009, had a “difficult and unhappy” marriage which was made worse by him being made redundant in 2020.

By early 2022 Mrs Nash was having an affair with work colleague and was planning to leave her husband, said Mr Josse.

A recording of a conversation with his wife on August 27 revealed that he knew she was cheating on him and in it he accused her of “being a schemer and causing chaos to get attention”.

Nash told his wife he knew the affair had been going on for four months but she had corrected him and told him it was eight months, said Mr Josse.

The court heard that following his arrest Nash allegedly confessed to the killings to a psychiatrist.

He said he had been angry after finding a picture of his wife with another man and had strangled her after confronting her about it.

Nash said he then killed his daughter and had then tried to kill himself.

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.